# Tent recommendation to share with dog?



## climber (Apr 28, 2008)

Hello.  My wife and I are getting a new puppy in just a few weeks. We are avid rock climbers, ice climbers, and campers. None of the tents we have now are large enough for anything more than the 2 of us and our gear. Since we're adding another member to our party (at least for most of our trips), we are on the market for a new tent. The idea is that the dog will sleep in the tent with us when full grown, should he want to. When he is a puppy, he will be sleeping in a crate in the tent. When he's older, he can sleep out in the vestibule, or in the tent with us - up to him. 

We are looking for a 3 man tent (myself, wife, large dog), 3 season, at least one vestibule (prefer 2 vestibules and 2 doors) and the tent must have a full cover rain fly. We are not very concerned with the weight of the tent at this point, as most of the trips we will use this tent for we will not be forced to carry it very far. 

I think that a "tub" style floor (material more like a tarp than tent body) would hold up best against the dog claws, even though we would obviously trim and file the nails prior to taking the dog out on a camping trip with us. I was just wondering if anyone out there takes their dog camping and allows them in the tent with them. If so, what tent do you use? What do you like about your tent? What do you hate about your tent? Any suggestions as far as tents I should look at? 

We're not really interested in the "dog tents", where he would have his own tent.

Thanks!


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## fuzzie (Jul 6, 2007)

Maybe it would be a good idea to keep him crated even when he's older. I don't think many tents will hold in a big, determined dog.


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## climber (Apr 28, 2008)

fuzzie said:


> Maybe it would be a good idea to keep him crated even when he's older. I don't think many tents will hold in a big, determined dog.


Thanks for the response. I wouldn't disagree one bit. If he is not happy to remain in the tent, he will definitely be crated regardless of age - I am not looking for a tent capable of holding a determined dog that wants out of the tent. The idea is to get him used to being in the tent while a puppy, in hopes that we would not have to crate him once he is trained. Regardless, we will need a larger tent - I am just hoping to get one that would work as well as possible for him in the event he is able to be out of his crate.


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## emily445455 (Apr 8, 2008)

My hubby, sister and I are going camping with our doggie sometime this summer. We're going to get a tent big enough for all 3+ humans and puppy's crate. I just feel safer having her sleep in her crate when we're not at home


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

I would crate her no matter if she wants to get out or not. Reason being that if someone wanted to steal her all they'd have to do would be to slowly open the tent, grab her collar and pull her out and run. If she was in her crate they'd have to open it, Snoopy's crate makes a noise when it opens so you'd be able to hear it. Or if they tried to grab the crate they'd probably bump you which would wake you up.


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## LuckyLabMom (Apr 17, 2008)

I can't recommend a particular brand or anything, but I lived in a tent with a dog for a few months so I can give a little input from my experience. 

Size-wise it was a 6-person tent and it was mostly just me and the dog (my now-ex-bf was traveling a lot for work). He was an adult Australian Shepherd, about 60 lbs. It had the kind of floor you are describing - more tarp-like than tent-like, and there was no problem as far as toenails ripping it. 

The dog would 'scratch' at the door if he had to go out in the middle of the night and it never damaged the door of the tent either. 

Most of the time he did really well sleeping in the tent with me. I had a small mattress in there although he mostly slept on his "bed" (a thick folded blanket) on the floor of the tent. 

And this dog was a bit neurotic and hyper, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well he adjusted to tent-life for such a long period of time. The only really bad nights were when there were thunderstorms - sometimes I would stick him in the house on those nights (we were camping out on a friend's lake property). 

I would think if you get the dog used to the experience of sleeping in a tent it should be fine without a crate. Of course a lot of that just depends on the individual dog. 

I would recommend getting a good quality tent that is built for heavy use - but beyond that I have no specific recommendations.


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## katthevamp (Aug 7, 2007)

Durbkat said:


> I would crate her no matter if she wants to get out or not. Reason being that if someone wanted to steal her all they'd have to do would be to slowly open the tent, grab her collar and pull her out and run. If she was in her crate they'd have to open it, Snoopy's crate makes a noise when it opens so you'd be able to hear it. Or if they tried to grab the crate they'd probably bump you which would wake you up.


*Tries to imagine someone taking a dog in the middle fo the woods* Wouldn't the dog hear someone coming or wake to then grabbing the collar? Most dogs I know would bark at the sudden and intrusion. Not to mention I at least find it hard to sleep solidly in a tent. Anyone moving wakes me up, however breifly. If I then saw someone grabbing my dog, there would be trouble.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Oh, I was thinking more along the lines of a camp site.  I am a sound sleeper, so I probably wouldn't hear anyone taking Snoopy if he was out of his crate. But it would wake me up if they bumped me with the crate.


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## katthevamp (Aug 7, 2007)

Heh, maybe. Still, the dog itself would likley made noise. Snoopy isnt big, either, so I suppose you wouldn't feel him step over you.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Plus not all dogs are barkers. Snoopy won't bark when he hears or sees somebody coming. He just runs up to them with his tail wagging a thousand times a minute.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

I use the Big Agnes Seedhouse 2 for just me and Ollie. I'm going to be buying the Big Agnes Seedhouse 3 soon and that one can easily fit three dogs and one person. (Three 60lb dogs)

I can't envision carrying a crate around and the thought of leaving the dog defenseless doesn't bode well to me. My Seedhouse 1 withstood the beating of approximately 2,000 miles before it finally wore away, so I'm a fan.

As far as I have seen so far, it is bar none the lightest tent while still having some comforts. I've always kept my gear under the rainfly not in the tent.

One thing to consider is carrying around a ultra lightweight sleeping pad for the dog, as the ground can get a bit uncomfortable (as you know). But some dogs don't care.

That is my personal recommendation. You can find the Seedhouse 3 at REI.


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## filox (Dec 19, 2007)

Hello,

When we go camping I use the Tengu 3.
http://www.rei.com/product/763159

But as log as the tent is big enough to accommodate you and your dog, I don’t think the brand is important, I find more important that your dog gets use to the tent.

My dog for instance, will sit by the door when they want out, or if I don’t notice this they will paw the door...

But this is usually in the morning (at day break more often that not). If they hear a noise during the night they some times will bark from the inside of the tent until I say quit (some times more than once)

But any way, don’t let your dogs sleep out of the tent, unless is in the vehicle or other secure place, there are lots of critters out there and the danger is not for they to be eaten (al list not usually) but the diseases they can catch from wild animals.

Any way. this is just out of my experience.

Enjoy camping with your dog.... Cheers.


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## Annamarie (Oct 14, 2007)

I've camped with everything from a big hairy 90 pound dog to our current tiny 15 pound min pin. I never had a problem with them poking their claws through but we always use the tarp floors because in BC you can pretty much count on getting rained on. My dogs always respected the walls too, we never had a problem with them having to be contained in a crate. 

When we bought our current tent we bought the smallest size you could stand up in. I think it's probably a 4 person tent. I can't stand trying to change when you're cold and not being able to stand up lol...


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## melgrj7 (Sep 21, 2007)

As a kid and teen my family camped a lot, I always slept in a tent with my dog I don't have a brand name, but the floor was more tarp material and held up really well. I taught her not to paw the door or walls, which was easy. I slept on a blow up matress if the ground was rocky, and once I fell asleep she would sneak off the matress and sleep on a blanket my mom put in there for the dog (I couldn't fall asleep without her next to me as a kid).


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## climber (Apr 28, 2008)

Great, thanks to all that responded. RBark, I will check out the Seedhouse, and filox I will also check out the Tengu. I'm somewhat familiar with both Sierra Designs and Big Agnes brands, so that is another bonus - in fact, one of our 2-man tents may be a Sierra, I can't remember anymore. The ultralight sleeping pad is a good suggestion as well, I think we have a few that have been retired that I could probably patch up and get in working order again for him. They were retired because they were no longer dependable enough to take into the mountains, but for what we'll most likely be doing with the dog, should be fine.

From your experiences, it sounds like the tub style floor is far from a "must have", which is good to hear. I'm having trouble finding a tent that I am happy with that has that type of floor. If I drop that as a requirement, it seems like I'm back in the element that I am most familiar with (the more "technical" backpacking type tents). Is it safe to assume you (RBark, filox, anyone else who uses a tent without the tub style floor) use a footprint with your tents?

The puppy is a shepherd (dutch), so I do not anticipate somebody being able to "sneak" into my tent to grab him - those radar dishes he has for ears ought to alert him to just about anything within miles!  My wife and I are both light sleepers as well, even without a dog I do not think having somebody sneak into my tent without our knowledge is a major concern for us. Certainly a reasonable concern if you are a heavy sleeper though, especially when camping in a family style campground. We are usually camping in more remote locations, although I'm sure we'll do our fair share of campground camping this year just to get the dog familiar with camping in general.

Thanks again, I appreciate all the responses.


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## CrazyDog (Oct 16, 2007)

Welcome to the forum! 

My husband and I do a lot of backpacking, hiking, rock climbing etc. too. We have different tents for different purposes.......four season, three season etc... The tent we use the most is our Marmot Aeros 3P. We love this tent it is very durable and VERY light weight, 5lbs. It is a three man tent and fits my husband, me and our dog (48lbs) very comfortably. It is made of mesh and has a sturdy rainfly. It is a three season tent (though we have taken it in below freezing temps with no problems) and it has two doors. The vestibule area is approximately 10 sq ft. You can go to Marmot.com for more info on it.

Our dog sleeps in our tent and we have never had problems with her nails puncturing any of our tent floors.  Like others have said, I would not recommend leaving your dog out of the tent when camping, under the vestibule or not. There are too many dangers IMO....but I have never had someone come and take my dog out of the tent.  She is usually very good at alerting us of an intruder, animal or human.

We never used a crate, to get our dog accustomed to the tent when she was a pup we set up the tent in our house and in our back yard many times and sat in the tent with her and even spent a night in it in our back yard. She had no problems getting used to it and settled in right away. When we went on our first camping trip she was right at home in the tent.

Like Rbark our dog has her own ultra light weight pad as well and loves it. After all she is our princess! 

Hope this gives a little help in picking out a new tent and good luck with your new pup.


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## bluedawg (Apr 20, 2008)

I use cheap walmart tents, Im going to look into the BIg Agnes tents now.

Blue was less then a year old on his first rafting/camping trip and did fine both on the raft and overnight in the tent.

Verdes first trip she was allmost 2, I wont mention how she did on the raft but she did just fine in the tent.

On the other hand I tend to sleep walk so one night I inadvertantly let them out of the tent and all they did was chase each other around the campsight all night and where 2 very tired dogs in the morning.

They will have their own sleeping pads this season.


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