Under Bite: The Tail of Two Bulldogs - Traveling with Pets

I wanted to post this Friday but I didn't have a picture of the travel bag and I wanted to get some video of us in the car with the dogs - well…the video is flipped so I still have to edit it - I'll post it later for y'all. 

As you know from previous posts we have two pups, Lola and Coco. Lola is an English Bulldog and will be 4 later this year and Coco is an Old English Bulldog and is just over a year old. Lola has always traveled well while Coco needs something to keep her occupied - hello large bone! We are about to make a road trip with just Coco to meet my parents so they can watch her while we are in transition from old house to hotel to new house. I also bought her her own travel bag (it's essentially a diaper bag for dogs) and if doing this is wrong I don’t want to be right! Here are some tips on traveling with pets.

Here are some tips for traveling with a pet from Dr. Patty Khuly.

1. Make your first travel with pets short, especially if it’s a puppy. Pull over at a road side stop to stretch your legs and theirs.

2. Traveling with a puppy is a double-edged sword, just make sure you have your cleaner in the car with you and I always would put the puppy pads under their blanket.

3. Do not be lulled into a sense of complacency with respect to your traveling companion's adorability. Although most people don’t mind dogs there are some that hate dogs (I don’t trust those people). So keep in mind that if your dog goes up to a stranger for a lick or sniff that might upset or scare the person.

4. "Under the seat in front of you" is a very small space, indeed. Not every pet is comfortable in confined areas - much less in REALLY confined areas. And depending on your airline and the airplane model in question, that area might be a whole lot smaller than you currently envision it. For the sake of her comfort and welfare, make sure your dog is easygoing with respect to prolonged confinement.

 This information is especially crucial to those among you who might have considered "fudging" your dog's weight for the purposes of in-cabin air travel. Unless your pet is really close to the upper limit and very comfortable in tight spots, you should think this through before flouting the law. I really wish we could fly with our pups but they are just too big for the cabin and I don’t trust the airline enough to put them in the cargo - regardless of breed.

5. Bring at least a dozen more chew treats or playthings than you think you need - per day. As with children, keeping pets busy during travel is the key to success. Know what toys or chewies entertain them best and don't upset their digestion. And reduce their food intake accordingly so they don't consume a glut of excess calories.

6. Motion sickness happens even to the most cast-iron-stomached. Even if your pet never gets car sick, motion sickness can nonetheless occur unexpectedly in any kind of vehicle (boats, trains, planes, cars, etc.) - especially during very long rides. We use to have a cat that would always sh*t in his crate while on the way to the vet.

7. Don't forget your "first aid kit"! Unless you're traveling overseas or headed off-road, the best kind of first aid kit is made up of one single item: a smartphone loaded with an app that offers info on the emergency hospital closest to wherever you might be. (Nowadays, lots of apps can do this for you.) We have all kinds of ointment and wipes for our pups, and left over meds from ear infections that I don’t really need to go to the vet anymore for stuff like that…is that a good or bad thing? Now I just wish they would let me give my dog Benadryl injections.

Do you have any adventures in traveling with pets?