Dog or no dog

I thought a comment made by Sharon on yesterday’s blog was best covered by a post. She said she would love to hear our thoughts on traveling with a dog as she and her hubby were debating on bringing a pet on a RV adventure.

I adore my Cheyenne. She is sweet, giving and down right funny but there is no doubt a dog in an RV can be a problem. There are a lot of restrictions on a RV dog, almost always having to be on a leash, a smaller living space than most stationary homes, no yard to roam in. If you go sightseeing and take them they are often stuck in the truck/car because so many places don’t allow dogs. A fair amount of forethought goes in to each trip away from the trailer beginning with; do we take Cheye. And I mean all trips, grocery store or a trip to some tourist spot.

On the other hand; she makes us get out and walk, she is the reason we have met a number of people, they comment on Cheye and we stop to chat. When at a less-than-safe-feeling park (trust me you will end up in one sometime) when there is a dog that barks inside your RV you feel a bit safer. Having her has taken us to parks and beaches we may not have visited except that we thought Cheye would have fun there. But more than anything having Cheye makes our trailer feel more like a home. Something about a pet just fills a little void that is there when you don’t have one, and it seems like most RVer's have a pet.

So for us the pro's are outweighing the con's, but if we didn’t already have Cheye would we consider getting a dog?? We would be really torn and I mean really torn. A pet is extra work in an RV and not for everyone nor for every dog, but we would truly miss the companionship of a dog.

All that said… here are some of the moments we would have missed if we didn’t have Cheye….

Cheye and the wiggling sea foam


Cheye and the ice cream cone


Cheye on the beach