Dog trailers - Page 2

I have a  Swab 6 dog transporter that is designed to replace a pick-up truck's bed. It bolts on in place of the bed. It can also be used as a trailer by bolting it to a conventional trailer like the ones at Tractor Supply or Lowes. These are very expensive to buy new  ($10,795.00) but this is a fairly good condition used that my wife wants it out of our drive before she calls the trash man. I will take $750. Her is a link to the manufacture. http://www.swabwagon.com/home.html   Thanks,Jim

Here are a few tips that I will share from my days of snowmobile drag racing.  We had a 30 ft tri-axle but the tips will work with any sized Cargo type trailer.

1. Air Conditioning, get a trailer with a Generator door in it.  Purchase a larger window AC unit, construct a mounting system so when you get to your location, you open the generator door and slide out the AC unit.

2. Have Windows in your trailer or Window in the side door, helps with air movement while traveling.

3. Don't get those dumb roof vents, eventually they will leak.

4. Fold down tail gate is very handy.

5.  Mount your generator on wheels, so you can drop the tail gate and roll out the Generator.  I could handle by myself a 8,000 watt generator.

6.  Put in a small refrigerator, put in frozen bottles of water, it will keep thing cold until you can get the generator running.

7.  Have both 12V and 110V lights in your trailer.

Val

My all-time favorite set up was my 24' RV with my 4-dog trailer (trailer not picured below). The Class C RV was configured with a fold down dinette/queen size bed in the rear.  For shows when I had to haul a lot of dogs, I would take the matteress/seat pads out and could then put three #500 crates where that bed/dinette was, 2-3 puppy crates on top of them, another 3 #400's on the side dinette folded down, and still sleep 2 comfortably in the cabover berth. Add the dog trailer and I could haul 13-15 dogs and puppies.

I put 160K miles on that beast, almost all dog-event-related. The naturally aspirated 460 engine only got 6.5 mpg. The 3500 watt generator ate about 1/2 gal/hr., would run a/c, appliances, lighting for training, lots of things. Even with gas at $4.00/gal. the comfort and convenience on a long trip, portable club house features, savings in hotels, rental cars, eating in restaurants, for more than 1 person especially, would still make that gas hog an attractive option today for any trip of multiple days' duration. Just not having to haul suitcases in and out of motel rooms en route was a blessing. I could un-hitch the trailer and put it in the shade of the awning, pull the picnic table set and BBQ grill off the roof to feed/entertain friends and owners of dogs I had for training/handling. Let the rain fall or the heat scortch the ground and I was the most popular person at the event! LOL  Throw the crates out and it would sleep 4-5 quite comfortably, more not so comfortably. I think I had at least 6 friends and club members, adults & kids sleeping in it at a Raiser seminar in Coyote, CA one time, but usually it was just me and sometimes maybe one or two traveling companions.

Pictured below at the '97 Sieger show in (Hot!) Bakersfield just after arrival during the week before the event, not fully set up with picnic set (still on the roof) yet. The trailer was over under a nearby tree or something as I recall. With so many dogs I spent most of my time in the parking lot anyway. Might as well just sleep there too.

If I ever get a few extra bucks, I'd buy another RV in a heart beat. I'm told the newer models get better mileage... say 8-12 mpg. gas, 15+ diesel. Hauling a trailer didn't make any difference mileage-wise, no matter how heavy a trailer it was or how much stuff I loaded into/onto the RV.

SS

Yes, that's Tim and Dawn Burke, Robert Lang, and an unidentified friend going over the show catalog. I don't know where Dirk and Christian were... probably brushing out freshly-washed dogs somewhere down-wind as not to get hair in the beverage cups.  :)