Pets in the camper

Kr@cken

I am NEVER one who wants to second guess or shame others for how they decide to camp. That said I was passed today on a local highway and was initially delighted to see a very large and sweet looking pet looking out the back window of a NuCamp. I was concerned with the safety of towing a pet but decided to defer to the owners judgement. I parked my car and came out 45 minutes.later and noticed how very hot my car was. Even in the fall in the PNW the cars still gets hot. I started to really worry about the dog and how hot it might have been in their trailer. I remember reading some run their cooling on propane while towing to precool the camper but that seems less than ideal, Without opening up a huge can of worms do many people transport their pets in their camper. I would never want to try it and thought perhaps there is a reason I am missing. If not maybe the driver of that 400 reads this post and checks his camper cooler temperature. Apologies if this is a common proactive.

VictoriaP

Aside from how hot or cold it can get, one hard slam of the brakes and a loose pet can be injured or killed. Trailers are rolling earthquakes as we drive down the road. Leaving a living creature loose in such a situation puts them at risk, which is why you can’t tow with people in the trailer. Any pet in the trailer under tow should at least be crated, and the crate well secured. (Edit to make clear: I agree with Verna below, even a secured crate doesn’t make it SAFE, just safer than loose. But pets do not belong in a moving trailer, period.)

Personally, my dog gets seatbelted with a special harness in the center of the rear bench seat of the car, as studies have shown that is the safest place for a pet in an accident. 

My understanding is that the A/C unit on the 400 doesn’t run on propane at all. Perhaps what you read about cooling relates to the 3-way fridge on propane? At most, you can run the vent fans while traveling, though I personally won’t do so without a vent cover (or using a MaxxFan with the permanent cover those have). I’ve heard of too many open vents ripped off in transit over the years.

Verna

I would never put either of my dogs in the T@B while driving.  Even in a crate, they can tumble around. If it is illegal to tow a person in a towable camper/trailer, to me it is illegal to tow my dogs. 

Yes, there are times I leave my dogs in the T@B while shopping or eating, but the T@B is cooler than the truck. I am always watching my watch to time how long I’ve been away. And, my blinds would be closed to keep it cooler inside and to keep people from looking in and exciting the dogs. 

4ncar

This is just plain nuts!😡 I don’t have dogs, but if I did I would never be so cruel!

—Wording changed due to being inappropriate. This is a family forum and as you can see, simple words and emoji’s can be used in the place of even intentionally misspelled words. Thank you. Verna, T@B Forum Administrator—

Kr@cken

I would never have our Auggie dog in the camper and heartened to see others feel the same. 

4ncar

4ncar said:

This is just plain nuts!😡 I don’t have dogs, but if I did I would never be so cruel!

—Wording changed due to being inappropriate. This is a family forum and as you can see, simple words and emoji’s can be used in the place of even intentionally misspelled words. Thank you. Verna, T@B Forum Administrator—

Yes, words changed, but with less affect, which was my point, “just plain nuts” doesn’t even begin to represent my ire.

Verna

@4ncar, I have had a number of dogs throughout my 6+ decades on this earth. I can’t tell you the number of times I have put my dogs before myself. As I have no children, my dogs are my children. I know how angry I would have been had I seen the dog in the T@B. I personally would have called 911. And I would have followed the T@B’s owners until they were stopped by the proper authorities. 

Now, I said all of this without any inappropriate language. NüCamp expects this forum to be a family friendly place to exchange ideas, help each other, and help the factory.  So, please abide by nüCamp’s rules and just spread the news of this inappropriate towing of a pet in a T@B, and please do so with anger in check, with appropriate language so our message is heard. 

Let us hope the pet’s owner simply was totally ignorant of how dangerous their act was for their pet. Let’s help educate those who don’t know how dangerous this is. 

4ncar

For the record, no foul language was used. I Have respected the rules of the forum.