Before you begin to make plans to travel, please consider your dog’s personality. There are dogs that may honestly be too difficult to travel with. Does your best friend bark all the time? It may not bother you, but it might bother someone staying in the next room. If you have a dog that gets into mischief too easily, any damage to a hotel room will probably end up on your credit card! If your buddy has a nervous bladder, will he wake you up at night to tell you it’s time to take a potty break? These are all considerations before planning your trip. Take a step back and give an honest evaluation to traveling with your pet dog. There are pets that would be better to stay at home, but you are the best judge of that.
Once you have made the decision that pet would enjoy a restful night in a dog friendly hotel, then it’s time to plan ahead. Before you find hotels that allow dogs, you need to consider what to pack. The amount of dog items that you bring may be determined by not only how long you will be gone, but also where you are going and how you are getting there. Just like people, if you are flying, you will want to keep your pet’s needs to a minimum. If you are driving, you can get away with bringing a few extra toys or treats.
Begin by looking at the length of your trip. Let’s say you are leaving on a Friday afternoon and returning Sunday night, and you are traveling by car. If possible, try to bring enough dog food and treats for at least 2 to 3 days more than your dog will likely eat. This may sound like a lot, but if your dog eats 2 cups of food per day, take 4 cups more than you need. This is a safety net in case something spills, gets wet, drops, etc. A couple of extra treats to reward good travel manners is a nice touch too. Make sure that you bring along a portable water bowl and water while you travel, for plenty of drinks along the way and when water is not readily available. Providing bottled water during the trip may reduce the chance of an upset tummy!
Traveling can be stressful, so remember to bring your friend’s favorite toys. If your dog likes to chew, remember the rawhide or chew toys to avoid the furniture or car interior! Bring a pet brush and a travel pack of pet bath wipes, in case a messy situation turns up. If possible, bring along the dog bed, and if you can’t, then consider where your pet will sleep. If your pet takes daily vitamins or medications, bring twice as many as you expect to use, so you have a safety net. If it is time to apply the topical flea treatment or take the monthly heart worm pill, then be sure to bring them along as well.
Once you find the hotel that you will stay at, do a search on the internet to find any retailers in that area that carry pet products, including the brand of food your pet eats. If you were flying to your destination, you could also bring a small amount of food and buy a bag at your destination for your trip. Bring along the phone number of your vet, and try to find the phone numbers of a vet or two and any emergency pet hospitals, again in the area of where you will be staying. Lastly, make sure that your dog’s vaccinations are up to date and take along any paperwork and things like rabies tags or dog licenses to avoid any hassle or controversy.
Thankfully, we now have search engines to find specific information and websites to offer special prices on hotel stays and vacations. Please visit our website for a Free Search Engine to search dog friendly hotels across the country. It is located on the lower left of the site at the pet hotels link.
