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<title>Traveling With Your Dog: Some Tips From The Road</title>
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<h1>Traveling With Your Dog: Some Tips From The Road</h1>

We enjoy camping, and love to take our yellow lab, Kayla, along
with us. With Illinois currently as our home base, we&#8217;ve
taken her on trips as far away as California, Utah, New Mexico,
Colorado, Arizona, and South Carolina for wonderful camping trips.
Being prepared for road trips with your dog is very important. And
in this article I&#8217;d like to share some of the things
I&#8217;ve learned from our experiences.

Before you hit the road:

*There&#8217;s nothing worse than loading up the car and heading
off for a long-awaited family vacation, only to discover your
carsick dog is throwing up all over the back seat sixty miles from
home. So make sure your dog can handle long car trips well before
you leave town. Take you your dog on several &#8220;practice
runs&#8221; of varying time/distance, and if your dog does
experience car sickness, consult your vet about possible remedies,
or consider leaving your dog home.
*Speaking of the vet, we get print-outs of all our of
dog&#8217;s most recent records to take with us on the road. We do
this in case she has to visit a vet while we are away, and some
kennels require them for short-term boarding and/or grooming. And
we make sure she&#8217;s up to date on all of her vaccinations. If
one will expire while we are away, we make sure she gets it before
we leave, even if it&#8217;s early.
*If you&#8217;ll be staying in motels along the way, make sure
you are familiar with chains that accept dogs in the room.
Don&#8217;t wait until you are tired from a long drive to start
looking for a motel, because many won&#8217;t allow pets, and you
could be searching for quite a while. We do one of two things.
Either we call ahead and reserve a room at a motel we know accepts
pets. Or we plan to stay at a chain we know allows pets. Motel Six
and Holiday Inn have pretty broad acceptance policies, as do many
Super 8&#8217;s and Day&#8217;s Inn (though not all, so make sure
you know which ones do). Some motels will allow pets on an
individual basis. Just make sure you have travel guides, or have
done internet searches, so that you are know where you will be
welcome with your pet before you leave home. (For example, AAA
guides list which motels allow pets, and there are many pet-travel
websites that list them as well.)
*If you&#8217;ll be camping, make sure you know the rules for
dogs in campgrounds before you arrive. Most private and public
campgrounds will allow pets, but require them to be leashed at all
times. We have discovered that National Parks allow leashed dogs in
parking areas and paved walkways, but most won&#8217;t allow them
on hiking trails. Zion National Park has a 2 mile paved trail on
which dogs are allowed, and they welcome in their campgrounds.
Grand Canyon allows dogs on the paved &#8220;Rim&#8221; trail, but
not on hikes down into the canyon. Bryce Canyon allows dogs, but
only in cars on in parking areas. However, Red Rock Canyon in the
Dixie National Forest, near Bryce, allows dogs not only in
campgrounds, but also on all of their hiking trails (as long as
they are leashed). My advice is to find out before you go by
visiting web sites or calling ahead so that you aren&#8217;t
disappointed by the restrictions when you arrive.

What to bring:

*Kayla has her own &#8220;suitcase&#8221; &#8211; and whenever
she sees us take it out of the closet, she knows we are about to
take her on a trip (and she gets very excited). Here is what we
keep in her bag:
1. A couple of towels (she&#8217;s a lab, likes to swim wherever
she sees water, so they are handy for drying her off, or if she has
an unexpected accident, throws up, etc.).
2. Plenty of plastic grocery bags for picking up after her while
on the road. One of the reasons pet owners are unwelcome in many
places is because they don&#8217;t pick up after their dogs in rest
areas, motel lawns, campgrounds, etc. So make sure you always clean
up after your dog.
3. A couple of filled water bottles and water dish. We offer
Kayla water at every rest stop, and occasionally even on the road
if she seems thirsty. Keep her hydrated. As much as dogs love to
travel, it can also be stressful for them.
4. Individual baggies of food portions, if her mealtimes will
occur on the road. We also include a few treats, to reward her for
being such a good girl in the car.
5. Chew toys/balls: Kayla doesn&#8217;t usually like to chew
things while we are driving, but some dogs do, and it helps
alleviate boredom.
6. We also bring wet wipes and paper towels, in case of any
spillage or accidents.
7. Bringing a dog bed of some sort is helpful because motels
don&#8217;t like dogs on the beds. If your dog uses their bed
regularly at home, it also brings something familiar along with
them. If it will fit, you might put it on the seat where the dog
will ride as well. The familiar scent is comforting, and offers
more comfortable ride for the dog.
*In addition to the items we bring in Kayla&#8217;s suitcase, we
keep her medical records in a safe place.
*Some dogs get pretty excited when traveling, and are hard to
restrain. This can cause dangerous situations for drivers. If your
dog has a hard time sitting still during the trip, you might
consider a dog harness which attaches to seat belts. There are many
out there, and make the trip safer for you, and more comfortable
for the dog (like when you make those sudden stops or turns that
throw the dog onto the floor).

While on the road:

*Frequent stops: We try to stop every couple of hours at a rest
stop. Normally Kayla doesn&#8217;t need to go potty that often at
home, but being in the car for long stretches can be stressful
and/or boring for a dog. So we stop more frequently to let her get
out and stretch her legs. She LOVES rests stops (all those new
smells) and sniffs every blade of grass she can. We find it is good
for us as well, because when we travel without her, we stop very
rarely. But with Kayla, we find our travel experience more
enjoyable because we get to take a break from driving and stretch
our legs too. Just remember to always pick up after your dog.
It&#8217;s the right thing to do, and in some places, it&#8217;s
the law.
*We don&#8217;t let Kayla stick her head out the window when we
are driving, particularly at high speeds. As much as dogs love
doing this, it can be harmful for them. Objects flying through the
air may strike their faces and do damage to eyes and ears. When we
do open the window to let her hang her head out, we do so only at
lower speeds.
*Never leave your pet alone in your motel room. It&#8217;s
against motel policy, and if a dog destroys objects in a room, you
have to pay for them. In addition, if a barking dog annoys other
guests, you may be asked to leave. If a motel has several problems
with pets, they may change their pet policy, so for your sake and
other pet lovers, always stay with your dog.
*On a warm or hot days, we try to never leave Kayla in our
parked car for long periods of time. On the rare occasions that
it&#8217;s unavoidable, we try to find shade and leave the windows
cracked, and get back as soon as possible. Most of the time we can
avoid leaving her alone by splitting up to do shopping and other
errands, always leaving one of us with her.
*Related to the suggestion above, we tend to eat &#8220;on the
road.&#8221; We get fast food or other take-out food while driving,
and eat it in the car so as not to leave Kayla unattended for long
periods. If we do go in to eat at a restaurant, we try to go after
dark, when the sun is down, and leave the window cracked. Then one
of us checks on her every half hour or so (particularly when
it&#8217;s very hot) and makes sure she has water and is doing
okay. Traveling in the cooler months makes this less necessary
&#8211; but if your dog is a barker it can quickly become a
nuisance to other patrons, so be respectful of them.

Other general suggestions:

*The reality is that sometimes while on the road, we like to
visit places Kayla isn&#8217;t allowed. So rather than leave her
alone at camp or in the car, what we do is check around at local
kennels for day boarding possibilities, or even overnight boarding.
For instance, we spent a day at Disneyland a few years ago, and for
$10, she was boarded at the Disney Kennels for the day (she even
got a certificate after her stay). On a rafting trip in Colorado,
we found another day kennel nearby where we could leave her. And
for an evening excursion, we know we can leave her overnight. Sure
she&#8217;ll miss us, and we&#8217;ll miss her. But she&#8217;ll be
safe and well cared for, which is what is most important. (Be
prepared that this is where you may need a copy of her medical
records &#8211; and make sure her Bordetella (Kennel Cough) Vaccine
is up to date.)
*Be patient with your pet. Traveling is an exciting experience
for them, but can also be stressful because you are removing them
from their regular routine. Just like children, they may not behave
as they normally do at home. Kayla tends to bark at anyone who
wanders near our campground, and is hard to handle on her leash
when we get anywhere near a river. Be calm and consistent with your
dog, understanding that this is a new situation for them. And if it
seems to be causing more problems for you and your dog than
it&#8217;s worth, you may have to consider leaving your pet at home
in the future. Hopefully that won&#8217;t happen &#8211; but if
it&#8217;s what is best for your beloved dog, then you do have to
keep it under consideration.
These are just a few suggestions I have from several trips with
our dog, Kayla. It certainly isn&#8217;t exhaustive, and I may add
things as they occur to me or I experience them in future travels.
But I hope the suggestions are helpful for you as you consider
traveling with you dog.

<div>Author Info 
Susan Ryder is an animal lover and creative writer. This article
has been submitted in affiliation with (
<a target="_new" href="http://www.PetLovers.Com/">http://www.PetLovers.Com/</a>)
which is a site for 
<a target="_new" href="http://www.PetLovers.Com/">Pet
Forums</a>.
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