Traveling With Your Dog: Ways to Navigate Your Pup on the Road

Summer is near and what better way to kick-off the warm weather than taking a road trip with your best friend? Whether a puppy or an adult dog, we want to be prepared and set-up for any unexpected mishaps.

Be Prepared

First things first, we want to be prepared and do our research before we embark on our trip. A few tips to prepare for our trip to go as smoothly as possible.

• Making sure the hotels/airbnbs are pet friendly and knowing the restrictions before booking. Some hotels charge extra pet fees, have pet size and number restrictions.

• Look up a few extra stops ahead of time at local parks and dog-friendly stores such as Lowe's, Home Depot, Petsmart, etc. to stretch you and your pup's legs.

• Have a collar with ID tags on your pup during the trip.

Manage

We want to make sure we have everything to keep our pup happy and safe during the journey and while we are at our location.

• Have your pup car crate trained or comfortable with the dog seat belt.

• Bring chews, toys, and puzzle feeders to keep your pup entertained in the car and at the new location.

• If your dog is reactive or sensitive to new people and/or dogs, be sure to park further away in parking lots, gas stations, and rest stops.

Train

Ideally, we want our pup to have a few basic skills before our trip. The important skills that we typically use consists of

• Come. This skill is one of the most important ones we can teach our pups. Just in case our pup gets off the leash and we need to get them back, we want to be sure they come right back to us instead of running towards traffic or other dogs and people.

• Leave it. - This is an important one. In new and busy areas, we typically come across lots of trash and food on the ground. We want to teach a nice leave it to our pups so they do not eat or approach foreign items.

• Mat/Place. - Teaching a solid mat will help your dogs acclimate to new areas. Traveling to new places usually leads to wanting to take the pup out to new campsites, restaurants, and breweries.

• Wait. Safety is one of the most important things while traveling with your pup. Teaching a wait at doors will help prevent your pup from jumping out the car door or running out the hotel room.

Traveling with your pup should be fun and exciting and not stressful. If you need any help with training, please reach out and we would love to help you.