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.
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?
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