What to Watch for When Camping With Your Dog

In 2021, nearly 100 million families across North America identified as campers. Camping accounted for 40% of all vacation trips — getting out in nature is a favorite summer activity, especially camping with your dog! Heading out into nature is made even more attractive by the fact that many parks, wilderness areas, and designated campgrounds welcome our four-legged family members.

While camping with your dog is a great way to deepen your bond, it isn’t without risks. There are a few things you should know before you go — here’s what to prepare for when adventuring with your pet!

Keep an eye on the weather

Most domestic dogs are best suited to mild climates. While their coats provide an extra layer of protection from both hot and cold temperatures, our canine companions generally rely on central heat and air conditioning to stay comfortable just like us.

Before embarking on a camping trip with your dog, make sure to consider how she’ll feel in the expected weather forecast:

Is it going to be particularly hot or cold?
Will there be large temperature swings at different times of day? (The less humid the climate, the cooler it will likely get overnight.)
Will you be near water to cool off if needed?
How active do you plan to be? Can you adjust your activities if it’s too hot to cover long distances?
Should you pack any specific heating or cooling gear for your dog?
Are you able to bring enough drinking water for everyone on the trip?

You should also have a backup plan for inclement weather. While listening to soft raindrops from the comfort of a dry tent can be quite therapeutic, true summer storms are no joke. Thunder is particularly jarring to our dogs’ sensitive eardrums — double-check the radar and extended forecast before you leave home.

Expect your dog to get dirty

Like, really dirty. Depending on the type of camping trip you’re taking (backpacking, tent, campervan or RV, cabin) and environment you visit (mountains, river, desert, etc.) your dog might truly “become one” with nature.

Luxurious glamping accommodations enable you to sweep the floors or even rinse your dog with running water, but most camping trips involve more grime. It’s best to fully embrace this going in! When you get home from your adventure, you can get everything clean again.

(If you think you’ll be unable to make it through your trip without addressing your dog’s grooming needs, it’s a good idea to keep a simple dry shampoo or fur deodorizer on hand.)

Brush up on your plant and water safety

While some messes are expected and generally harmless — rolling in most mud, snagging a few burs in her fur, and so on — there are other parts of nature you want to avoid at all costs. Before heading on a camping trip with your dog, learn about your destination’s poisonous plants and water safety.

Here are a few good rules of thumb:

Make sure you know what poison ivy and oak look like, and keep your pet (and yourself!) far away from it.
Don’t let your dog eat plants. While many grasses and leaves aren’t cause for concern, some can be dangerous. Instead of frantically checking each time, it’s best to keep them from ingesting any altogether.
Try to only let your dog drink the water you’ve brought along or from clear, running streams. Standing water — especially small bodies like ponds — like host harmful algae and pathogens.

Keep tabs on nearby wildlife

When camping with your dog, wildlife is a double-edged sword. You don’t want your pet to harm any critters in their natural habitat — and you also don’t want those critters to harm her.

Thankfully, most dangerous animals are too afraid to venture directly into your campsite. This is especially true in designated campgrounds (you’ll want to be extra cautious in remote backpacking environments).

Here are a few things you can do to keep everybody safe:

Know before you go. Research the typical wildlife at your camping destination and defer to local parks departments or environmental organizations on how to best coexist with them.
Practice your dog’s impulse control. Don’t let her off leash unless you trust her ability to recall even around chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels.
Store your food properly. Raccoons and bears are notorious for raiding campsites — and odds are your dog will not appreciate those strange visitors, especially in the dark. Keep smelly items secured in your car, a metal food locker, or hung securely out of reach. Always pack out whatever you pack in to mitigate problems for those who come after you.

Stay safe from ticks and other pests

Nature is full of beauty… and also full of bugs. Ticks can infect our dogs with illnesses like Lyme disease and Bartonellosis, mosquitoes can spread heartworms, and biting flies can cause painful skin irritation.

Before you head out on your camping trip, make sure you’re comfortable with your dog’s flea and tick prevention plan. You might consider bringing along a natural repellent like eucalyptus lemon, lavender, or lemongrass essential oil or even setting up an extra mosquito net as a barrier overnight.

You should also check your dog (and yourself!) for ticks at least once a day. Make sure to fully remove any as soon as you see them. A designated tick removal hook works best (all you have to do is twist and pull) but if you don’t have one available, you can also:

Use fine-point tweezers
Spread the fur around the bite area
Grab the tick as close to the skin as possible
Pull straight upward in a slow, steady motion

Be prepared for small injuries

Our dogs are tough. It’s one of the reasons we love them — how many times have you finished a game of fetch or returned from a hike only to realize your pet had scraped herself without you noticing? While canine resilience is something to admire, it’s also important we’re prepared to treat small injuries on our camping trips. Paw pad cuts and facial scrapes from exploring the underbrush are particularly common.

Depending on where you’re going and how long you’ll be gone, your canine first aid kit might include:

Stretchy bandages
Eye wash or saline solution
Wound or itch spray
Styptic powder (an antiseptic clotting agent)
Tweezers
Paw balm
An emergency sling or carrying harness

It’s also smart to get the addresses and telephone numbers of nearby vets ahead of time, just in case. While we hope nothing goes wrong on our camping trips — and with the right preparation, it’s unlikely it will — we should still always be ready.

Time in nature is worth it

The pros of camping with our dogs — fresh air, solitude, exploration, bonding — far outweigh the risks. As long as you go in prepared, you’re sure to have a blast with your furry best friend!