4 Tips for Travelling with Your Dog
Planning a road trip with your dog? With such a curious, energetic, and fun-loving company, you’re in for an exciting adventure. Before you go, though, make sure you’ve got all the planning and preparation covered so both you and your buddy can have a great time.
Follow these tips for a fun, safe, and stress-free travel with your dog.
Do Your Research
Never ever leave on a trip with your dog without ample research, especially if you’re going far away from home. Although more and more businesses and establishments welcome pets, there are still many that don’t. You can’t force them to bend their own rules because you were unprepared.
Before you leave, make sure that your destination has pet-friendly hotels or other accommodations, as well as tourist attractions. It will defeat the purpose of travelling with your dog if you’ll need to leave your buddy in the hotel throughout most of the trip.
Remember to search for nearby vet hospitals and pet stores in case there’s an emergency or you need to restock on pet food.
Bring Your Dog’s Travel Documents
It’s very likely you won’t need your dog’s travel documents if you’re travelling within the country, but it’s better to be prepared for unexpected situations. Remember to pack your dog’s health certificate, rabies vaccination certificate, and other identification forms. If you haven’t gotten your dog microchipped yet, do it before you leave for your trip.
Get the Necessities Ready
Just like you, your dog also needs a few essentials to have a fun and stress-free time during your trip. The first thing you need to pack, of course, is food.
Dogs can’t change their diet whenever they want to. They need days or weeks to transition to new food; otherwise, they’ll get an upset stomach. Hence, you must pack enough to last the entire trip, but you don’t need to bring a lot if the food is available in your destination.
Treats and toys are second on the list of pet travel essentials. Dogs can get restless and stressed on long trips. You can use treats and toys to distract them and keep them entertained. If you’ve got a long journey ahead, make sure to prepare extra long-lasting and nutritious chews so your pooch doesn’t devour everything before you get to your destination.
Other essentials you need to bring are collapsible bowls for food and water, poop bags, beddings, car seat covers, a collar, a leash, a pet tag, a travel crate, a travel grooming kit, a first aid kit, and supplements for anxiety.
Prepare Your Pooch for the Trip Ahead
Unless your dog is a seasoned traveller, you need to prepare them physically and mentally for the journey ahead. Get them accustomed to being in the car by taking them on short trips to the pet store, grocery, and dog park.
Go farther gradually; take longer trips, and observe how they behave inside the car. With that knowledge, you’ll know what kind of and how many distractions you will need to prepare to keep them in line during the entire journey.
Brush up on their basic command training, and practice walking them with a leash on. They need to learn how to behave while on the trip to avoid certain accidents and to avoid stress on your part.
Visit your vet too before leaving to make sure your buddy is physically fit for the journey. Ask for advice on how you can make it more comfortable and safer for your pet.
Final Thoughts
A fun and safe trip with your beloved pet begins with proper planning and preparation. Know the pet-friendly places where you can stay, visit, and eat. Bring your dog’s health and vaccination records in case you visit places with strict requirements for pets.
While you can eat and enjoy the different food offerings of your destination, your dog can’t easily do that, so always bring enough food to last throughout the entire trip. Remember to pack toys and treats too to make the journey more comfortable and pleasant for them. Finally, make sure that your buddy is 100 per cent ready for the trip by doing some onboarding and training and by visiting the vet before you leave.
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we rarely go abroad, however we take our dog on Uk holidays and have to say we were welcomed very nearly everywhere in North Yorkshire. With all the sheep around there it could have been because we have 3 border collies lol
We just took our 10 month old Cavapoo on his first holiday. It was only for the one night as we weren’t sure how he would react to being away from home. We need not have worried as he was amazingly good and travelled so well in the car . . . although we did have regular stops so he could stretch his legs and go to the toilet.
Oh bless him, Sal always loved being in the car she used to get so excited for holiday time!