by S. Heisley » Wed Dec 14, 2016 3:53 pm
I guess I should clarify what I posted earlier. Yes, a dog can be taught to sit/stay and that's a good thing to do. However, screens can be another issue because of the dog's snout and eye sight, not just poor training. If your dog is fairly small or has a short snout, you may be okay. However, if your dog has a long nose/muzzle area and poor depth perception, he will try to get as close to the opening as he can when he tries to see out. This means that his face won't stop until his nose hits the screen, especially if he sees something that really excites him, like a critter. Over time, this can loosen the screen. This is especially true with those awning/crank-out windows because the screen is already left loose around the crank handle area. (Laugh if you want; but, I have depth perception issues myself and have been known to hit the window or screen with my nose. Of course, I feel foolish when that happens.} There are screen protectors that one can get for screen doors and I imagine one might find something like that for smaller windows; but, for me, I prefer to limit how far open I crank those windows that the dog can get to.
In other words, how you handle your screen situation depends on the physical qualities of your dog, its age, personality, and breed as well as the amount of training that you give your dog and even how you train your dog. While patience is very important, there isn't a one-answer-fits-all with a dog any more than there is with a child.
While we're on the subject of containing pets, most campgrounds have leash rules and a dog must either be on a leash/tether or be contained in your camper/kennel. Even with this, a dog should be taught where its boundaries are and should stay within them. There is nothing worse than having to worry about a lost dog or a loose dog in a campground when it might run in front of a car or what a loose dog might do to you or how your pet might react if it feels a threat to either your family or you, whether that threat is real or imagined. It's not only the rules, it's proper manners to keep a pet within its campsite boundaries, unless it has its leash on and is accompanied by a person. I commend you for wanting to take proper care of your pooch!