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The One Where We Camped

I went camping with my dogs exactly one time, and I'm now convinced that it's a huge part of my personality.

My sister is the queen of impulsive fun adventures, and I'm pretty much down for anything, especially when we just got our tax returns. So when she hit me up on a random Friday at the end of February and asked me to go camping the next day with the dogs, I was all about it. We both started frantically ordering camping gear and I'm not at all ashamed to say that I spent the majority of my day at work that Friday doing camping related research and making lists of what to bring and pack.

We ended up booking our campsite through AirBnb. It turned out to be a really fabulous location for us, but between the excessive Florida heat and the site being booked pretty regularly, we haven't made it back yet. We were on 8 acres which houses four separate campsites. There's a small river/creek running through the property, tons of trees, a long path to trek along (so long we didn't even finish walking it), and the feeling of total solitude. However, we were about 5 minutes from civilization complete with a Wawa, Walmart, Publix, large shopping center and plenty of places that delivered to our site. Yes, we had stuff delivered because somehow we managed to forget firewood, fire starter, and marshmallows.


All the convenience of city living with rural landscapes; it's like my dream set up. Our campsite was in Wimauma, FL, and it did not disappoint. I loved that the fact that there was water, especially when it was the middle of the day and it was hot. I often worry about fresh water in Florida because of alligators, but this water was really clear, not too deep, and I just used my common sense to avoid areas where the water wasn't moving or it was too dark to see. It was about an hour and a half drive from our house to get to the site, which was totally worth it. I'm excited to do it again, but really need the weather to cooperate with me. I'm not sure how many more fans I'd need to pack to make 100 degrees tolerable.


Gear We Packed V.S. What We Used

For once, I think we actually made smart purchasing decisions. I'm not going to pretend like we weren't ridiculously impulsive, but the majority of what we packed we used. Neither of us had camped before, so we really had to start from the ground up.

For the sake of simplicity, I've listed out everything and highlighted any items we didn't use in blue & linked the bigger items (or something similar to what we used):


Things We'd Do Differently


Next time around, I'd probably throw a tarp down under the tent, just because at night while I was tossing and turning I found a few sticks that we're really comfortable underneath me. I'd also consider actually checking the weather before heading out, because we had nothing for rainy conditions, and weren't really ready for the cold temperatures we got overnight.

I'd also consider some cookware if I were going to stay more than one night. We bought a pizza in town for dinner and ate it by the fire, then snacked on strawberries, chips, and Girl Scout cookies the rest of the time. Neither of us is really a big breakfast type of person, but when the family in the next campsite made bacon and pancakes... we got a little jealous.


Having the dogs on leash wasn't bad, by any means, BUT a strong recall and the ability to be off-leash may have been more enjoyable. We ended up having to untangle them quite a bit during the day since they were so energetic. It definitely didn't spoil our fun, but I see how being able to be leash-less would be better.


Book another night. One night just wasn't enough for me. I wanted to go in the little river more and spend more time exploring the property. It was a great introduction since I was so nervous about the dogs, but now I'm itching for more.


What Did The Dogs Think?


Grimm was probably the more nervous of the two pups, which I found super surprising. He just wanted to be sure he knew where everyone was at all times, and would spend a lot of his time standing and scanning the campsite. He wasn't overly nervous or uncomfortable anxious, but I just could tell he wasn't as comfortable as Reaper was. I will say, Grimm made for a great cuddle buddy in the tent though. Either he cuddled because he was cold, or because he was scared, but either way I have 50-something pounds of fluffy pooch all over me all night long.

Grimm is also my water dog, so no surprise that he was happiest playing in the water. It was Reaper's first real experience with water, so I had zero expectations. He was great though and followed Grimm in pretty easily. We learned Reaper likes to chase floating leaves down stream and chew wet sticks. Grimm was happy to chase us up and down the river or launch himself after a frisbee. We would have spent more time in the water, but another family also had a dog and kept getting a little too close for my comfort when we were in there.






I've spent a lot of time being concerned that Reaper wouldn't or couldn't adjust to a social life, and then I moved to just accepting that it's who he is. This camping trip showed me that maybe there's a way to have the confident dog I was hoping for, just in a way that's different from what I envisioned. Reaper was the real surprise when we went camping. I half-expected to have to pack up in the middle of the night and leave because Reaper can be so scared of things. He was an entirely different dog that day. He wasn't scared of my sister and even gave her kisses in the car on the way up. He didn't try to run away or bark at us while we unloaded things and set up the tents. He was the most confident I've ever seen him. I have two really simple, but completely amazing moments that I think of with him during this trip:

  1. The moment he laid by the fire and chewed a bone. There was something so calm, yet strong and primal about the way he looked. He just looked like he could be the king of the forest, and the way the fire reflected in his eyes was really special. Then I pet him, broke his concentration, and ruined the whole moment.

  2. When we went to sleep in our tent he did the husky nose-under-tail curl for the first time. I tried to snap a picture of him, but he woke up and looked at me like I was a total psycho. It was another moment where he reminded me to consider the calm, confident dog he could be.

Both boys came out of the trip happy, fulfilled, and covered in burs that we had to brush out when we got home (note to self: bring dog brush next time).


Instagram Follower Input:


I really enjoy including input from our followers in blog posts when I can, so I took full advantage of asking them some questions, and here's what we found out.


Suggestions for things to take camping:

  • Beds/kennels

  • Leashes

  • Life jackets

  • Bowls

  • Lighted collar/harness

  • Food

  • Bones/toys/chews

  • Bowls

  • Towels

Some follower statistics:

  • 73% of responders have only done tent/primitive camping,

  • 9% have done only rv camping

  • 18% have done both

  • 73% of responders have camped with dogs

  • 58% of responders have thought about camping with dogs

  • 42% have done it/do it regularly

Some things followers are unsure of when it comes to camping:

  • Wild animals: I won't lie, I pushed this fear out of my mind because I can get really hung up on things, especially scary things. Because I ignored those fears, we weren't remotely prepared to deal with a wild animal issue. I don't recommend going into camping as unprepared as we were. We didn't have a weapon of any kind, and a machete would have been really helpful when we navigated through vines to get to the water. I did exactly zero research about what to do if we ran into a bear or panther or wild boar. I relied heavily on the idea that my dogs would be scary enough to keep critters away. Don't be like me, make better choices so you, your family, and your pets are safe. Here's an article about being safe while camping from the National Park Service and this article from KAO gives some ideas for how to handle encounters with some of the more common wild animals. Do research about the wildlife you may encounter in the specific area where you're camping.

  • No enough space: I was a little nervous about this one too. That's why my sister and I opted for a four-person tent each. She actually went camping the next weekend with her boyfriend, son, and their dog. For that trip she upgraded to a 10-person tent that had room dividers. My concern was less about the tent itself, but more so about how much I could fit in my car. I did a lot of wiggling and finagling to get two adults, two large dogs, and all the gear listed above PLUS groceries into my 2020 Kia Sportage. Ladies and gentlemen, where there's a will, there's a way. If I'd needed to bring their crates, I would have been screwed because they don't fit in my car well to begin with. The reality is, I'm trying to be a camping, adventuring, dog sport mom, and I need a bigger vehicle. The good news is that Dog Dad has a 2022 Kia Telluride, so I'll be needing to swap cars with him for some of these adventures (he just doesn't know about it yet). The campsite itself was pretty spacious considering we had a good-sized fire pit plus enough space to park the car and set up two tents. Space is a hard one, you don't really know it's not enough until you need more. Overall, I'd say we had everything we needed and got really lucky that the campsite we chose was far enough away that we didn't feel like we were being smothered by the other campers in the area.

If you have any camping with dog stories, tips, site suggestions, or questions, I'd love to hear them! You can reach me by email at herrunningtails@gmail.com or the DMs are always open on Instagram and TikTok @herrunningtails.


Thanks for reading this tail, and here's to many more!


Danielle

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