We've only been in the RV for six weeks, but we've run into something we think is odd.  The RV park has a nice dog walk area, but will not allow dog owners to walk their dogs through the park.  They must be transported in something enclosed.   We've seen the oddest configurations of strollers, baskets on bicycles as well as lots of golf carts and some drive their pet in their vehicle.  Fortunately, we were placed across the driveway from the dog walk area so we have been able to walk our dogs over without violating the rules. 

We had no idea upon making our reservation that this was the policy, however, and had we been placed elsewhere in the park I think we would have tried to cancel our reservation and relocate.  We have no stroller or golf cart with our fifth wheel, so we would have had to put our 2 dogs (40 lb springer spaniel and 9 lb. schnoodle) in the pick up and drive them to the dog walk several times a day.  I'm sure there was some terrible incident to make the policy necessary.  Hard to imagine,  however, as we have been so pleased to find very responsible pet owners at almost every park we've seen so far.   

My question is, how common is this type of rule?  We would never have considered asking about this when making reservations, but perhaps we must?

Thanks for reading our post and we appreciate feedback from this helpful board!

Not common, but is a unique solution to a common problem. We stay for a month at Chula Vista RV Resort & Marina near San Diego. In talking with the management of the resort, they have been on the verge of outlawing pets for many years. I think pets are great and would hate to see them outlawed by any RV park. The resort sidewalks cut through the resort for convenience. These sidewalks terminate at the central pool,rec room & office complex. The dog owners use these sidewalks to get their pet to the several doggy pit stops located around the park. Here's the problem at Chula Vista, on many occasions, I have walked from our rig to the pool area which also has a doggy pit stop nearby. Once in awhile I see a urine trail on the sidewalk or some feces where a dog on the way to the pit stop just couldn't wait any longer. Again I don't mind this, I know dogs have to go when they gotta go. What I do mind is the pet owner did not clean it up. The sidewalks are lighted at night so there's no excuse for not seeing the mess and cleaning it up. It's not that I happened upon the problem while the pet owner was away trying to find something to clean it up with. Some of the messes have stayed in place for several days. I would say I come across this problem on 1 out of 5 trips over to the pool or other sidewalks leading to other areas of the resort. That makes it a common occurance. I watched one lady dragging her dog along the sidewalk while it was trying to do it's business, she finally had to stop so the dog could finish. (she cleaned it up) I can remember running with my dogs over to the pit stop because I knew the "event" was looming and I didn't want it to happen mid-way. So I can see where a resort might mandate the pet be carried in an enclosed carrier to prevent these little "bloopers" from happening. It's an attempt to make everyone happy.

Wow! Thanks for the insight. I suppose our experience is so limited that we've not run into this problem. We did see lots of dogs running loose at one RV park that had a leash policy - largely ignored. We don't plan to return to that park! I hope dog owners will get a grip on their responsibilities before the facilities must start excluding all of us due to their lack of consideration!

I have been in our park for 3 years now and we have the same problem. For the most part pet owners clean up after their pets...but it is the few that don't that hurt the good owners. It is not the pets fault that they have to eliminate...gosh that is a given...but the owners turn their heads like it is not happening and then walk away leaving a mess that some one will step in. Now that is what causes these rules to be formulated. Only 35% (est.) of Fulltime RVers are pet owners and I would guess that 1% of them don't clean up after their kids. That 1% is hurting the other 34% that are good parents! When you see these rules and regulations at the parks remember that only a small number of pet owners caused them.

Speedy....watching where he walks..

-- Edited by Speedhitch at 16:47, 2009-03-05

In 3 years and over 200 campgrounds, we've never seen this rule. We have been in a number of parks though, where we were placed in the "pets" section and couldn't walk the dog outside it.

Well, I'm glad to see that this is not a common policy for parks. We'll just continue checking their pet policies before we reserve. We'll also hope that as many pet owners as possible will treat the campground and their neighbors with respect! Thanks for the feedback!

The Chula Vista RV Resort has a waiting list for most weekends. We had to wait two years before we were able to reserve a spot for the 4th of July week. It is a very popular RV resort for folks from AZ & Palm Springs to spend the summer months. It's also a great base location for sight seeing around San Diego and Baja California. The Mexico border is 8 miles to the south and downtown San Diego is 8 miles to the north. Good public transportation system for getting around. I have always considered this park a 5 star RV resort. It is a little pricey but worth it. Like Speedy said it's a few pet owners that is ruining it for the majority of pet owners.

I just checked out the website for Chula Vista - very lovely! Hard to imagine anyone being willing to let their pet soil the grounds and not immediately remedy the situation. Also doubtful that anyone that could do so could be subtley influenced to do any differenlty (SIGH!). We always have spare bags with us when we walk the dogs. Maybe we need to think of some polite prompters for those NOT picking up - 'Oh - I see you don't have a bag, we'll be happy to share one of ours'? The park managers can't be everywhere and would probably be hesitant to be as heavy handed as they might need to be?

We have been on the road 9 years and never seen a policy like that. But then, we don't frequent high-end, exclusive resort type RV parks. Like WalMart overnighters and desert boondockers, pet owners will ruin it for themselves. More and more parks are putting in what I would call "punitive" pet policies because of issues with pet owners. A small segment will ruin it for all.......