Dogs and caravan sites: the great debate
They may be man's best friend, but can dogs cause problems on caravan sites?
Tuesday, 27, Oct 2009 03:52
Dogs may be man's best friend. But are they compatible with life on caravan sites?
It seems that this is the current debate amongst us caravanners. There is no doubt that over the last decade the dog population on sites has increased dramatically. In response the Caravan Club has decided to review their position on dogs by asking their members how they feel about all aspects of dogs on designated sites.
It appears that there is no fence to sit on in this debate. You either like dogs, or you don't. As a lifelong caravanner and dog owner I still have my own reservations about the behaviour of dogs on sites. Furthermore, just like facing a family with unruly children, we often face the owner with the dog that won't stop barking. It's usually the same owner that doesn't scoop the poop.
Poop the scoop
Non poop-scoopers are truly unbelievable. All us caravanners who clean up after our dogs will feel precisely the same annoyance as I do when I take my little pooch out for a walk in the designated walking areas.
Have you noticed it is owners with large dogs who seem to ignore the rules and ultimately show no respect for anyone else walking those paths? Don't worry dog owners: you are not all responsible for the mess! Some of you do pick up - but you too will know what I mean when you walk your dog tippy-toeing through the dog mines. Very unpleasant. People who flagrantly disregard the rules are the ones to be weeded out so that the rest of us happy campers can get on with it.
The caravanning community is a friendly, helpful and mutually respectful community. If there is an issue with dogs at the minute it is obviously with good reason. Aside from reluctant scoopers we regularly have caravanners arriving on site with more than one dog. On occasion you can see as many as four or five dogs. This begs a question: are these people pushing it too far? Are they asking too much from non dog owners to put up with the whining and whimpering?
And the barking. Oh, the barking. If we were to institute dog only sites I can imagine this would be pandemonium. Rather like spending the night outside Battersea Dog's Home with not an ear plug in sight.
The rules at most camp sites are clear in that dogs are to be kept on leads at all times. Even as a dog owner I feel this is perfectly reasonable - let us not forget that some people are frightened of dogs and we must always consider others when caravanning.
Size matters
My own dog is tiny yet I keep her on a lead - always. Not just because it is the rule but because I have experienced on occasions too numerous to list in its entirety, people walking their hounds off their leads.
This happened to me once on a private site in Wiltshire. While walking around the perimeter of a beautiful meadow, a boxer dog appeared bounding through the long grass. It immediately grabbed my dog by the neck and chaos ensued. The man who owned the dog was too overweight and unfit to catch it. Yet while he was apologising, he implied the fault was mine for owning a small dog. Needless to say what my dog lacks in size I made up for by giving him a piece of my mind. Looking back now I was just terrified, and little has changed. I am still afraid to walk my dog on sites because people break the rules.
Is change unavoidable?
But what would life be like with no pets on site? Pretty dull. Once I saw a huge tropical parrot outside someone's caravan sitting in its cage on a picnic table. It was stunning. I don't have to tell you how wonderful it is to see such a mixture of life when we caravan, and we are by nature a very curious and dare I say it harmlessly nosey lot. Bringing in too many changes could alter our whole caravanning experience and yet with so many people turning to caravanning as their new hobby, it seems inevitable that change is unavoidable.
Yvonne Turley