Van life hacks: Travelling with a dog

Nothing has brought me quite as much joy on this adventure as seeing how much our fur-kid, Kratos, is enjoying himself. He has been plucked from a life of snoozing on the deck of our house, waiting for his humans to get home, to living in a huge magic windbox with epic walks and pretty much 24/7 human time. He’s visibly healthier, happier and just generally stoked with life.

If you’re considering life on the road and worrying that your furry friend will hold you back, don’t. They add so much more joy than the minor restrictions detracts from the journey. There are, however, a few things to think about before you roll. Here’s what we have learned.

Safety first
Life on the road will mean a whole lot of travel, and so with this increase in time on the road comes the increase in the risk of incidents. Our Kratos isn’t the biggest German Shepherd, but when we brake sharply, he’s still 32kg of furry glory that will eject at speed. We have settled on getting him an “adventure vest” from Further Faster which allows us to clip him in. There’s heaps of different products, so you’ll be able to find one that works for your critter - if you have a smaller furball, check out the amazing pet hammocks they have!

Food sourcing and storage
We raw feed Kratos and I firmly believe that it has done him a world of good, so I obviously wanted to be able to keep this up. What we didn’t consider until we got on the road was that (a) it might be difficult to find a supplier of appropriate food once we got into more remote areas, and (b) the freezer in our van is not particularly large (15L).

Happily, we have found that we don’t actually need the freezer for personal use so the freezer is dedicated to the eating needs of Sir Kratos von Fluffybutt. Also, we have found that as you get more rural, there’s a reasonable supply of chicken frames/necks and brisket bones for him to munch on. When we hit a bigger centre and can find a raw food specialist, we get him some of the more nutritionally balanced stuff, but in between, he’s got plenty of chow.

Permitted to walk
If you’re like us, you’ll be super excited to take your pupster along on one of the many cool DOC walks. There are three categories of walks when it comes to dogs: dogs allowed on leash, dogs not allowed at all and dogs allowed with a permit. You’ll need to check the DOC information on their website of the walks you wish you to do to see what the requirements are, but if it calls for a permit then don’t fret: that’s easily and freely obtained.

All you need to do is go along to the local office listed for the area and have your dog’s registration number handy. They can be registered anywhere in NZ. Then you fill in the form required and carry it with you when you are out and about (or take a photo of it on your phone if you’re like me and lose paper).

Keeping it clean
You own a dog so you already know that the fur goes EVERYWHERE, but never has this been so true as in a small space. We recommend investing in a small but powerful battery vacuum cleaner to keep on top of the fluff. If you come into our van, you will see that we have NOT done this and it’s on our list to fix as soon as we can afford it!

Where to stay
There are far more places that accept dogs than you’d imagine, including DOC camps. There are 80 DOC campsites alone that allow dogs, so finding a place to park is certainly not onerous. The one place so far we have been where it could be tricky is Milford Sound as that is within the national park and therefore no dogs are allowed, even in vehicles. We haven’t had to yet, but a possible solution would be an overnight stay in a local boarding kennel.

Crossing the Strait
Whenever we cross the Strait, we leave Kratos in the van with good ventilation rather than putting him in the kennels on board, as he knows the van and it’s insulated enough that it never gets too hot for him. Make sure your pet has a good supply of freshwater as you’re not allowed to go back and check on them, and if they have a delicate tum, it might pay to either put down a couple of sacrificial towels or delay feeding to avoid puddles of disaster.

Dog farts and tripping hazards
We have yet to find a hack to overcome the hair-curling odour bombs that sometimes emerge from our beloved canine, nor have we found a way to elegantly bypass the sprawled mass of dog on midnight loo missions. So far, it just seems to be part and parcel of life on the road with dogs, but if you have a good solution, let us know in the comments!