So many smells and all the time in the world.
Life doesn’t get much better than this. A man and his dog and fishing.
Recently, my family and I took a 10 day vacation by camping in tents at a state park. Some might say that they could never do it but we greatly look forward to this trip each year. We are avid campers and have years of experience and are well prepared for anything mother nature decides to throw at us. We normally don’t take any dogs with us, but this year, we decided to take our 7 year old doberman, Ravage, with us as well.
Because it’s been awhile since a dog has accompanied us camping, I had forgotten what all it entailed. I remembered to make sure that he had gotten his monthly dose of flea, tick and heartworm preventatives. I remembered to print off his latest vaccines, JUST IN CASE something happened and we needed proof of them. I
He was like a typical kid, I couldn’t keep him out of the water!
While camping, Ravage was not a fan of the storms.
remembered to pack his food and water bowls. I even went and bought him a couple new toys to help keep him occupied during down times at camp. I also made sure that the tags he was wearing had all the correct contact information on it, in case he somehow got separated from us. I thought I was doing good but there was a few things that didn’t cross my mind. Like, normally, this dog is a couch potato but while camping, we did a lot of hiking and swimming and he joined us each and every time. And just like someone who doesn’t normally exercise and then all of a sudden they do, he
become sore and worn out. Not so much that I was too worried about it, but enough that I’ll make sure to pack his pain meds with ours in the first aid kit for the next time. Another thing I hadn’t thought about, because at home, it had never been an issue, was storms. Ravage had never had storm anxieties before but due to camping out in the woods during a storm and possibly catching my “worried mom” vibes, he decided to hide under the picnic table until mother nature calmed herself down. So, along with packing the pain meds, I need to also pack some anti-anxiety meds for him as well. I also didn’t consider that with the extra activity, there would be a bigger appetite. We actually ran out of dog food on the last day. Thankfully I had boiled some chicken breasts and he was super happy to get such an unexpected treat! I won’t make that mistake again! Overall, nothing was really forgotten, just a few tips to make the next trip better. Hopefully my mistakes will help your trip run a little smoother than mine! Have fun and don’t forget…
Ravage’s favorite place to nap was next to the fire and close to the big sticks.