Are your pets interested in your tents and other gear?

[Onestepmore]

I've just come inside for fixing up a tent for the weekend (we're taking my son and five friends camping to Wombeyan caves for the weekend for his birthday), and I have to laugh

Every time I set a tent up in the backyard, my pets just all magically appear, especially the cats. The corella Wibur get really noisy (he's not very quiet at the best of times) The two dogs just like people being out in the yard, so come out to see what you're doing. Pocket the Jack Russel always wants to pee on a corner or on the tent peg bags so you have to watch him like a hawk (and yes, he's been castrated) then he flops down and sunbakes (skin cancer candidate). Ruben the black pug just watches you for a minute then falls asleep and snores (that's all pugs do), but he likes the company.
Lily, the fluffy cat will always come and sit next to you when you're fiddling with a tent and talk to you during the process, but the other one of my cats though seems totally obsessed. Killer (The Orange Tomato) prowls and parades around the tent perimeter looking for a way in, then he'll thoroughly explore the whole thing, sniffs in all the corners, lifts himself up on his hind legs to try and touch the roof or hanging pockets. He'll then stretch out regally right in the middle as if to say, 'OK, all checked out, it's safe for you to enter my domain'.
If the tent is done up, he'll become quite determined, and stomp around trying to find a way in, working his paw into any small creases he can find and try and push a zip apart with a nose or paw. If he can't get in he gets mad, and will then get under the floor and zoom around underneath the tent, and refuse to get out. If you get inside to try get him out your feet get attacked, which is not good for the tent floor
Whe you're packing a tent up, or if you have other gear out etc, he has to get in every single bag and check it out. You've got to be careful when you're rolling a tent up because he wants to sit on the bit you're trying to fold, and wants to pounce on anything moving, so you've got to watch he doesn't put a hole in something. Same thing happens when I fold sheets with my daughter - he wants to be in it, trampoline style, ditto bed making.

I've noticed Franco's cat directs all his Tarptent videos

[MartyGwynne]

Yes the sending of emails is a standard thing for castrated Male JR's, I have to ensure all is off the floor when getting my gear ready otherwise it is damp on one corner...
Tug of war has no doubt led to the thermorest failing with the said male, the female JR just sits up on a sofa and watches and watches and watches almost falling off with the tail wagging. She knows I'm going away and mopes about the rest of the time till she is invited into the car to go and stay at Grandma's.

[Moondog55]

Usually I lock the cat up until I have finished, if I forget she is in everything and all the pictures too.

[jford]

The dog is always very interested in my boots when I've come back from anywhere interesting. I presume the smell of wombat poo is fascinating.

[stepbystep]

Yep my dogs hate to see me getting my gear ready, very sad... and then proceed to sniff/lick furiously upon my return very interested in the smells I have bought home.
I've tried taking them but all the good walks aren't dog friendly.

[matagi]

If I leave my pack lying around then Phantom, the younger of my two cats, likes to use it as an "adventure playground" where he can hide his toy rat and then try and retrieve it from between the myriad straps and buckles. Shadow, the larger cat, prefers to crawl into the main part of the pack and lie in wait for an unwary Phantom to walk past - then it's BAM! Ninja!

[doogs]

Yep my dogs hate to see me getting my gear ready, very sad... and then proceed to sniff/lick furiously upon my return very interested in the smells I have bought home.
I've tried taking them but all the good walks aren't dog friendly.

+1. They know exactly where I am going and look so dejected when they aren't allowed to come. They like it when I put a tent up in the garden because they know I am going to bend down so they can lick me in the face

[north-north-west]

... so they can lick me in the face

Disgusting. One of the first things a dog should be taught is never to lick faces.

[stepbystep]

... so they can lick me in the face

Disgusting. One of the first things a dog should be taught is never to lick faces.

I'd rather a dog like my face(any dog) than some random human....

[north-north-west]

Do you often have random humans just walking up and licking your face? What an interesting life you lead.

[Hermione]

My cats have an unhealthy interest in gear of all sorts especially anything susceptible to the ravages of their claws and teeth, like sleeping bags and tents. I couldn't put a tent up in the backyard and leave it unattended. Today though, one of them suffered some singed whiskers from getting to close while my husband was messing around with a new stove, she probably won't learn from the experience though.

[andrewa]

NNW. A lovely response. OSM is a vet....it's a bit like me allowing my patients to lick my face.....!!!!!

Moondog, weren't you planning to burn your cat on forthcoming winter trip (or so your MYO stove post suggested)

Interestingly our fish isn't fussed about our camping gear, even when it's wet.

Cat is kept well away from anything waterproof. Labrador too old and def and blind to notice what's going on around him, and spoodle too stupid to notice camping gear. It's too busy reminding itself that its seen us before ....somewhere????

And BTW, the fish died, so it's even less interested now.

A

[stepbystep]

Do you often have random humans just walking up and licking your face? What an interesting life you lead.

Downright annoying it is. What's more annoying is their opinions.....





Cat lovers................

[Onestepmore]

And BTW, the fish died, so it's even less interested now.
A

Lol, apparently goldfish have a memory of 3 seconds. Spoodle - maybe less than that? Pug - well, we're into the negative numbers there.

BTW, I don't do fish

We were going to get a black labby as our second dog, but then this neglected 6 mo old rescue pug came to the clinic to be desexed and have his skin issues dealt withm and catch up on vaccines and heartworm prevention etc etc. Ruben (named after an Italian racing driver - whatthe??) was looking for a home and......I asked hubby and he told me 'It doesn't matter what I say, you'll just go and do what you want to do anyway'. He's so dumb it's incredible. When we laugh at him, we then feel really guilty, sort of like laughing at a Down's syndrome child when they do something funny - it's cute and they can't help it. It's a good thing he's got a JRT to show him how to be a 'real' dog. And there are monsters outside, so you can't go there unless you've got another dog or human with you. If the grass is wet it's OK to poo in the house (/sigh) My son put him in a tent one day and he looked so pathetically sad and lost I made him take him out. The orange cat regards him as a warm squashy pillow in winter and just lies down on top of him. Ruben looks up mildly puzzled, then just goes back to snoring.

One day when I'm retired and have more time to put into them , I'd like a bigger dog again , like a GSP, and get the hiking panniers for it. I miss our working dogs from whe we lived in the country, but they juust go ape%$#&* in a suburban setting. Working dogs need a job.

[Onestepmore]

... so they can lick me in the face

Disgusting. One of the first things a dog should be taught is never to lick faces.

I'd rather a dog like my face(any dog) than some random human....

Haha, when ever I see (small ) dogs licking faces my immediate thought is 'what's their dental health like?' I see maltese terriers and poodles with putrid rotten mouths that their owners 'kiss, and they sleep with them. Gross. How they stand the stench I never know, let alone the animal welfare point of view

NB most vets wash their hands before they go to the toilet, as well as afterwards!!

I like the way lots of USA tent manufacturers say their vestibule is big enough for a dog

[doogs]

Haha, when ever I see (small ) dogs licking faces my immediate thought is 'what's their dental health like?' I see maltese terriers and poodles with putrid rotten mouths that their owners 'kiss, and they sleep with them. Gross. How they stand the stench I never know, let alone the animal welfare point of view

That kind of thing is illegal in Australia, Germany is the country for animal relationships I hear :-/

[michael_p]

My mum had a cat that had an interest in my shoes and a backpack it used to have. As soon as I arrived it would come up and and rub on my shoes then try and get into my backpack. I was the only person it would try to do this to, everyone else it would just ignore. Then when I went to my mates house his 45kg Rottweiler would get excited and keep sniffing my shoes.

[Pongo]

I just took my pooch on her first overnighter. In preparation for this I got her a closed cell foam mat to sleep on. In order to measure her up for it, I needed her to lie on it, which brought about much objection given she was going from her rolls royce bed to this crummy rickshaw. I marked the length and she went back to her normal bed. I then proceeded to cut the mat to size and had to laugh, my dog was looking truly distressed. I guess I was destroying her new bed.

Yep shes now attached to that mat. She's forever curious when I'm rolling it up, or if it comes out of my pack. No other piece of gear gets the same level of attention as this thing, and she has to watch whatever I do to it.

I have learned a lesson though, we favour guarding the tent over sleeping on the mat. She shifted off it in the middle of the night to sit at the foot of the tent by the door.

[Onestepmore]

Maybe she just wants an upmarket self inflating insulated version rather than an el cheapo foam mat.....?

[Picaro]

Interested ? ! ! My gear is just an extension of his kingdom !

[north-north-west]

Cat lovers................

The only good cat is the stuffed Garfield on my TV . . .

[andrewa]

Picaro, what on earth is that......?

A

[Picaro]

Picaro, what on earth is that......?

A

If you're asking about the hammock, its a Green Hornet.

But I think you are asking about the evil genius sitting on my leg. His name is Hamish, he's a longhair chihuahua.

And, sadly, I love the little *&%$#!.

[beachcruiser]

My dogs LOVE sleeping bags! Fortunately they are happy with the sample camping sleeping bags I have lying around, I make sure my lightweight shelled down bags are kept out of reach of snoozy dogs...

it's a tough life...

DSC01153.jpg (83.88 KiB) Viewed 7985 times

[Franco]

I had Lucy for about 21 years and her daughter pip for over 18.
The both loved my tents as they did my fiddling around with mock ups in the backyard.
This is Lucy testing one :


and here she is testing my Exped 7. I woke her up taking the shot :

[north-north-west]

Cats and inflatable sleeping mats. Not a good mix. Although at least you know who to blame if the thing leaks . . .

[Picaro]

Cats and inflatable sleeping mats. Not a good mix. Although at least you know who to blame if the thing leaks . . .

....and theres few things worse than a cat that leaks !

[Franco]

That particular mat was already a bit dodgy ; before I used it for my cat assisted fiddling it already had a slow leak that I was not able to find.

Here is Pip demonstrating the ample room inside a shelter mock up :