"RV Parks and Pets???"

Discussion in 'Trip Planning and Travel Concerns' started by BankShot, Jul 31, 2015.

  1. BankShot

    BankShot
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    I was about to make a reservation at an RV park/resort yesterday to spend a few days at after the Labor Day weekend. While waiting on the phone for the reservations person I was scrolling down their website when I noticed at the bottom of the site the following, "No Pets Allowed Anywhere On Resort Property". When the gal came back on the line, and before going any further with the reservation, I asked her if that applied to the RV park section of this particular resort and she said yes it did. So I politely told her that we would not be visiting their facility as we had no plans of leaving our small dog at home. This is the very first time we have run across a park not accepting pets including very small ones at that. Have any of you encountered this along the way because we have found that a very large percentage of RVers do have pets with them. I can't imagine why a park would turn down a large percentage of customers like this but evidently it works for them as it is a very busy place in the summer months. What's really stumping me is that the RV park section of this particular resort is situated across the highway from the main part of the resort with the cabins, lodge and restaurant, etc. So pets should not be a problem in the non RV section the way I see it. No big deal, we'll find another place to park out butts for a few days in the same general area but it just kinda-sorta bothered me enough to initiate this post to see what others think about this........???

    Enjoy the summer, travel safe and often..............Bankshot
     
  2. docj

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    We don't have any pets, but I realize that many RVers do. The park we winter at in TX permits pets but periodically it has speculated that it might be better off to ban them entirely. The reason is that too many pet owners simply ignore the rules about where to walk their animals and cleaning up after them. Last year I took a series of pictures of one owner who carried a trowel with which he tossed his dog's poop into the birding pond. Somehow doing that was easier than simply putting it in a bag. The management reacted to the pictures by telling him not to do that but I don't think he ever saw anything wrong with what he was doing.

    Even if owners clean up after their animals there is still the issue of those that bark nearly continuously when left alone in their RVs. IMO nothing's worse than one of those powder puff dogs yipping for hours when its owners are away.

    As someone who owned dogs for >20 years while his children were growing up, I wouldn't hesitate to pay a few $$ extra for a pet-free park or a pet-free section within a park.
     
  3. BankShot

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    Hey there Joel - Great idea about having a "pet free" section within a park but I would guess that many parks might have problems trying to create such a section? I agree, some pet owners don't follow the park rules and either don't pick up after their pets or do as you said this one guy did, toss the poop into a pond or some other area. We've encountered a problem in the past with a dog owner who let his large dog run wild thru the park and we felt that was not right. And the park owner did nothing about it either which further pissed us off. We always keep our small dog within the confines of our own space and on a leash when walking, etc. As for the barking, nobody likes listening to a constant barking dog and in cases such as this is when the park owner should step in and tell that owner to either find a way to keep the dog quiet or leave. It's a tough one when it comes to pets that travel with their owners. We are just thankful that for the most part, there really aren't that many negative situations involving pets in the parks we've stayed at. We hope it stays that way. We will certainly be doing our part as pet owners to "keep the peace in the park"........

    Regards, Terry
     
  4. nedmtnman

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    We have cats. No barking and the poop is in a box to be delt with.
     
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  5. dbnck

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    That's been my observation, too, yet look at the number of RVs for sale that say "no pets." Hmmmm.

    So where is this RV park that doesn't allow pets? Sounds appealing to me.
     
  6. mdcamping

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    Sounds like maybe a busy tourist area type campground where they don't have to compete as much for camping business.

    Since we have been camping we have never had any issues with dogs, other than seeing an occasional dog bomb. That said we do try to make an effort in locating campgrounds that enforce their own policies so maybe that has helped or maybe we have been just lucky so far.

    I'm not a big dog person but DW is. We just had to put down our dog recently so by next camping season most likely we will have a new camping companion... have to keep the better half happy...

    Mike
     
  7. BankShot

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    dbnck: I don't want to start a badmouthing campaign here against this RV park by any stretch so please don't anyone take it as that. It's their policy and I am guessing that in the location they are and with the summer tourist crowds that flock there, they can be as choosey as they like and still do a land office business. And I was mistaken about the RV area being across the highway, it is on the same side of the road but adjacent and somewhat tucked away from the resort area itself. At least that's what the Google maps and their website shows. We've driven by it many times over the years but never gone in for a look around so figured we'd give it a try after the summer crowds have died down a bit. I'll just say that is at Lake Tahoe and is located on the southwest side of the lake near Emerald Bay and let it go at that. Probably just as good we found this out as the road around that part of the lake is not exactly one to take a Class A on. There are a couple or three hairpin curves that could prove a tad scary for any larger RV. We have since found another place on the other side of the lake in the Zephyr Cove area that does take pets and we are going to drive up one day next week and check it out prior to making a reservation. We are only about an hour and half from the lake so it makes for a nice drive and some lunch on the lake..................

    Regards, Bankshot
     
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  8. dbnck

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    I'm not sure you understood my question. I was wanting the name of the place so I could seek it out.

    I just stayed in a full-blown trailer park for 2 weeks and the neighbor had a dog that barked whenever it was let out. Sometime the owner would just stand there, watching it bark. But on two different days, they let it out unattended at 6:30 a.m. and it stayed out, barking the entire time, until 7:30 a.m. both times. The second time, I went over to ask them to take it in, but couldn't get near the door because the dog was blocking it. That was going to be our last day there anyway, so we just left.

    The other neighbor had a dog that stayed inside, alone, during the day. It was a little one that yapped like crazy every time we went outside.

    As I said, this was a trailer park, not an RV park, so I deferred to the "residents" over my transient status. But our next stop was a COE campground where there was a howling dog in the trailer next to ours--the people were gone, and the rules prohibit leaving unattended animals in RVs. We got a different site, but are lucky because it's during the week and there are sites available. This weekend, it's full.

    It was during this time that I read about a pet-free RV park and really, really wished I were there.
     
  9. BankShot

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    Okay now I understand. The name of the place is "Meeks Bay Resort & Marina" and as mentioned is located just north of Emeral Bay on the west side of the lake. Looks to be a really nice place and we were looking forward to giving it a try but can't due to their no pet policy. I know what you mean by barking dogs and all, we've been thru that ourselves and some owners can get really "testy" when approached about their barking dogs but those are the ones that don't care about anyone else but themselves and they end up ruining it for everyone else. If you do stay at this particular park please let me know what you think of it if you would..............

    Thanks and regards, Bankshot
     
    #9 BankShot, Aug 4, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2015
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  10. dbnck

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    Thanks for the info. One odd thing I found on their website was:

    Quiet time is 10:00pm to 8:00am. Maximum generator time is 2 hrs. during quiet time. Please be considerate!

    But the only sites without full hookups are for tents only--no trailers of any kind. So they'd be the only ones who could even possibly need a generator, and the odds of that are really low, and infinitesimally low during quiet hours. What a weird rule.

    And I do hate generators, so I wouldn't want to go there. They've managed to run me off, too!

    We stayed at Voyager in Tuscon several years ago, and I believe they had a "no pet" section.
     
  11. dbnck

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    Hmm...the edit button went away when I refreshed the page. It's Tucson, not Tuscon.
     
  12. BankShot

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    dbnck - I always thought it was spelled Toosan, thanks for setting me straight on that................. :D

    Every Feb. we stay just outside of Tucson on the southwest side at Gilbert Ray Campground. If you've never stayed there you owe it to yourself to give it a try. If you like nature and the desert along with what is a really nice campground, no doubt you'd enjoy this place. We always try to stay on A loop at the top of the hill as the views from up there are really great both during the day and at night. No sewer hookup but they do have a free dump station and there is 30 amp electric and water via water spigots placed conveniently throughout the campground so you don't need to worry about water as long your tank doesn't leak and you have a hose. Quiet as a church mouse at night and as long as you don't mind the sound of a few planes that pass overhead during the day, then it's all good with no negatives that we've run across in the times we've stayed there. No reservations, first come, first served, but if you get there early in the day you can find a decent spot no problem........................
     
  13. dbnck

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    Not to veer too far off topic, although you started the thread so I guess you own it. :)

    But when we first started fulltiming 12 years ago, never having owned an RV before, our first stop was Tucson. We stayed at Voyager for two weeks, and then moved to Gilbert Ray for a week. So in short order, we got both ends of the spectrum.

    In fact, we wrote up an account of Gilbert Ray on our (ad-free) website:
    http://www.debcar.com/Story0311Tucson7.htm

    We wrote about Voyager, too, and I noticed this:

    "They have designated areas for people with pets (we never tell them about Chucky because, like all pet owners, we think ours is different and should not be subject to rules designed [for] those other people's pets, the ones that always cause all the problems),"

    ...which it turns out is pertinent to this thread. But the hyperlink for "Chucky" is now dead, and I should fix it because it showed photos of our electronic dog.

    And...gah, that story's been up for over 10 years with that missing "for."
     
  14. Luvtheroad

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    We pulled into one spot where the previous occupant had emptied their cat's litter box into the firepit. That would have been an interesting bonfire, to say the least....
     
  15. nedmtnman

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    YUCK !!!! People never cease to amaze me. I have seen a lot of firepits that were used as garbage cans. When we camp hosted in a Natl Forest we saw some of that. Thing was WE had to clean it up.
     
  16. Rudy and Dan

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    This is exactly the type of park I would love to find. No dogs barking, no dog poop! We've just spent the winter surrounded by dogs and are literally going crazy. Now on the way home, we stop in a nice quiet campground, only to wake up this morning to a yappy little dog that seem to never let up. And for whatever reason, the owner won't let the little bugger inside.
    I think far too many dog owners greatly underestimate just how annoying their dog's barking is. In fact, some of them seem to find it amusing.
     
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  17. silverhooligan

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    Whatever you do, don't come to Long Island! There are state and county parks that don't allow pets at all. I couldn't believe how limited I was. Many of the parks, without campgrounds, don't allow dogs on the trails either, leashed or otherwise. I had reservations at a park and for the first time, traveling full-time for a year, I was turned away from a park because I didn't have paper document my dogs had rabies vaccinations. I had their rabies tags, up to date, but they wouldn't let me camp without paper documents. They didn't have a fax, and wouldn't let my vet email verification. It was nearly dusk and I had to turn around. Also, because I'm from out of state, I had to buy a $30 dollar pass and pay non-resident fee for campsites. Horrible run down facilities, dirty mildewy bathrooms, only water and electric, $50 and upwards. Fortunately I was visiting family and could just park in their driveway. I grew up on Long Island, it was a crushing disappointment to see how over priced and dog unfriendly their parks and beaches had become. I should point out that this was off-season too. I used to live in Massachusetts, aka Taxachusetts, and even there campgrounds are very reasonable and dogs are allowed on beaches off season.

    Oh well. Reinforced that the Island and I weren't a good match and I made the right decision to move away 32 years ago. After full timing so easily for a year, I was caught off guard by how different it was. My bad for not researching. Oh well, lesson learned.
     
  18. thomasgunnar

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    We have a couple dogs. One a rottweiler the other a mix from the SPCA. We never leave them with anyone so when we camp they camp. I know of only one campsite in the area that doesn't allow dogs. Some don't allow certain breeds. One time we were told that we could camp there this time but not again. At least the lady gave me an explination as to why. My dog would be too big and it would scare her.

    We respect the rules. Pick up, always on a leash, never unattended. We have met many nice people because of the dogs. We have also had many say we just had to stop and tell you we noticed how well behaved your dogs are.

    We love camping and the dogs love camping and couldn't imagine doing it without them.
     
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  19. Traveler II

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    We love dogs, but in retirement and doing lots of RVing decided not to replace our last one. Most of the time when we are in a park that allows pets it works out fine, but those times when the dogs are barking or doing their thing on the site we’re in it does get to be to much. We’ve run into people that leave for the day with their pets in the RV and they bark and bark and when you say something about it they tell you their dog doesn’t bark. The good news it doesn’t happen often. We’ve had a few times in the last 17 years of retirement that we’ve asked the park management for a new site and in a few cases have asked for our money back and moved on. I must say we prefer a park with either a no pet section or no pets at all. We really do like dogs, but we don’t love your pet as much as you do.
     
  20. cekkk

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    Sounds like an opportunity to profit off a niche market. Wouldn't work for us, though.
     

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