Doggy Door Dashing

This is not often thought about until it happens to you.  And if you travel with dogs, their is a good chance it will.
My human parents are so careful with me and my furry parents however, they never saw this one coming.  We had just arrived at our first RV park.  My human Dad pulled over to park while my human Mom gathered her purse to go register.  As she opened the door, my furry parents went (when called) to my human Dad.  Well I wanted to go with my human Mom so bad that I dashed right out the door in front of her.  IKES!!!  As I started to take off to go exploring, I turned and looked at my human Mom.  She had a very scared look on her face, so I froze.  It was just long enough for her to reach out and grab me.  She was very shaken and both my human parents learned a valuable lesson (and so did I).  They sat for a while and talked about how I could have been hit by a car, or hurt in so many other ways.  We could have also been asked to leave the park before we even registered.  We would have missed out on all the fun we had... just because of me.
Thankfully for my human parents, this was an easy fix.  With our Newmar Canyon Star 3920, it has 2 entrance doors.  So ever since my door dashing day the rule is to only enter and exit through the rear door.  This is because to get to the rear door you have to go through the bedroom door, creating a second barrier to the outside.  Get it?  Now when my human parents want to go outside without us dogs, they can first close the bedroom door and we have no chance of dashing out the back door.
The other thing this taught my human Mom is that by just using the back door, the RV coach stays so clean and free of dirt in the living area.  She likes that.  Their shoes and our leashes now stay in the garage, too!
If you don't have the Newmar Canyon Star 3920, their are other ways to prevent doggy door dashing from happening to you.  Baby gates!  Some friends that travel with their furry friends use them all the time.  Depending on where your counter is located, you can most times support them with small bungee cords for easy removal.  All you really need is an L shape, so doggies know to STOP!  If anyone has any other idea's, please share.  Your idea may save someones furry friend.
Another rule we have is that from the time we leave our home to go RVing until the time we return back home, me and my furry parents wear our harnesses... always, no exception.  This way if their is an emergency of any sort, all our parents have to do is grab our leashes.  Oh, I forgot to mention... my human parents double leash us when traveling, so we wear a gold collar and a harness.  The reason for this is not because we are bad (which we are not), it's because we have had 2 collars break while out walking.  One was just not made well and the other was a little worn.  So it's really one leash, a harness and collar.  Oh, and our leashes have double snaps.
Anyway, my human parents always err on the safe side.  Lucky us, because the last thing my furry parents and I want to do is end up in a vet hospital while we're on vacation.  Think of all the fun we would miss.

So if you are planning to start RVing with dogs or you are experienced, don't let your guard down on doggy door dashing.  As sweet and loving as us furry friends are, you just never know when something outside is going to look like "adventure" to us.  And just like humans, sometimes we act before we think.

Happy Tails!