I have a new love in my life: he’s called Alfie, and he’s the most adorable ball of fluff I’ve seen in a while. Alfie’s a Shih Zu puppy, though I’m convinced there’s another breed in there somewhere, too.
I’m not a Kennel Club snob, and while I have nothing against “pure breed” dogs, I don’t care about that at all. If anything, I tend to prefer dogs that are what some refer to as mongrels. After all, if I was a dog, people would call me that, too!
Puppy cycling
Alfie will be an adventure dog. That simply means I’ll be taking him on a fair amount of adventures, including cycle camping. As he’s a tiny puppy, and will never be a large, or even medium size dog, he simly won’t be able to run alongside my bike.
Besides, even if he was able to, especially in summer, his feet would burn, and I wouldn’t want him running on roads shared with cars. This is where my cunning plan comes in: I have a bicycle trailer! It’s a bog-standard children’s bicycle trailer, and I’m planning on teaching Alfie to ride in the trailer. Obviously, it will be enclosed, so he can’t somehow jump out mid-ride.
Puppy camping
Wild camping with a dog – especially a puppy – has challenges. For starters, however small a breed Alfie might be, he’d still be able to scare sheep on Dartmoor, so it’s important that he’s taught how to behave around wild stock.
Equally important, I wouldn’t want him to run off and get lost. Alfie currently don’t have any of the skills needed for such a camping trip, but then he’s only ten weeks old yet (at the time of writing). I have ample time to slowly train him to have the skills he need, with a crucial one being to return to me when called. He will also need to learn to sleep in a tent (which I don’t think he’ll struggle with at all).
Puppy chew toys
Currently, absolutely everything is a chew toy to Alfie, even my toes! That means, at the moment, there’s a real risk of him chewing up lots of my camping and cycling kit. For his sake, and mine, I’d like to avoid that.
I’ve never had to consider what harm my camping gear might do to a puppy, so I need to carefully re-evaluate everything.
Over to you
Have YOU gone camping with a puppy? What did you learn on that trip that you wish you knew before? And what advice can you offer me?