My wife and I are planning on going camping probably just an overnight in September in Scotland and taking out then to be 4 month old Malamute pup with us. Question is assuming the temp may get down to 0-5 degrees CELCIUS NOT FARENHEIT. thouhg it will probably be warmer than that. Will the wee pup be OK in her crate in the fully covered truck bed. Sleeping in the tent with us is absolutely not an option. Allan
My first inclination is probably not. Overnight without moving the puppy will probably get cold, especially if the pup isn't used to such conditions. I could be wrong and please have someone correct me if this is the case. By my calculations 0-5 degrees Celcius is the equivalent of 32 to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Personally I would not leave the puppy in a vehicle overnight unless it was at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit or so...then I would still wonder if it was the best idea. Good luck.
You shouldn't have any problems providing your puppy has adequate bedding and of course is happy to sleep all night on his own. My parents Labs always slept in the back of a Volvo Estate car when they went they went on holiday in their caravan and my own two dogs although they've never spent the night in my car, are happy to sleep on the back seat for several hours in the middle of winter when temperatures can be as low as -10C. I do make sure though that I put their mattresses on the back seat together with plenty of warm blankets for them to snuggle in.
When you say truck bed, is the floor of it insulated, or will her crate be on the bare floor. Also, what sort of cover on the truck. A truck bed sounds a lot colder than inside the back of an estate car. A four-month-old puppy is a baby and unless you have had her from birth she quite possibly would still not be used to being by herself all night without you at hand if she wants to go out for a pee - or just wakes for a bit of comfort.
HI All, The truck bed is fully covered, Not a farm style steel canopy, full windows and opening door at rear. Floor is bare ridged plastic load liner. Its completely watertight. Currently Pup sleeps through the night 10-6 in her crate in our kitchen so i have no reason to suspect she will need out in the night. Bearing in mind her breed, i would assume that native pups in the arctic would be exposed to much lower temps from birth.....but i would have preferred some clarification. Thanks for replies so far.
OK you have an Arctic breed, but your puppy has not been acclimatised to living in those conditions, she has presumably been reared in a Summertime domestic environment. Having said that, I doubt that you will have to cope with severely low temperatures in September, but do make sure you have enough fluffy bedding for her to make a nest. You could also put a layer of fleece or carpet insulation under the crate, and partially covering it would trap warm air if the temperature did drop suddenly.
Quick update on the Camping........ It went spectacularly well, Ended up taking our car rather than our truck (80mpg vs 30 mpg was the decider really). Everest had an absolutely fantastic time bouncing about in the heather, staring down some deer and trying to shoot some fairly small rapids on her tummy. Had a cosy night in the bar meeting new people and passing dogs, including some that work for mountain rescue. As for sleeping in the car, couldnt have gone better, slept soundly from 11ish pm til about 7am and in the morning she was warm as toast after temp stayed at a fairly balmy 5 degrees Celcius overnight. She did have a fair old go at digging her tie out screw out the ground, but fortunately didnt manage, got bored and fell asleep on a rock overlooking our camp waiting for us to pack away the tent. Cant wiat til next time now.
How wonderful was that?! Such a good girl and she obviously enjoyed herself - and stop you from worrying. Do you have any photographs to show us?
I'm glad it all went well what a great experience for Everest too, we have a T5 camper van and the dogs always love going away.
