Have Dog, Will Travel! Tips for Travelling with Dogs

Travelling with dogs – now that you’ve arrived you’re going to need somewhere to stay. More and more places these days will accept dogs. For an exhaustive listing for U.S. and Canada, click here. This makes traveling with dogs so much easier!

First of all, your dog needs to be trained and socialized. We all know what monsters some ill-behaved children can be – well, believe it or not, other people view your dog like this! Barking would be a particular nuisance – it’s bad enough at home, but makes traveling with dogs impossible, so check out our Clicker Training section to re-train this problem behavior

And you’ll need to check his worming schedule is up to date. Plenty of information and guidance here

Be sure to leave your room as you found it so that the proprietors will continue to accept dogs. This can be easier said than done – especially if your pet is nervous, or reacting badly to a change in food or water … one of the worst hazards of traveling with dogs!

You can’t do very much about the water unless you use bottled water, but you can bring a supply of your dog’s usual food with you. Failing that, when traveling with dogs you can choose a widely-available brand of dog food and accustom your dog to it before you leave.

And this is where the crate comes into its own. Your dog is happy and at home in the cage, so just bring it in with you and park your dog in it whenever you leave him alone in your room – some establishments will let you have the dog in the room with you, but not take him into the restaurant.

Now there’s no danger of him misbehaving (be it leaving something at one end, or removing something with his teeth at the other!) or of a cleaner accidentally letting him out of the room.

For an excellent selection of crates for traveling with dogs, with free shipping in the U.S., click here If you don’t have a crate, then the safest place to leave your dog is in the ensuite bathroom, with his bed. Any mess can easily be cleaned up, and you won’t be leaving hairs all over the beds!

Travel-size packs

Travelling with dogs is a bit like traveling with a baby – you need so many things which are quite bulky. If you’re traveling with dogs often, it’s well worth getting travel versions of some of your equipment – a roll-up bed, for instance, or small bowls for food and water which are easy to stow.

Dogs without much coat may need their winter jackets if you’re going to colder climes and don’t forget your sunscreen if you’re traveling with dogs somewhere sunny – especially if your dog has pink “maps” on his nose, or has pink skin visible along the edge of white ears.

Get an Aloe Vera Sunscreen which is safe for people and animals – it needs to be free of harmful chemicals in case the dog licks it off, soothes the skin, and is waterproof for forty minutes – great if you’ve got a Retriever or one of the other breeds that can’t keep out of water!

Click here to get the very best Aloe Vera products – and at a big discount when you quote Dog-Training-and-Health.com

Oh, and if it so happens that you absolutely can’t take your dog with you on vacation, you could get a pet sitter to mind him and your home while you’re away. You’ll find a good selection of them in the Dog section of This is our Year.com

Now you have all the lowdown on traveling with dogs – check out the dog transport info here – you may want to go to Dog Training from the Dog’s Perspective, to get your dog’s behavior up to scratch before you set off!