Any Advice About Taking a Dog to Death Valley?

valentine
source:http://www.cartoonizemypet.com

Can you believe this is 2015? And oh my goodness, Valentine’s day is right around the corner. My husband and I are planning a trip to Death Valley. We enjoy being adventurous together, several years ago for our first Valentine’s day together we went to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. We had so much fun. We were living in the MidWest and we flew to Las Vegas and then rented a car to drive to the Grand Canyon. I had no idea that it snowed at the Grand Canyon. Obviously geography was not my forte. It was great to just be spontaneous and do whatever we wanted when the mood struck. However, this year is a little different, this year we have a dog and we are trying to decide if we should take our Naayae or leave him home. We will be camping and probably will not do any major hikes, just a little site seeing of some of the major points of interest, like Ubehebe Crater, Dante’s View and the Devils Golf Course, but many people have cautioned against taking our dog. He is small under 20 pounds and will always be with us, either on a leash or in our tent. He is a good boy when walking on a leash and doesn’t bark at other animals. Since this is our first trip to Death Valley other than beautiful scenery, warm days and chilly nights we don’t have any idea what to expect. Are there really that many wild animals just waiting to eat a little dog? Anyway, we have a great dog-sitterĀ lined up and she is more than happy to keep our little guy, but we will miss him bunches.
Have any of you been to Death Valley? Did you take your dog? How did it go? If you didn’t take your dog, do think now that you have been there you would have?