Camino with Dog

“Wow, I love following along with you and Maverick’s Camino! I can’t wait to do it with my dog!! Do you have any tips?!”

Yeah….don’t do El Camino de Santiago with your dog.

Alright, alright. I know I’m going to make a lot of people angry with this post so here goes nothing…..

To start, a quick list:

If your dog does not like to walk a lot – do not bring them

If your dog does not listen to every command you give – do not bring them

If your dog gets hot easily – do not bring them

If your dog tires quickly – do not bring them

If your dog does not like other dogs – do not bring them

If your dog is easily afraid – do not bring them

If your dog does not like people – do not bring them

If your dog has a hard time adapting to change – do not bring them

If your dog does not do well with the unexpected – do not bring them

If your dog is not used to being outside for long periods of time – do not bring them

If you are unsure of how your dog will react in any situation – do not bring them

If your dog does not like booties – do not bring them

If your dog needs medication or has allergies – do not bring them

If you cannot speak Spanish – do not bring your dog

If you are easily offended – do not bring your dog

If you need to have everything planned – do not bring your dog (and probably not yourself either because there is only one thing you can plan for certain on the Camino and that is that not everything will go as planned)

If you need a bed every night – do not bring your dog

If you don’t have sufficient funds or time should anything happen to your dog – do not bring your dog

So I think that covers the basics. If you fall into any of those categories, you might as well stop reading now because I’ve already told you your solution. But, alas, some of you may want to power forward. Very well, let’s dive in shall we?

I will preface this by saying two things:

1) if you are from Spain (or anywhere in Europe even), you probably have a better understanding of a lot of things and many of the things I’m about to discuss probably will come as no surprise or do not apply to you

2) if you want to simply do the last 100km with your dog and plan to start in Sarria, that’s a whole other ballgame and all the power to you sister but I will choose not to touch on that because I do not know what that pilgrimage is like. As I am writing this, we are close to Santiago but not there yet so I can only speak from my experience. I will be discussing walking El Camino de Santiago from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela. However, come Sarria, the whole vibe of the Camino changes, more people do it with dogs now, and finding accommodations regardless of having a dog or not changes.

Right then, let me say that I love my boy more than anything and I do absolutely everything with him. He truly is my child; he’s my whole world. I would do absolutely anything for him. I am so blessed to be able to have shared this journey with him.

With that being said, I would hesitate before doing this journey with a dog again. And that is why I will warn you against it. Now, if you’re like me you’re going to hear people say “don’t do it” before you go with your dog and think ‘yeah, yeah but I can do it’. And you probably can. We did. But it will be hard. It will be completely different than any other Camino experience and that may be good but it’s also bad.

I read every single blog, forum, website, post, book, and comment I could find about walking El Camino with a dog. I read the angry comments people said claiming animal abuse and everything they cited for why a dog shouldn’t come. I had my bases covered. Hot tar? Got booties. Not allowed in albergue? I’ll carry a tent. Food hard to find? I switched him over to a brand found in Spain before we left. Doesn’t like to walk? Maverick needs to walk 20km a day or else he’d be spinning in circles around the house bouncing off the walls. Silly people, I’m prepared. I know it’s going to be hard, but I got this.

I didn’t have this.

Here’s our story:

Maverick is an emotional support animal. This is not just a game, as so many people in the US are trying to make it now. He is truly a support animal. I have a letter from my clinician, who I see weekly, documenting this fact. This is the only true way to document a support animal despite all the certificates and other “registries” you may see online. He is an ESA for me due to severe recurrent major depressive disorder and social anxiety. I need him with me always. Therefore, I eliminated one giant problem that most everyone else not from Spain must face if they want to bring their dog to walk the Camino with them. Maverick flies, for free, in cabin of airplanes with me. He is also allowed free of charge on certain trains in Europe who understand his rights. This is the only way I was able to bring him over from the States with me. Had he not been that to me, I would have never thought of bringing a dog to do the Camino. I’m sure everyone has seen the horror stories of animals, dogs particularly, flying in cargo lately. I wouldn’t want to risk that. Should you choose to continue with this, you must have your dog checked by a USDA licensed veterinarian within the week of your departure so they can fill out an international health certificate specific to the country of entry (in our case France) which then must be sent, looked over, and approved by your regional USDA office (ours happened to be in Albany, NY which meant the papers had to be overnighted). Of course, your dog must also be up to date on rabies vaccines and you must have that certificate. Further, for entrance in the European Union, your dog must be microchipped with a E.U. approved microchip. This means, you must find one of these and have your vet implant your dog. OR if your dog already is microchipped, you have to find out if that chip is by E.U. standards. Maverick is microchipped, however his chip is not E.U. standard. You now have two options: Option A) buy an E.U. approved chip, ship it to your home country, have vet implant chip. Vwalah. Option B) {what we did} figure out what model your microchip is, find a microchip reader that reads that model, buy said reader, and have reader in your possession for the duration of your trip should you need to prove your dog is microchipped (at customs). And there you have it – getting your dog into the E.U.

Walking the Camino:

Woohoo! We made it! 2 planes, 2 trains, 1 taxi, and 1 bus later, we arrived in St. Jean Pied de Port. Safe to say, Maverick did not have a great day. What dog is going to enjoy all that? None. I’m lucky Maverick is such a great dog. He has been training with me since 8 weeks old for social situations like that, being on trains and in restaurants and stores and what not so he knows to be calm and lay down so that’s basically what he did for our 24+ hours of travel. I can’t imagine what that would have been like if he wasn’t so good at stuff like that.

The next morning, we woke up and started walking at 4:30 in the morning. We walked until 5 that night when we arrived in Roncesvalles. Maverick loves to hike and has been hiking since he was a pup with me in New Hampshire, but even with that, he was exhausted. That was a long day. It was a hard day. It got hot. When we got to Roncesvalles, no dogs are allowed in their albergues. Luckily, they have plenty of space to pitch a tent and will let you pay 3€ to take a shower and so day one was a success.

I had about a week’s worth of food packed for Maverick, so I didn’t need to worry about that right then. His pack has 2 one liter bottles I fill with water. He also carries his booties, Mushers secret for his paws, a healing paw pad balm, and a ball. Three days in, Maverick stopped wearing his pack and I started carrying it. He got sick in Pamplona. Whether it was from him eating grass while we walked, drinking some bad water, or simply stress I don’t know. But I didn’t want to make him have to carry a heavy pack after that. I felt bad. So that weight then went on me.

Let’s talk about stress: I think this may have been what made him sick that night in Pamplona. While I was so busy thinking of all the logistics of walking and packing and places to stay, I forgot something so simple. To humans, this is so obvious and totally fine. For El Camino, you walk 20-30km a day and then you spend the night and the next day you walk again. Simple, right? Well, no dog knows that. Maverick and I hike all the time, go on all sorts of adventures….but here’s the thing, we always come home. He always gets to make it back to our room and our big bed where he snuggles up and goes to sleep for the night. Now all the sudden, he’s in a new place. And he isn’t just staying in that new place. He’s in a new place every. single. night. That’s stressful. How could I have not foreseen how stressful that would be for a domestic dog? So there’s something to think about.

We shouldered on. I decided to walk a shorter day and Maverick seemed fine again with me carrying his pack. A week in, not so much. He had started to limp. There were no cuts on his paws? Nothing had happened? We hadn’t been walking on any hot tar? Well here’s the kicker. You read any guidebook and they’ll all talk about all these “natural pathways” and “delightful dirt tracks”. Whoever wrote these books has no idea what dirt is. These “natural pathways” simply mean you’re not directly on the tar of the roadway but instead on the gravel shoulder. And all these paths are gravel, crushed stone, tiny rocks. Do you know what it feels like if you walk on that barefoot? You know when you happen to step on a tiny pebble the wrong way? So that’s how a dog’s paw pads will feel after day after day of walking on that. It’s not like he can just choose to walk in the grass on the side because there isn’t grass on the side. It’s hard burnt hay or wheat fields. So you start to use booties. If your dog will tolerate them; luckily Maverick does.

Except there are a couple problems with booties. In Spain, it is HOT. Don’t make the same mistake I did and underestimate that. As a human, you may be able to handle the heat just fine. I know I was doing fine. But Maverick was not. Dogs sweat two ways. Out their tongues by panting, and through their paw pads. When you put booties on them, you’re eliminating one of the only two ways they let off heat. And there’s no shade. That is one thing the guidebooks do get right. And from Los Arcos until Galicia, you no longer have an abundance of little streams or rivers for your dog to cool off in. If there has been rain, sometimes there are some puddles or what not that your dog can lay in. But here comes problem 2 with the booties- if they happen to get wet. Then they rub on your dog’s ankles. And now you’ve got essentially “doggie blisters” on your dog’s paws. No bueno. Luckily for us, this blister issue came just before we entered the region of Galicia, where streams and grass and trees come back into Camino life. We are EXTREMELY lucky for that because if not, I don’t know what I would have done. He would have been limping on the gravel and unable to wear the booties for fear of making his hot spots worse. I’m sorry I don’t have a solution should this happen to you.

Right then, the heat I just mentioned before. I had been prepared for this. I had a doggie cooling collar, we would just walk early, take a nap somewhere shady, and then walk again in the cool evening. Silly Colby, think again. There really is no where shady for the majority of the Camino. Also, the sun is high and hot from 11am until at least 7pm and stays light til around 11pm. But if you want to walk at night, keep in mind albergues will only let you in until most likely 8pm. That’s if you have an albergue you can stay in. So from Logroño until León, it was custom for us to be up and out by around 5/5:30 and walk until around 8, grab some breakfast and let Maverick have a rest, then be done around 11 right as the heat of the day was setting in. We’d hang out at a bar or café until albergues or hostals would open and then find if we had anywhere to stay. This worked well for us and we were actually able to stay “on stage” for much of the Meseta.

As for food: this has been one of our biggest nightmares. I switched Maverick over from his home food of EarthBorn to Eukanuba before we left because I had done research online and had found Eukanuba was a propulsar brand in Spain. While it’s not the best quality, it’s also not terrible so it would have to do for our time overseas. In Estrella, there was a lovely pet store who had Eukanuba. Yay! Except they only had a super big bag for large breed dogs and a smaller bag was only for small breed dogs. After discussing with the employee, we decided to just go for the small breed because I clearly was unable to carry the large bag of large breed food and both types had the same ingredients, so what’s the worst that could happen? (Yes, this is probably frowned upon and I probably shouldn’t have done it. Sue me, it’s over and done with.) Luckily, this lasted us until Agés, a tiny town just before Burgos when we ran out of food. When I say tiny town, I mean there was nothing here, no store no nothing. Maverick needed to eat, though. So I did what I had to do….he ate a steak and egg dinner I purchased from the restaurant in town. In Burgos, I searched for a pet store. I looked up “tienda de animales” “tienda de mascotas” “pet store” “vet”…and came up with nothing. Actually, that’s a lie. One store came up. It was legitimately just a store to buy fish at. So that was unhelpful. I even asked locals with dogs where there was a pet store and yet no one knew anything to tell me. Luckily for me, I happened to stumble onto one store. They didn’t have Eukanuba. They really only had one brand, Nutro. I asked the employee if that brand was popular in Spain as I was struggling to find Eukanuba again. She said yes, I would be able to find Nutro everywhere. Awesome, I’d switch him over. And so we had food and continued on. We made it to León luckily, so I hoped there would be a pet store in this big city. Alas, I faced the same problem. When I did stumble onto one, they did not sell Nutro, this employee said almost no where would sell Nutro but she directed me to a big mall that she thought may have it. It did, so I bought two bags to stock up and then decided if this brand was unavailable in many places, I would need to find another solution. Something I did see plenty of was veterinarians. Vets carry Hills Science Diet here. So I went to a vet, bought a bag of Hills and mixed one Hills with one Nutro to switch Maverick over properly. There. Problem solved. We ran out of food just before Sarria. Yay! A big town to restock in!! Except it’s Sunday….nothing’s open. That’s okay, Maverick can go another day with a steak dinner and we’ll get food in Portomarín. Except when we got to Portomarín, they had no idea what Hills Science diet was. So I made due with some ground meat stuff until Melide the next day. Except the vets here no longer carry Hills. We have to switch brands again.

I think you get the picture. Finding dog food in Spain is next to impossible. There are going to be people who tell me, no it’s not! There’s food in every grocery store! They’re not wrong. If you want to feed your dog the dog version of Friskies, be my guest. Maverick is used to a very high quality dog food, and I was not going to stoop to that quality as I am knowledgeable about dog foods and what is in those lower qualities and in canned food. But that could be a solution if you want that way. So keep that in mind. If you’re like me, you have to be prepared for the struggles I faced. You have to remember nothing is open on Sundays. You have to know you will be carrying 12kg of dog food alone some times just so you know your dog will be able to eat. This is more than some people’s whole pack weighs. It’s up to you on if you can do this or not or how you’re going to do it. I wish I could recommend a food I’ve found everywhere, but unfortunately I don’t know of one.

Before we dive into the one thing I know everyone wants to know about the most, I want to touch on the little things. Stuff from my original list and why these are so imperative. If you have an aggressive dog, don’t bring him. There are other dogs all over Spain. Most of them are not leashed, even if they do belong to people. The only time I have seen dogs on leash is in big cities or if they’re chained outside. Otherwise, stray and dogs with collars roam the small towns. They will bark at your dog. They will come up to your dog and sniff him. I can’t say what they may do. Maybe they’ll bite. Maybe they’ll just bark and stay at a distance. I suppose it all depends on how your dog reacts. Maverick, luckily, has never cared for other dogs. Not that he doesn’t like them, he just doesn’t really have an interest in them. A quick sniff and then he’s on his way. This worked out very well for us because I can just keep walking when a dog comes up to us, and Maverick will keep walking with me and ignore the dog. It’s up to you to know how your dog will react in different situations with other dogs.

If your dog does not like people, do not bring your dog. People will come up and touch your dog, a lot of times without asking. They will try to call your dog to them. They will make noises and clap and click and hope your dog comes to them. If your dog does that, all the power to you. I don’t know how you’ll deal with that because I don’t have to. Like Maverick never cared for other dogs, he also doesn’t care for other people other than me. He’s a snob that way. And I love him for it. Like I said, it’s not that he doesn’t like them he just couldn’t care less. When people other than me click or whistle or call him, he just stands and looks at me as if he’s saying ‘why are they doing that?’ When people try to pet him without asking (or if they ask too) he just keeps walking. That’s just how he’s always been. Again, I’m lucky for that. Also, children. Kids will come up to your dog. They won’t speak anything but Spanish, so I hope you can speak Spanish. They will poke your dog. Or pull his tail while he’s sleeping before you can even react. I hope you know your dog will be okay with this. Luckily, for some reason, Maverick does love tiny humans and his reaction to being woken up with a tail pull is a giant lick to the face. Let’s hope your dog is the same.

If you are easily offended, do not bring your dog. There is no middle ground when it comes to dogs in Spain I have found. People either absolutely love them or they absolutely hate them. Mothers will hide their children behind their backs when they see you walking towards them, even if your dog is on a leash. Other dog owners will drag their dog (chihuahua, yorkie) up into their arms by the leash as if your dog is going to maul them. People will gasp and run to the other side of the road as if you’ve got a wolf next to you. And then, there are the others like above. Who don’t even ask to pet them. Who call your dog even if they’re on a bike blasting by you. Or in a car stopped at an intersection (really dude??? Why are you trying to call my dog to you? You’re driving…)

If you don’t speak Spanish, don’t bring your dog. This is a no-brainer to me. If you are going to come to a foreign country, with a dog no less, you better at least be able to speak that country’s language. One, I think it is common courtesy to that culture to know about them and know enough to communicate, especially if you’re bringing an animal into it. And two, it would be near impossible if you don’t speak Spanish. How do you expect to ask where a pet store is? Or where to find food? Or where a vet is if something happened? And to be honest, the people I talked to most were the locals because they asked questions. They talked to me about Maverick. I loved my conversations with them.

And finally, if your dog doesn’t follow your every command, don’t bring them. Again, to me a no-brainer. You want to bring your dog with you but you know, he’s not the best trained. But it’s okay, he’s just a dog. That’s just how they are, you know? Dogs will be dogs ha ha….no. If you want to bring your dog to a foreign country you better have that dog trained very well. And if he’s not, he better be on a leash 24/7 then. There are people who don’t like dogs in this world (I know, I don’t understand it either but it’s true). They don’t want your dog coming up to them unsolicited. Also, there’s a lot of questionable stuff on the ground on the Camino. If your dog goes to eat something, or drink something, and you don’t know if it’s safe and you say “no” your dog better not touch it, even if he really really wants to. You definitely don’t want your dog getting sick here, and that could be the least of your worries from unknowns going in his mouth. Also, there’s wildlife here. Livestock. What happens if your dog starts barking at sheep? When you say “no” is he going to immediately shut up? I hope so. And when you let your dog off leash when you think no one’s around but he’s off chasing butterflies right as a car is coming, when you say “here” is he going to come to you immediately? Lucky enough, Maverick is good like that. He’s even learned the command “sidewalk” since we’ve been here because he’s always off leash. He’s extremely intelligent and I’m so blessed to have a dog like that. I couldn’t imagine how this would be if he wasn’t. So many people comment to me how good he is and how impressed they are, and while that’s nice to hear I partly want to say “well yeah, he’s obviously like this” because I would have never brought him if he wasn’t. That would have been selfish and ignorant to do. But I just politely thank them, because it is very nice for them to say.

And now what you’ve all been waiting for….drum roll please…..sleeping accommodations. I will put a list below of the places we stayed all along the way. As an overview, like I said I brought a tent. I had foolishly thought that would solve all my problems. WRONGO. I have barely used my tent (#sad) This is because many places will not let you pitch a tent (although from what I had read before many people claimed albergues let them pitch a tent in their gardens, other than Roncesvalles all albergues I talked to vehemently denied allowing me to tent there). Therefore, I would have had to tent elsewhere. Sometimes, this meant church yards for us as I thought we would be safe to tent there. A lot of times, there is no where to tent in a town as there’s no real green space or field in town so you’d have to leave town, leaving all amenities of food, water, restaurants behind. It’s also hard to tent because the ground kind of sucks to be honest with you. Unless it’s the very beginning or in Galicia, it’s not like you can find a soft grassy area. It’s hard, burnt earth and prickly dead grass or hay. So keep that in mind. Very very few albergues allowed us in the actual albergue. A couple allowed us, but only in a private room (much more expensive mis amigos). In cities, your only option really is a hostal, pensión, or hotel for the most part (again, más dinero). Sometimes we slept on a pad in a garden, some days we napped on a sidewalk, one time a kind kind lady let us sleep in her own house because of an awful run on of extenuating circumstances and many tears. Three times, kind hospitaleros made an exception and let us into a private room. All and all, this part of the Camino was EXTREMELY stressful. I can’t tell you the amount of tears I cried due to this. You can think you’ve got it all worked out and you can take all the different people saying no just fine and you can expect it and be okay with it and then 32 days into the trek, you’re tired. Physically, mentally, emotionally tired. And you just want a place to sleep. And you just want to be able to not worry about if you’ll have a place or not. Or if you’ll have to walk to the next town. Or if you’ll have to pitch a tent and possibly get rained on. It’s a lot to have to have on your mind. Sitting behind a screen at home reading about it, I know you’ll think you’ll be fine. I know I did. But you won’t. You don’t know what it’s like actually until you’re here and I’m sure you’ve heard that before but boy oh boy is it the truth.

You won’t be able to stay in the municipal albergues with the majority of the other pilgrims. You won’t cook a communal meal with them or go into a bar, because you’ve got a dog and your dog won’t be allowed in. You will be limited to only eating places that have a terrace (huzzah! There are many places like that!!!) You won’t go to pilgrim masses because your dog would be…where? Tied out somewhere? And you’d be worrying about him the whole time. You won’t be able to tour the wonderful cathedrals at a leisurely pace or go into the museums that interest you. You may feel okay to walk on one day, but your dog may have developed a limp and so you will cut your day short. You will carry extra weight (food, leashes, toys, water,etc) that no one else will. You’ll never know for sure where you’re sleeping. I’m not trying to say this is the toughest thing ever, there are people out on the AT right now for months absolutely killing it, this is a walk in the park compared to that. I’m just making you aware of what it’s really like with a dog. And I would not recommend it.

That being said, I wouldn’t trade my experience for the world. Everything we’ve gone through has made us so much stronger. It’s given me such a different outlook on life. It’s broken me and mended me back together. It’s given me patience and hope and happiness. Maverick’s caused me to slow down, take in the beauty, smell the roses, laugh at the butterflies, dipped my feet in every stream, step off the Camino and into the real lives that people live in these towns. He’s pushed me to my limits and been there to hold me as I fall apart. This wouldn’t have been the same without him.

Thanks for listening to me go on and on. I hope it shed some honesty and perspective for you. As promised, if you’re really set on doing this, where we stayed is listed below.

List of accommodations:

St. Jean Pied de Port – Errecaldia (Airbnb); Roncesvalles – tent; Zubiri – Zaldiko private room; Pamplona – La Elava pensión; Uterga – Casa Baztán albergue; Villatuerta – Albergue Villatuerta was an exception; Villamayor de Monjardín – tent; Logroño – Redondela pensión; Nájera – Las Peñas albergue was an exception; Santo Domingo de la Calzada – Pensión Miguel; Belorado – slept in the garden of Cuatro Cantones because they wouldn’t allow tent; Agés – El Pajar albergue; Burgos – Carrales hostal; Hornillos – slept in a beautiful kind soul’s house; Castrojeriz – Ultriea; Boadilla – En El Camino on a mat on the floor of lobby area; Carrión de Los Condes – found on booking.com Casa Tia Paula; Terradillos de los Templarios – Jaques de Molly private room; Sahagún – Alfonso VI hostal; León – Alvarez hostal; Villar de Mazarife – Tio Pepe private room; San Justo de la Vega – Juli hostal; Astorga – Posada Real Casa de Tepe hotel; Rabanal del Camino – El Descanso de Gaia found on booking.com; Molinaseca – El Reloj casa rural; Cacabelos – Saint James Way hostal; Las Herrerías – El Capicho de Josana found on booking.com; Triacastela – Casa Olga casa rural; Barbadelo – 108 to Santiago albergue; Portomarín – Ultreia private room; Palas de Rei – Zendoira was an exception; Melide – Carlos 96 hostal; Arzúa – Del Peregrino pensión; O Pedrouzo – Casa la Fuente private room

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