[sourdough]

Originally Posted by DutchmenSport

To answer your original question, it is up to each individual campground if privately run. If you are using State Parks and/or State Recreation areas the rules for dog breeds are a bit more lax.

I think you are making the right choice if you are able to leave the dog with a family member.

Now, here's some side bar thoughts I'd like to share about dogs and personal experiences.

When I was a kid, about 10 years old (1965) my parents were camping in a campground. They had a travel trailer. My sister, 17 years old, was walking our family German Shepard on a leash when a little girl, about 6 or 7 years old came up to pet the dog. The dog had never shown aggression. When the girl approached, the dog attacked the girl. My sister could not hold the dog. My parents were sued and lost. Fortunately, home owners insurance, even back then, covered the claim and we had to put the dog down. The dog had never, ever shown aggression. To this day, 55 years later, I still do not know what triggered the event.

My other sister had a female Doberman that had puppies, 3 of them. The puppies were sweet as can be. Once, she was going to leave them with my mother (in her mid 80's. The dogs were about 3 or 4 years old now. All was well until something happened. The dogs were free in her yard and she was calling them back. When they didn't want to respond, one of them turned on her, attacked, and then the other two attacked. She was damaged pretty good, her face was torn. But my mother being my mother, a very stubborn World War 2 German war bride refused medical treatment and refused to report the issue. She patched herself up, and that WAS the last time she watched the dogs.

Fast forward again. We had 2 Dachshund's. Both were great dogs. One died of cancer early this year. We had both dogs over 10 years from the time they were puppies. The other dog had a territorial nature, so we were always careful with her, especially in campgrounds and around people. But she still would not take any "guff" from any other dog.

Two months after the first dog died, I had her in the front yard. We live in the country, no fences. The neighbor was dog-sitting a friends dog, and had the dog on a lease. The neighbor started approaching the property line when our dog took off and bolted toward the neighbor. I yelled at her and she stopped 3 times, but every time I got close enough to catch her, she bolted again.

She finally ran right up to the neighbor and the other dog. And in an instant, so fast it was like lightening, the neighbor dog (a bigger dog, German Shephard mix), just reached down, grabbed our little girl, gave her one shake and tossed her like a rubber toy. Our dog laid there. The back of her neck was completely torn from shoulder to shoulder. Her neck was broken. She breathed her last breath and died. .... It happened so fast, reading this last paragraph took longer than the entire event. We (and our neighbors) were devastated. We could not blame the other dog. Our dog was off our property, technically I was at fault. But the hurt was still there. Our neighbor kept saying the dog was so sweet, so gentle, I just don't understand. A week later the owner of the dog came to pick up his dog. He came over to visit us. He offered to pay for our dog, the cremation, anything. We said no. He repeated over and over, I just don't understand, the dog has NEVER shown aggression! Never!

Fast forward a couple more months. Now we have 2 new Dachshund's. Puppies. One is now 4 months old, the other only 2 months old. So darn cute, so sweet, so loveable, so playful. They played with each other, became best friends immediately. Until I put down that first bowl of real human food beef scraps. And JUST THAT QUICK, they attacked each other. I honestly thought they we kill each other, it was so vicious! Every since then, we absolutely do not trust them wholeheartedly. We have seen their vicious side and how quick they can turn.

What I'm saying is, NO ONE HAS A SWEET DOG THAT WILL NEVER BECOME VICIOUS! NO ONE! Dogs have a wild nature, a wild instinct, and no matter how much they are domesticated, they still have an uncontrollable nature that's just waiting to trigger. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER believe you dog won't attack. ALWAS assume it will.... ALWAYS, because eventually IT WILL!

You bring up some excellent points that many, many pet owners need to take to heart. I've had great dogs and not so great dogs. Some with wonderful manners and some not so much. Some things I've learned -

Retractable leashes should be outlawed. A dog behaves, and is far more controllable., with a 6' leash. The little retractables aren't strong enough for restraining a dog of any size - almost cut my finger trying to grab that little cord one time.

The owner should have their dog on that leash at ALL times under full control. No matter how well your dog behaves, or has been trained, there will be a trigger that you are unaware of. We had our dog trained, lot of money and time, and she was supposed to be "bulletproof" on anything that would be encountered; not so. Her FIRST issue came when we put her in a glass elevator - she wasn't trained for "that"; thought she would expire right there.

I deal with a fellow regularly at a local park; no leash, no attention; just lets his 2 dogs loose. I've got on him twice. Both times he tells me "they're good dogs" - really? It's the law. "Been coming here for 30 years and never put a dog on a leash". Well here's a news flash - doesn't matter if your dog is good or not, when left to roam and barge into other dogs space something, anything, can happen. Our dog has been attacked 2 times on leash by other dogs. Another time my DDs dog, which she loved, for some reason just nailed her coming out of the bedroom. Needless to say she does not like any dog coming near her when she is leashed.

Nearly everyone I meet in an RV park has a dog. The discussion of dogs, dog etiquette and issues with them is something that is appropriate on an RV forum though some think it's a "pissing" match - I don't see that. Anyone that owns one needs to take care of business and most do. Bad things can and do happen, we all need to always be mindful of that in the event of a "mind lapse".