5 Life Hacks for Traveling with Your Dog

Traveling with your canine can either be very fun or exceedingly stressful. Whether you’re going on a vacation or moving across the country, correctly planning to travel with your dog is essential. Otherwise, you’ll likely run into issues on the road, which can make your trip extremely stressful.

Luckily, traveling with your dog doesn’t have to be too complicated. However, if you don’t do it very often, it is easy to forget a thing or two.

To help you and your canine have a good time, we’ve written these five tips for traveling with your dog. If you follow these, you should find yourself having a much easier time.

1) Get Comfortable with the Local Rules and Regulations

Different areas have different rules for traveling with your pet. Sometimes, your dog may require specific vaccinations to travel in different areas. Occasionally, your canine needs to be quarantined. In some cases, this quarantine period is so long that it isn’t really worth taking your dog on vacation.

You should ensure to bring your dog’s vaccination and vet records, as well. In some cases, you may need these for travel. Otherwise, you’ll be unable to access certain areas or may be subjected to even longer quarantine periods.

If you’re traveling by air, you’ll likely have to jump through a lot more hoops than you would otherwise. After all, each airline has its own regulations for traveling with pets. Sometimes, you even have to purchase a separate crate. You’ll also need to consider the added costs as well.

Furthermore, hotels and rentals often have their own rules when it comes to dogs. You’ll likely need to do plenty of research and planning ahead of time to ensure that the places you’re staying allow dogs.

Many rentals require a pet deposit of some sort as well. Therefore, you may need to budget for a bit more each night to cover these costs. Extra cleaning fees are also common, though some only apply to particular breeds.

In some cases, hotels have a limited number of pet-friendly rooms. You’ll want to be sure to book these rooms ahead of time. Otherwise, you may get stuck with nowhere to stay.

2) Invest in Travel Gear

You’ll need to invest in travel-friendly gear if you want your journey to go smoothly. While your dog’s normal bowl is just fine at home, it will not be suitable for the road. A collapsible bowl is a must-have. You’ll also need something to carry your canine’s water in. You can use a collapsible bowl and water bottle for this purpose, or you can invest in a dog-friendly water bottle.

You should also consider purchasing a harness for your canine. In many cases, a collar and leash are fine for short-term wear, but you may have an issue with using them for longer trips. You don’t want to pull on your dog’s neck that much throughout the day.

Furthermore, you should ensure that your canine has all the medication necessary. Of course, your dog may not be on any regular medication. If your dog even takes occasional medication, be sure to bring that with you. For instance, if your dog takes anxiety medication occasionally, be sure that you bring it.

Whether you’re traveling by car or plane, be sure that you have a way to restrain your dog while traveling. If you’re going by air, then you’ll need a TSA-approved crate. You’ll need one that is the correct size for your dog, and you should allow your dog to practice using the crate many times before you actually travel.

If you’re traveling by car, it is often illegal to have your dog just wandering around the cart. In many cases, you can get charged with distracted driving. Therefore, you need a crate, doggie seatbelt, or something similar.

Of course, try to get your dog plenty of practice using the restraints before they’re stuck in them for hours at a time on your trip! Take short trips around town and even hour-long trips to the next town over.

3) Don’t Forget a First Aid Kit

You never know what’s going to happen when you’re traveling. Therefore, you should ensure that you bring along a first aid kit to handle any minor issues that pop up while you’re on the go.

Consider bringing gauze and a dog-friendly antihistamine just in case your dog gets bit by something. You should also consider bringing something for anxiety, just in case. You never know how stressed your dog will get while traveling.

4) Keep Your Dog’s Personality in Mind

You should keep your dog’s personality in mind while you’re traveling. If your canine is a bit on the hyper side, be sure that you invest in plenty of exercise time while on your trip. You can’t expect a puppy to sit around in a car all day, for instance.

However, if your canine is more laidback, you should have less of an issue.

Some dogs are very particular about their food. In this case, you’ll need to bring all their food with them. For dogs that can stomach other recipes easier, you may be able to purchase more food when you reach your destination.

If your dog gets stressed easily with crowds, be sure to avoid crowded areas.

5) Stay on Schedule

Sticking to the same general schedule as you were on at home can elevate a lot of your dog’s stress and discomfort.

For instance, your dog is already used to going outside at certain times and eating at certain times. Sticking to those general times can prevent your dog from getting antsy or having accidents. Your dog’s body rhythm will still be on the same schedule, even if you’re traveling.

Of course, if there is something that prevents your canine from eating or going out at their usual time, be proactive and take them outside early. Obviously, you can’t take your dog outside if you’re on an airplane. Therefore, you should take them outside before the airplane takes off.

You should schedule your rest stops appropriately too.

Conclusion

Traveling with your dog doesn’t have to be stressful. If you plan everything accordingly, then you should have a much smoother time. We highly recommend planning plenty ahead of time. Otherwise, you may have a hard time finding a pet-friendly hotel or rental.

Similarly, if you don’t get your dog’s travel gear enough ahead of time, then you may not have time to re-order if something doesn’t work correctly. You also won’t have enough time to test out the gear beforehand.

Generally, you should always plan as early as possible.

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This is a guest blog post. We are always open to featuring guest content on our website so please contact us if you have content you want to share with our audience. If you need help with planning your trip to, reach out to Anywhere But Here Travel.

AUTHOR BIO: Steffi Trott is the owner and founder of SpiritDog Training. Originally training dogs in-person, she added online training in 2018 to her business. Steffi strives to provide game-based, positive training solutions for owners and their dogs. When she is not training other owners’ dogs she competes in dog agility or hikes in the New Mexico and Colorado wilderness with her own 4 dogs.