Traveling with Your Dog This Summer? 5 Tips To Know

June 15, 2011

Hooray for summer! People are taking vacations and road trips more than any other time of the year and now more than ever, you are bringing your dogs too! Traveling with your dog can be a fun and positive experience for everyone, but it is important to do your homework first.

1. Plan
There are several considerations to make when you bring your furry friends with you. The most important thing is to make sure your hotel, or location is pet-friendly. Our friends at Go Pet Friendly have a wonderfully informative site that lists out hotels, parks, and more for traveling pets and people. We have had great experiences at the La Quinta hotels and have traveled countless miles with our dogs. Planning keeps your stress levels down, and that keeps your dog calm too. If you are stressed out, you better believe your dog will pick up on that.

2. Pack
If you are anything like me, you wait until the last minute to pack up your stuff. Don’t forget your dog’s stuff too! A comforting smell of something familiar, such as your dog’s bed, or crate is crucial to bring with you. We bring our dog’s crates, blankets and a few favorite toys with us every time. It really makes a big difference.

3. Keep Your Routine
Dogs thrive on an established routine. Now is not the time to change your dog’s diet around if you can help it. I try to feed around the same time I would if I were still at home. Remember to stop every few hours to offer your dog water and for bathroom breaks.

I also expect our dogs to behave and listen, just like they would at home. Yep, we are on vacation, but traveling dogs are ambassadors. Keep in mind, there are still people that think we are crazy for bringing our pets into hotels and traveling with them. A well mannered dog is a great way to change that person’s mind! 🙂

4. Check Your Dog’s Comfort Level
Not all dogs enjoy traveling, but you can make the experience more positive for them. Keeping a routine, bringing familiar smells, and allowing your dog to have a “safe place” in the hotel room is helpful. If you have never traveled with your dog before, and they think a crate, or the car equals a vet clinic visit, or something equally stressful, you will have issues. To change this, you can start practicing before a big trip by taking your dog on fun, short trips in the local area. It won’t take a long time before your dog is thrilled to jump into that car, or crate because it means something positive!

5. Have fun!
Our dogs have sniffed out so many new places and have had wonderful adventures with us. Be sure to take lots of pictures on your hikes, and trips to share! We love to see them. Here’s to pet-friendly travel!

Post By: Laura Neiheisel

2 Comments to “Traveling with Your Dog This Summer? 5 Tips To Know”

  1. Excellent tips! I would add that everyone should be sure that your pet’s ID tag has their current contact information and, if they are micro chipped, that monitoring company has your cell phone number. Also, packing a picture of of your pet is a good idea. It would be a nightmare, but pets can get spooked and run off when their away from home. If you have a picture of them with you, it will be easy to make posters.

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