How to Travel With a Dog in a Motorhome (2022 Guide)

When you are a dog parent, Life’s always good with your pet beside you. Right?

For pet parents, it isn’t easy to travel and explore the world around them while leaving their little canine buddy behind. The whole process is both emotional and expensive. 

However, if you are a traveling enthusiast, that’s not the only way. As long as your dog is happy and healthy to accompany you, you can always consider taking him along in Motorhomes. 

Pet dogs any day are a part of Motorhome travels. With a little pre-planning, training, along with some experience, the time is not far when you both will become the best traveling buddies.

But wondering how? Rest assured; we have got it all sorted. If you have a motorhome and a trip planned, you can take your Dog along.

And with that starts the guide about “How to travel with a dog in a motorhome”?

Traveling with a Dog in Motorhome

If your preparations are right, taking a dog in Motorhome is not challenging. You know your dog better than anyone else; thus, personal planning with doing better for you. 

However, a few tips from professionals and experiences by experts will add to a more comfortable and safer Motorhome journey for your Dog.  

Essential Tips to learn before taking your Dog for a Motorhome trip

• If your dog gets anxious in car journeys, risking them for a long Motorhome trip is not worth it. Thus, before taking on this big trip, make them comfortable with short and frequent trips. 
• As per professionals, the Dog who gets anxious in vehicles can be treated with mild sedatives. It helps in calming down all their stress. 
• Before a week or at least three days before the D-Day of your trip:

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Let your Dog know the Motorhome.

Consider parking it on your driveway and encourage your Dog to sit and explore the insides.

Let them play, run, sniff and feel home there. Once they know it is a safe place, the process will ease down for you to a great extent. 

• Driving when a dog is constantly beside you is not at all safe. Thus, make sure you separate the driving space with the backspace using some reliable board or so.
• Instead of filling your Motorhome with stuff, make sure it has enough free space for the Dog to function comfortably. Avoid carrying stuff that you may get easily at your travel destination.
• Avoid keeping anything inside the Motorhome with which your Dog can create self-harm. These things may include anything pointy, edgy, poisonous, etc. 
• Make sure your dog is getting enough amount of fresh air all through the while. Either keep the windows open or maintain the air conditioner of the vehicle. 
• Stop for frequent and multiple toilets breaks in between. Along with that, let your Dog walk on the road and get some break from the vehicle. This will also help in soothing their anxiety (if any).
• There are bans of several dog breeds across various countries, states, and cities. Some even require travelers to keep their dogs under strict control in public. Thus, before you begin with the trip, make sure you do your research well. 
• Several countries make it a rule that every pet landing on their land will have to go under compulsory quarantine. The quarantine may go from 5 to 10 days. Unless you are not going for a long vacation, rethink whether the whole settlement is worth it or not.

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Get your Canine a passport

If you are planning to cross borders, make sure your Pet owns a PET Passport.

While the expenses for the same may not load you, the process and formalities can take some time.

From Vet visits to Vaccination, make sure you have it all ready in documents. 

For example, if your home place is in the UK, you have to get your Dog some deworming tables in the country you are coming from.

Similarly, some countries have cleanliness standards that all traveling pet parents have to follow. 

If your passport is up-to-date, it will also help your Dog avoid quarantine after you reach your home country again.

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Securing Dog in Motorhome

How to secure Dog in Motorhome? Road safety is a must no matter how, when, and where you are traveling.

Especially with unfamiliar roads, you never know what conditions you may have to face going forward.

And if you have your Dog or dogs beside you, ensuring their safety while driving is very crucial.

For individuals who have big motorhomes keeping their Dog in a crate during the journey is more suitable.

The only concern is, make sure the crate has great support, and even with a forced break, it won’t leave the place. You can secure it with chains easily. 

Some crates are also designed with pet seatbelts and harness to keep your canine buddy secure. 

Another best way is to secure your Dog with a harness over a comfortable seat.

You can also use a dog seat for cars or a booster seat.

The idea here is to make sure that even in cases of collision, your Dog stays safe.

Harness or dog seat also keeps the Dog from jumping over inside. 

Can you leave your Dog in your Motorhome?

Is it safe to leave your Dog in Motorhome? For a quick and short answer, No, one must not leave their dogs in Motorhome. Leaving a dog in a motorhome may sound you a choice sometimes, but there are several possibilities that it can go wrong. 

• Firstly, while you are in a new location with unknown individuals, you cannot trust the surroundings. You never know if someone may harm, harass, scare, or even steal your Dog.
• Extremely aggressive dogs may make a barking ruckus when left unattended inside a motorhome or other vehicle. 
• No matter how nice the weather outside is, the temperature inside your car can heat up anytime. And if you leave your Dog unattended inside, heatstroke can do extreme damage to your Dog. It can even at times lead to brain damage and death. 
• Individuals who assume that by maintaining the temperature inside Motorhome, they can leave their Dog inside are totally mistaken. Vehicle malfunctioning like Short-circuit, power failure, and more can lead to circumstances that you may have never thought of. 
• Your Dog may try to leave the Motorhome out of boredom or to find you. However, in the process, they may harm or get injured. 
• 31 of the total 50 United States marks it illegal to leave your Dog unattended inside a vehicle. Several campgrounds also make it a rule that no individual can leave their dog in the RV, Motorhome, or caravan unattended. 

Motorhome essentials while traveling with your Dog

You may not need them all, but a lot amongst them will surely come in handy. Have a look:

• Food and water bowl
• Travel water bottle
• A bucket with a mug and a cloth in case your Dog gets himself dirty. Considering you won’t be liking mud paws all over the Motorhome. 
• Dog blanket, bed, and other sleeping essentials your Dog prefer
• Quick-dry microfiber towels.
• An extra pair of dog harnesses (Make sure the one in use and the spare has all your information mentioned).
• Removable and washable seat covers
• Pee pads which you can line over the motorhome seat for extra safety. 
• Poop picker and Poop bags
• Toys 
• Essential, required medicines and a first aid kit for dogs
• Tick hook
• All essential medical papers, vaccination certification, and insurance papers. 
• A muzzle
• Dog food and treats. 

Wrapping up

Traveling with dogs should always prove fun, and with the guide above, we hope your next motorhome trip will become positively memorable.

While the camping site is close enough, you can take the road journey in one go (with short breaks in between).

However, if you are crossing states or countries, consider taking multiple day and night stops in between. 

In the end, we hope that our words and advice above have helped you build some confidence for your next travel.