How to keep a dog cool in a motorhome

[chasingbluebells]

Hi all - I am days away from getting my first motorhome - yippee! I will be spending lots of time in it with my son and toddler over the next year or so, and am wondering if there are any clever wheezes to manage leaving the dog in it sometimes when its not winter. I have always been extremely cautious about cars and hot weather - I trained Hank (that's the dog not the toddler) to not jump out of the car boot so I could leave the boot lid completely open whenever there was the slightest risk. And never left anything of value in the boot / accessible. But of course you can't do that with all your stuff in a motorhome, and it would sometimes be convenient to be able to leave him alone in it. So - any ideas for managing temperature would be fabulous! Thanks in advance.

 

[Wellington]

year before last, we left our dogs unattended for 20 minutes and returned to 3 traumatised dogs with 1 of them nearly dead. he had been left chained onto his collar by mistake and somehow got a leg caught up. He freaked out and clawed frantically at the collar to free himself, ripping his ear and face to shreds. He then collapsed down the steps by the hab door and was losing conscious as I returned and opened the door. If I had not returned right then, we would of lost him
It is that quick for a tragedy to happen

That must have been a dreadful experience, I hope your poor pet is fully recovered and not too traumatised. I really dislike leaving Archie in the van. I worry most about fire (which also concerns me at home) and we take him with us whenever possible (even on the bikes). So many places for children do not allow dogs, so we have to compromise much more than I would like. Being widowed I have no sensible options for leaving either the child or the dog behind with supervision.

 

[Mr Chrysalis]

And an inverter

 

[DBK]

We were planning to leave the dog in the van ( blinds closed, silver screens on front, roof vents open) for a few hours this last week in Spain. Before doing so we tested our theory without the dog present- thank goodness we did so. The thermometer read 40 degrees when we opened up! Outside temperature was 22 degrees.
I’d be extremely cautious about leaving dogs in vans after this.

What sort of blinds do you have on your windows? Ours are reflective silver and we've never seen high internal temperatures over a few hours. I've described in another thread the system I've made which emails my phone with the internal MH temperature so I can keep tabs on the situation.

 

[Wellington]

Someone had video monitoring too (or was it audio?). If we go to Italy, I think I will make further investment.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[138go]

Worse than a Brexit Thread with all these scare stories. Meg our Labradoodle has spent hours at sea sailing, been knocked out of a dingy and went swimming. Been to Spain 4 times without incident. Been left in MH in all sorts of places while we have gone for a drink or a meal or National Trust. She is always pleased to see us when we return. MHs do get warm but nothing like a car or van. With sensible precautions Meg is happy to be left. We just have to make sure we don't leave any paper hankies about, as she just cannot resist them. Providing you leave a safe environment it's no different to leaving your dog at home.

 

[Stanbrook]

Without our modified baby gate our three dogs abandon ship as soon as the sliding door opens. A large mosquito net helps with privacy and flying critters.

 

[skylinersi]

View attachment 288330 Without our modified baby gate our three dogs abandon ship as soon as the sliding door opens. A large mosquito net helps with privacy and flying critters.

nice mod