I'll hopefully be taking a 1-2 week trip with my dog on a month or so and am looking for some sort of night time shelter for her. I sleep in a hammock and while she can stay out of the rain under my tarp it would be nice to have something like a miniature tent for her. Something to help block any breezes, capture some warmth and keep bugs at bay (hopefully not much of a problem that time of year).

I've only had her out one other time camping and temps were dropping into the 30's. I just threw a piece of foam on the ground with a blanket and she got pretty cold in the night. I ended up bringing her in the hammock with me. Not only that but she's very interested in anything and everything that goes bump in the night, constantly going out to check on every noise she hears or scent she smells. I'll have her tied up at night because of that but I'm hoping if she had an enclosure around her that she'd relax a bit more instead of keeping a constant vigil.

I did some looking online and had a hard time finding anything that looked promising. There are lots of ground blinds available for hunting dogs but they all seem to be for lab sized dogs (mine is 25 pounds) and the blinds themselves all weigh around 7 pounds, which is about the weight of my hammock, tarp, and sleeping bag combined.

So, what do you guys use when camping with your dogs?

Alan

My dog sleeps in the tent wherever he can find a spot. No extra pad or shelter. You could buy some nylon screen and a zipper and make a dog shelter yourself pretty cheaply, if you know how to sew and have access to a sewing machine.

We've posted this before, but our dog Decoy has a tent we bought at Gander Mountain originally, most recently again at Scheel's. It stakes into the ground, has mesh windows and zippered door. We put Decoy under our rain fly and she does great. It is nice for bugs too and your dog can still be with you. It folds into a circle and fits nicely in the front of the pack. It is from a company called Sport Pet and the box says hunting kennel. There are different sizes, ours is a large. We've used the same one for 4 years and haven't had any issues with it. Decoy can hardly wait to crawl inside after a day of paddling and portaging.

Here is a picture:

I just weighed Decoy's tent, it is 2.3 lbs including 4 tent stakes. I do remember there being different size options, but likely at any store they'll only have large. Maybe try searching online, it is worth it if you can find one!!!

Looks like a great option, especially for dogs that have the type of fur that collects everything and takes forever to dry out. Dogs LOVE the security of a den where they can get away from the bugs and take that needed nap.

You could also look at something like this. Its a collapsable kennel/tent. We had one for our dog when he was a puppy, we used it for traveling. Its mesh with a zippered front door. I've seen different versions made by different companies in various sizes. It folds pretty much flat and doesn't weight more than a pound or two at the most. I'm guessing it would fit in most decent sized canoe packs easily enough.

You could put it under your rain fly and then toss a jacket or towel over it to help keep the heat in a little better. you could also add a pad or blanket in there as well.

Collapsable Kennel/Tent

Thanks for some good ideas. I couldn't find anything online I was confident enough to buy without seeing in person and on the way up to WCPP we didn't pass any stores that carried such things. So Sadie just ended up roughing it. Her foam pad from the boat went on the ground under my hammock with a small blanket over that. In the middle of the night I'd usually wake up as it got colder to bundle up a little better in my bag and then I'd cover her with my jacket for some extra warmth.

No problems for either of us with this setup. She had no tendency to wander off when I was sleeping and bugs weren't an issue. I'll still be keeping my eye open for some sort of little shelter though. Also thought of cutting down an old sleeping bag for her. Maybe putting a sleeve in the bottom to hold a piece of foam and maybe sew a flap of something on the top that she could crawl under. Should pack up nice and small and be nicer for her.

Alan

You've probably already gone on your trip.

This one looks like it might work. Only weighs ~ 4 lbs

willow river kennel

In the Hammocking forum I brought this up. Here's a Link To It

I posted a link to a site that makes a nice little tent for dogs. It's about $80 and there's a video to watch. It looks very good to me.

We have used this folding kennel for Bear. He goes in the tent with us, but then stay's put in the kennel. Otherwise he would be on top of us with his dirty, wet friendliness. It weighs 2 pounds and folds to about the size of a very thick frizbee. It's not weather proof though.

Resurrecting this thread. Trying to think ahead and see if there are any new ideas on the topic. I am a hanger, and do as much backpacking as canoeing so any solution will need to be small and light.

Doggy tent

They have redesigned this tent and now can get a rain fly for it.

quote ECpizza: "Resurrecting this thread. Trying to think ahead and see if there are any new ideas on the topic. I am a hanger, and do as much backpacking as canoeing so any solution will need to be small and light. "

I'm the one that originally started this thread. I bought a folding tent like Uphillharry posted above and while it's small and lightweight I've never taken it camping. Sadie sleeping under the hammock just hasn't been an issue so far, and this includes a 30 day trip last summer. Some mosquito protection at night would have been nice I'd just rub her down with bug spray before bed and they seemed to leave her alone. Maybe some way to suspend a small bug net shelter from the bottom of a hammock?

The tents that TomT linked to look nice but it bugs me to have my dog's shelter weigh more than mine.

This year I'm going to try sleeping on the ground again since hanging will not be an option (edge of tree line) so Sadie can hang out inside with me for a change.

Alan

I wish I would have had one of these for bug protection on my trip...campsite I was at was sunny for the tent locations, but I could have fit this in a shady spot to get my boy out of the bugs anytime...

I have a "Susie Bug Net" from Cooke Custom Sewing, which is a giant bug net with some ties on the top (just two). Free-form. My dog didn't like it...it made him nervous. It needed some sort of frame to hold the net out farther.

Worked great for me in my lounging hammock, though. :)

A thread on hammock forums.net had some interesting ideas for hammocking with dogs. Enlarge the bottom photo on alifeoutdoors comment on page 12 for what I think is a great idea. Another forum member had one made based on that. Pics on the next page.

My 18# poodle mix ended up sleeping in the hammock with me on his first Boundary Waters trip and it was comfortable for us both.