Sleeping in the Car With a Dog: Campsite Kit
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It is nine at night, the tailgate is open, and the dog does not know where it is meant to settle. That is the problem this kit solves: a pad that marks the dog's spot in the back of the car, a lick mat that sticks to the window while dinner cooks, and a bowl that will not tip on uneven ground.
Who is sleeping in the car
People at drive up campsites, mostly. The car is the bedroom, the site is the kitchen, and the dog spends the evening somewhere between the two with a fire ring it should not investigate. If you are pitching a tent instead, most of this still applies, though our notes on car camping with a dog cover the routine end of it in more detail.
Three pieces of gear, two consumables, and the pad that changes the evening
The Crate Pads Armor from American Dog is flat, low profile bedding built for dogs that treat bedding as a project. American Dog describes a 1680D ballistic nylon outer cover that is removable, machine washable and quick dry, over a 420D inner liner with poly fiber filling, closed with YKK zippers and a hidden closure so there is less for a determined dog to pick at. Corner ties hold it in place, which in a car means it stays put when the dog turns around instead of bunching against the seat back. Six sizes run from 22 by 13 inches up to 48 by 30, all of them an inch and a half thick, and the number to measure is your cargo floor rather than your dog. American Dog items are sold and shipped by American Dog through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift.
The Camp eMat is a lick mat with suction cups on the back, about 8 by 8 inches, made of TPE with a retro van pattern pressed into the face. The suction cups grip glass, which means it goes on the inside of a car window or a side pane and stays there while the dog works at it. SodaPup says to spread peanut butter, yogurt or wet food into the pattern and to freeze it beforehand for a longer session, and we would do the freezing at home the night before you leave. It comes in orange or green. SodaPup/True Dogs, LLC items are sold and shipped by SodaPup/True Dogs, LLC through Shopify Collective and arrive separately.
Wildebeest's Bernal pop up bowl is two Ripstop nylon bowls in one zippered case, holding 8 cups between them. At a campsite the second bowl is not a luxury, because one holds water all evening and the other holds dinner without you rinsing anything in the dark. The nylon sides flex rather than rocking on a root or a stone. Skip it only if you already carry a rigid bowl that lives in the car. Wildebeest items are sold and shipped by Wildebeest through Shopify Collective and arrive separately.
Our freeze dried cheddar cheese bites come in one 8 ounce bag, one ingredient, with crude fat listed at a minimum of 50 percent. These are the treats you use to pay a recall back to the pad when the dog drifts toward the fire ring, and the bag is big enough that a weekend barely dents it. The strawberry scented waste bags are the last piece, and campsites are exactly where running out is a problem.
What we left out
No tie out stake and no crate. A stake works on grass and does nothing on the gravel pad most drive up sites give you, and a wire crate takes the space you need for sleeping. The pad plus a leash clipped to something solid covers the same ground for an overnight, which is why the money goes into the pad.
Setting up at the site
Put the pad down before anything else comes out of the car. The dog gets walked, then fed, then sent to the pad while you cook, and the frozen lick mat goes on the window at the moment you light the stove, which is the twenty minutes when a loose dog finds trouble. Keep the leash on near the site road until you know how the dog handles headlights. Water bowl by the pad, food bowl put away after dinner. In the morning, shake the pad out and let it sit in the sun for ten minutes before it goes back in, because a pad that rides home damp is a pad that smells on Wednesday.
What this replaces
A folded blanket, a plastic bowl and a chew that lasts four minutes. The blanket is the real one. A blanket slides, bunches and ends up under the dog rather than beneath it, and it soaks whatever the dog brings in from the site. The lick mat also replaces the third and fourth chew of the evening, since a frozen mat runs longer than anything a dog can finish in one sitting.
Questions
Overnight trips raise a few practical things worth answering before you book the site.
What size pad fits my car?
Measure the flat part of your cargo floor with the seats down, then pick the size that fits inside that, not the size that matches your dog's crate. A pad that has to curl up the wheel arch will not lie flat, and a dog will notice that before you do.
Will the lick mat stick to a car window?
SodaPup lists the suction cups as working on tile, glass and vehicle windows, so a clean side window is the natural spot. Press it on hard, and do not expect much from a dusty window after three days on a forest road.
Is there a topper worth adding?
Montana Dog Food Co makes Adventure Fuel, a freeze dried raw beef meal mixer in 6.4, 16 and 32 ounce bags, made in Bozeman. It is the thing to put over dinner at a site if your dog eats less away from home. Montana Dog Food Co items are sold and shipped by Montana Dog Food Co through Shopify Collective and arrive separately.
Measure the flat of the cargo floor before you order a pad size, and put the lick mat in the freezer the night you load the car.
Related guides
More overnight and trail kits sit in the trail cluster on our bundle guides hub.
For a campsite reward other than cheddar, the freeze dried dog treats are one ingredient each, and Explore filters by protein.
