Transporting the dog

StanRVan wrote:Wow! A Great Dane in a Symbol! That must be a squeeze on a wet day. Hopefully it's not as bouncy as our Cocker Spaniel! She does like her crate and sleeps in it in the house, with the door open. I can imagine how difficult it would be to fit a Great Dane size crate into your Symbol, even if the dog would go in it!  I just thought it would be nice for our pup to be able to look out of the window. I think we're going to carry on using the crate on the floor. Thanks everyone for your comments.

Bed time could be interesting   with the Great Dane, our Jack Russell has a habit of getting into bed with us in the early hours,  thankfully the Warwick has two single beds.

I recall when we had the Topaz, a chap who was about to buy a Topaz, asked me how we got on with the dog, ok I said, he then told me he had two large Retrievers. Bet he found it tight
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Richard

Our mutely used to sneak on the bed in the Duetto normal on managements side being nearest the heater, I got the door side. Being older and a bit less agile he now sleeps under the bed as far up to heater outlet as he can get. Occasionally he sleeps on the passenger seat but only if we turn it round to face us.

Dave 418 wrote:Our mutely used to sneak on the bed in the Duetto normal on managements side being nearest the heater, I got the door side. Being older and a bit less agile he now sleeps under the bed as far up to heater outlet as he can get. Occasionally he sleeps on the passenger seat but only if we turn it round to face us.

Yes,  same here he gets into wife's bed, he he, warmer with the heater, or do I fidget    or is. It because her feet don't  reach the bottom of the bed?
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Richard

Back in 2006 we were looking for a van in which we could transport our two bearded collies to dog shows up and down the country. With shows that often start quite early and dogs that need a lot of grooming our van needed to be able to hold a@lot of gear, like folding grooming table/trolley, grooming bag and allow us to sleep in it, at least for a few nights. Oh and it had to have a toilet for those night time calls. And it had to be able to be used as a daily driver.
Most vans that had the space for our requirements were big motorhomes, which didn't meet that last stipulation. Then we came across the Horizons Unlimited range. HU was a partnership between Roy Wood Transits, the independent Transit dealers and the Pegg brothers of Tamworth who converted the vans. Their signature model was the Cavarno, a 4 seat/2 or 4 berth mini motorhome, luxuriously specified and just a tad under 5m but with a separate shower room with toilet.
The Cavarno was lovely but had no real room for dogs and their gear. However HU made second model called the Innovation. This was the same as the Cavarno until you got behind the rear seats. The Cavarno's oven had gone as had the shower room, but the resulting floorspace at the rear was a 2ft 'boot' with a door through to the vans interior. The kitchen worktop ran across the van above this full width space. Initially the idea was to store a disability scooter, but there were masses of other uses for the space, one of which was a purpose built metal dog crate built by Barjo. The crate had a removable divider and a door for each half so you could take one dog at a time out of the crate. It also had a central door into the interior aisle of the van. The gap above the crate, under the worktop, took the grooming trolley, a puppy pen, a canvas crate for shows plus grooming bag and washing up bowl with dog towels plus a couple of folding chairs.
For humans the van had a fridge and sink/gas hob combo plus plenty of roof lockers. There was also a proper swivel Thetford and the toilet compartment's door provided modesty facilities.
We used the van for 3 years and then swapped for a small Adria, followed by a brace of Eriba caravans and then a Lunar; followed by a Bailey Pegasus. At that point, two years ago, we decided to give up touring and sold up. However a few weeks after doing so I came across an HU Innovation for sale with a dealer in Blackpool. It was a MWB version, so an extra foot longer, which meant it had a factory fit metal roof, rather than the GRP one fitted to our original van. The extra length has been utilised in making the boot 3ft deep, rather than 2ft and adding an extra roof locker on the offside and wider wardrobe on the nearside. Sadly we no longer had the Barjo crate, which would've fitted; but found a Ferplas crate that fitted fine. A new Barjo was £800 whilst the Ferplas was around £150, so no contest.
It's always puzzled me, why, with a very high % of motorhome buyers owning dogs, the major brands do virtually nothing in their designs to accommodate them. Apparently Hymer introduced several dog themed accessories last year, but they are aftermarket items, not built in facilities and I'm certain a lot more could be done to keep dogs more comfortable and safe for all concerned.

I use a crate for my 3.5 year old cocker.  He travels in it in the back of the car and when buying the camper ensuring there was room for the crate on the floor was essential.  He travels fine and there is the novelty of seeing me between the seats when travelling!  The crate stands outside when I am on site, I just lift it in and put him in it when going for a shower as otherwise he barks when I leave him!  ( I travel solo).  For some reason he feels better when in the crate in the camper when on his own!   At least it means I can use the onsite shower without worrying he will disturb others!   He loves the camper, as I do!