Adventure dogs
How to get a dog used to a tent
To a dog, a tent is a flapping, crackling cave that smells of nothing it knows, with a door that makes a noise and then vanishes. Much of what goes wrong on a first camping night is simply that the tent itself was new. Fix that at home, where nothing is at stake, and the campground has a better chance of feeling like a change of scenery rather than a change of everything.
Last reviewed October 4, 2026
The home rehearsal
Make the tent boring before you make it bedtime.
Pitch the tent in the living room if it fits, or the yard if it does not, and leave it standing. Do nothing with it at first. Let the dog sniff it, walk around it and discover that it stays put. Then move meals inside: bowl on the tent floor, door wide open, you sitting at the entrance. A dog who eats dinner somewhere has often decided that place is safe, and that decision tends to travel to the campsite better than coaxing does.
Now bring the place bed in. If the dog already has a place cue, send it to the bed inside the tent exactly as you would in the kitchen, reward, release, repeat, door open throughout. Then the zips: open and close them while the dog rests on the bed, rewarding calm, and never zip in a dog that is trying to leave. Last comes the dark. Sit in the closed tent at dusk, headlamp off, dog on its bed, and be boring together.
- Tent standing indoors first
- Meals eaten on the tent floor
- Place cue sent inside the tent
- Zips and dark added last
When it goes sideways
Pawing, pacing and the question of the door.
A dog who paws at the tent wall is often a dog who cannot see out and wants to, or has learned that nylon moves when touched. Fix the setup first: bed placed so the dog's back is to the wall and its nose faces the door, your body between the dog and the wall it keeps testing. A dog who will not settle is often not ready for the closed door. Go back to meals and open-door place work rather than pushing through.
Where the dog sleeps matters. Put the dog between you and the back wall, not against the door, so outside noises reach you first and the dog never learns to guard the entrance. If the dog is crate-trained you may be partway there: crate comfort is relaxing in a small enclosed space because good things happen in it, and a tent is a soft crate with worse insulation. Puppy Fundamentals works on crate comfort and the place command, the two skills a tent borrows.
Asked and answered
The questions people ask us.
How do you get a dog used to a tent?
Set the tent up at home and leave it standing, then feed meals inside it with the door open. Add a place bed, then the zips, then the dark, one at a time, rewarding calm at each step. Spend a night in it at home before the first campground.
What should you expect from a dog in a tent for the first time?
Many dogs sniff everything, lie down for a minute and get up again, several times over, before they settle. Some paw at the walls or try to leave when the zip closes, which is a sign to go back a step rather than hold the door shut. Plan for a lighter night's sleep for both of you, and have it at home.
The dog won't settle in the tent. What now?
First rule out the obvious: a dog that needs to go out, is too hot or has not had enough exercise will not settle anywhere. Then go back to the step that last worked, often meals and place with the door open, and rebuild from there. If the dog pants, drools or scrambles at the door, that is distress, not disobedience; let it out and ask a professional before trying again.
Does crate training help a dog get used to a tent?
Often, yes. A crate-comfortable dog already knows how to relax in a small enclosed space, and a tent is the same idea in nylon. If your dog has neither skill, Puppy Fundamentals works on both crate comfort and the place command, and the consultation is where we recommend a program, including a smaller one if that covers it.
Keep reading
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