Jack Hates Stairs

The RV is a great space for the pets, once they’re used to how it works.

Some of you know I have a dog with extreme separation anxiety.  It’s mostly due to the fact I’m his third owner, and he didn’t get much training or love before I had him.  HIs name is Jack, affectionally called Jackapotamus.  When you tack on his need to be within a foot of me at all moments of his existence, I refer to him Proximity Potamus.  Jack really doesn’t care what’s going on.  He’d be fine with an apocalypse, as long as I was within a few feet of him.

Spot the Cat and Proximity Potamus, both parked within a foot of me

The RV presented a new difficulty.  Jack is a 14 lb miniature schnauzer, and he doesn’t handle huge jumps well. My RV has a bed that is really high.  I use a stepstool myself to get into it.  The dog stairs I bought were so low Jack couldn’t get past the last jump onto the bed, no matter how much time I spent with treats and training.  And to make it all worse, he’d jump off late at night for his midnight snack, then sit there and whimper until I picked him up and put him on the bed.  I didn’t get much sleep my first two trips.

Bed height with Jack for scale

After the realization the fancy dog stairs I bought were useless, I starting thinking of ramps.   There are plenty of dog ramps for cars out there, but they were really long (5 feet), and wouldn’t shrink to fit the smaller space I had.  On top of that, I remembered the cats would be without a scratching post.

I considered a self-made Home Depot plywood monstrosity covered in carpet, but knew I’d probably botch it.  I dug around locally for carpenters and found Andy, a local carpenter at Good Wood Creations.  His website had a lot of custom furniture, so I emailed him and asked if he was willing to create a pet ramp.  Turns out he also does RV refittings and was on board to create an inexpensive solid ramp that would double as a scratching post. Andy delivered:

In the end, the cost to hire Andy to do the custom work was the same as buying a pre-fab ramp.  In this case, I got a ramp made to fit that suits my needs for the same price as something pre-fab.  And he’s set it up so it fits right under the mattress during travel, and I can replace the carpet after the cats shred it.

The other thing I learned was the Jack pee/poo schedule.  I’ve had Jack for around 5 years now, and he’s always had a back door with a screen to stroll in and out.  I take him on walks, but that’s on my schedule.  I learned fast I had to take Jack out every couple of hours.  He’s got dog stuff to do, and when he as to go, he has to go.  The worst was the first night. I had to get up at 1 AM, put on my clothes, and stumble around in the 30 degree dark while Jack picked the perfect place to pee.  I learned I had to set a schedule for walks, and beyond that, I take him on a stroll an hour before I want to sleep.  I make that little bugger walk until his business is done.  That usually holds him until I wake up.  If I don’t do it, I’m out stumbling in the dark and half asleep.

I did finally get the cats in the RV for a weekend. And you know what?  The worst part was getting them into the RV, and 80% of that was my own anxiety.  Of course, Spot didn’t give a crap.  I carried him in and sat him down in his harness, and he sat at the table and waited for his treats.  Salem was her crazy self, but I loaded her in a blanket and locked her in the bathroom for all of the driving parts of my trip.  She was fine after it was over.  Once we arrived, Spot didn’t care the entire weekend, and Salem was her usual crabby self.  Other than that, it was like any other day at home.

 

The anger is real

The only thing I have to worry about is keeping Salem indoors.  She likes her freedom and will bolt if she can. Salem will come back.  Whether it’s on my timetable or hers is the question.  Spot I worry less about.  He runs for all of 2 seconds, then flops over.  Still, I keep water near the door and throw it at them to chase them off when I’m coming in and out.  Works ok so far.

They are pets and they do what they do.  I did a ton of research in regards to traveling with pets, and I just learned everything really does work out in the end once you get used to it.  You will be stressed getting them into the RV. You’ll stress a little keeping them IN the RV, and when it’s all over they really don’t care as long as they can pile on top of you while you sleep.