Dogs around Aus

If you must babysit a pair of dogs, save yourself lots of money and do it at home.

GREAT article in Canberra Times Tues Sept 11. Check out Life be in it Holidaying with Dogs (overview in holidaying withdogs.com.au); Pet Friendly Caravan parks, Family Parks & Friendly Parks : www.ozdoggy.com.; stayz.com.au; takeabreak.com.au;
We have found Rescue Remedy v good occasionally if dogs get anxious travelling. Ours are just happy to be with you. Good for rest & survive as the need for watering stops keeps you alert!
Only prob is camping in Nat Parks. But 2 yrs without the pooches can be a very long time! You will never be troubled re security!
Good Luck.
L&J

I second Gerhard1 on that. You'll save yourself and your fellow campers a lot of angst by leaving them at home. Not many campgrounds will let you have dogs and lots of people are afraid of certain breeds. To you they're just part of the family; to others they're a potentially dangerous animal that they don't want in the camp next door.....

I think it would also be unkind to the dogs as they would have to be permanently on a leash.

Collin,

A non dog owner once told me he prefers to camp in dog permitted caravan parks and campgrounds because he found they attract more tolerant people.


Have Fun

Many excellent suggestions from other readers however one very important warning. As you head into the northern area of our country, you would need to be very aware of the presence of poison baits. These baits are often very tempting pieces of meat scattered all over (including sides of roads, car parks, camping areas etc) and usually laced with 1080 poison. This poison is lethal and many travellers have lost there beloved pets in this way. A very cruel death. I do hope that you give very careful consideration to the safety and welfare of your pets before deciding to take them with you - if you must.

One important thing to consider. You are not permitted to take dogs into 99% of national parks. That means you will miss a great deal of the places you should see on your trip,and as you know, you can't just leave the woofers at your camp site as even dog friendly parks won't allow unattended dogs.

Personally, I like dogs but steer clear of dog friendly parks because the majority of dog owners don't notice when their dog barks or confront other park users.

Be considerate, leave them home.

Happy trails, Mike.

if you are really set on taking dogs with you then be very very careful of 1080 baits. in WA the baiting season has commenced and will last for approx 4mths. baits are laid on just about anywhere that is not private property - most by aerial baiting to enable lots of area to be covered in quick time. if you cannot chain your dogs up at night when camping and be with them evry other minute of the day then maybe look at leaving them behind or giving WA a miss. 1080 does not discriminate between wild dogs and pet dogs. rgds

Mate I wouldn't hesitate and I take my Shepherd every where I go. Sure there are some places you won't be able to visit with the dogs e.g. All national parks in WA but I am prepared to make that sacrifice and believe it is more than compensated for by the fact I have my dog with me. Just one point on that if you are travelling on a gazetted road through a national park with a dog in your vehicle you cannot legally be stopped as long as the dog stays in the vehicle at all times. Yes you have to watch out for 1080 baits and I always carry a bottle of Metho and tissues for tick removal and you need to check thoroughly for them every day in places where ticks are prevalent. They can even "hop aboard" a dog during short wee stop. You will find accommodation harder to come by but there are books listing dog friendly places and I have personally found some places that say no pets will actually allow them once they realise you are responsible and the dogs are well trained and behaved. Some will charge a deposit as well e.g. Monkey-Mia. I have found without exception that the dog owners I come across are responsible in the extreme because they appreciate the privilege of being able to take their dog places. I have never heard dogs bark at night because the owners know the rules and the consequences for breaking them which is more than I can say for plenty of so called responsible adults who travel with screaming whining kids. One concern I do have is when the weather heats up and it can start to become uncomfortable for us humans let alone dogs and vehicles heat up when left idle and even a good air con can take time to bring the temp of all the hot bits down before it can be comfortable inside again. The biggest problem you will probably have is walking some where without someone wanting to pat your dogs and have a chat or some kids wanting to touch them and if that is the biggest problem you have then you have no problem. Good luck.

wWe are travelling around Oz with our 2 huskies and it's great. We have been on the road for just over a year now and plan to keep going for about 5 years all up. If you are prepared to put your pooches in boarding kennels for a day/a week etc you will find you will not miss out on much at all.

We have no problem with putting them in kennels and they don't mind the break from us every now and then either. We just completed a 5 week outback trip which included a 23day tag-along, the "boys" couldn't come with us but they had their little holiday in the kennels and got to play with other dogs which they don't get to do very often so it was a win win situation. Five weeks was a bit long without them but it goes to show that if you are flexible you won't miss out on anything.

We stayed for 12 weeks in Mt Isa for work last year, there was a kennel there that let us put them in in the morning and take them home after work for $10 a day so it was just like daycare. The owners of the caravan park we stayed in (we have a campertrailer), loved the dogs and being huskies they rarely ever bark. We'd take them for walks and other travellers visiting the caravan park would comment that they didn't even know we had dogs coz they were so quiet.

With regards to the 1080 baiting, don't let people try to scare you. Yes it's a horrible death if you dog does pick up a bait but be vigilant like us, we won't let the dogs out of the car without a muzzle on them (a proper muzzle like greyhounds wear). The muzzle goes on before they even get out of the car and only comes off when they are buckled back in. We give them water both before we put the muzzle on and when we take it off. It's best to stay in caravan parks in any areas where 1080 is heavily used.

Good luck and we hope you decide to take your WHOLE family with you!!

Gda we have complted 3 month tour of oz and debated taking our dogs for ages. In the end the dogs came, both pointers so medium size. Had no problems anywhere with van parks, only one park didnt let them in only took small dogs. We free camped alot on way round and found that in some areas of N.T other campers would stay near us becaus they felt safer with a couple of dogs around. ie un welcome visits from the locals..
On the downside of taking the dogs it was harder for us to visit places especially if the weather was a bit warm cant leave dogs in car.
we worked around most of the hassles but it was hard work keeping them happy sometimes Dogs have to run so each time we visited a new town we found places for our dogs to run first, Footy grounds were allways good no bait and not many people around, Also plenty of beaches allow dogs off leash.
As far as National parks go not much fun not being able to go to them, We kennled our dogs a couple of times which alloud us to visit some parks but was a hassle trying to plan where we would be to book Kennels. You may find it easier with more time available..
You will find hundreds of people taking dogs round oz but 90 percent of them are only very small dogs good luck...

Mate, I trained my first dog 35 years ago and love dogs. I am involved in Agility and Obedience Training several days a week. The thing I am constantly amazed at is how people find it so hard to remember that their dog ..is a dog. There is no way I'd take my best mate on a trip around Oz. (Well, second best mate) I'd miss her like fury, but as Lleyton would say .."C'Mon".
Apart from the fact that dogs live to kill native fauna (even your precious little Snookums will knock off as many lizards as it can catch, not to mention marsupials - do some reading on endangered species), dogs were not born to spend their day cooped up in the back seat of a fourby. And it may come as a surprise to the owners of travelling muts that the rest of the world is not besotted by your 4 legged child. The more dogs out there, the more restrictions are placed on all dog owners.
IMHO

We travel regularly with our dogs. I must admit the longest time was only a couple of weeks through NSW but had no problems.

It does take a little more planning and some states such as NSW and VIC seem more accepting of dogs.

Mainly just make sure you are a responsible dog owner by picking up their mess EVERY time and making sure that NEVER bark. Its only because of irresponsible dog owners that it is getting harder and harder to travel. Sometimes I wish we lived in America where they are so accepting of dogs!!

We have never had a problem with people complaining when camping and if anything have met more people by stopping to say hello than we would have if been by ourselves.

Your dog wont be a leash 24/7 because there are usually leash free beaches or parks in most states and I normally check with the info bureau in a new town you can point you in the right direction rather than break any council laws.

We dont have children for the sole reason as enjoy the company of dogs way better than a screaming brat at 5am in the morning. We have had strangers kids walk through our campsite and annoy us to death but never had a strange dog take up residence in our annex!!!

Hi Collin S

Take them..... remember to take you C5 yearly vaccinneation certificates. That way if you need to kennel them on route it is as easy as doing it at home. When we want to do a tourist few daysa in a big city, kennelling is often a forced issue as most big smoke CP's do not acdcept dogs on site. Another post mentions daycare at local vets we have used these quite successfully but you often nee the vax certs.

SKI'er

I'm a responsible dog owner and hence leave my dog behind when i go away.

The wife and I found a great kennel near home to leave our Dobermann in when we go away. He loves it, gets treated really well and is always in good nick when we come and get him. It's about $18 a night which is a good price too.

Colin,

Try this for an "against"

Site Link

2 Rottys, never shown any aggression before........'nuff said.

How would you feel if your 2 dogs did that in a caravan park somewhere?

I know, your dogs would never do that -

that's what this woman thought too and now her little girl is scarred for life.