Traveling with Fido: depending on your pooch, this could light up your face or fill you with dread and worry. We felt the latter, but couldn’t bear to leave him in a kennel for two weeks up to two months – too long, and too darned expensive!
He’s peed all over a park in Phoenix and bushes around hotels in seven states; learned to ride an elevator with panache; chased a rabbit in Loveland, Colorado, to the end of his leash; learned how to walk on pristine, deep snow and ice and chase a ball in a Flagstaff, Arizona, park; eaten in hotels from Chinese food containers and foam bowls; and slept wherever we slept for the night.
So, how to do it? How do you keep a dog happy on such a long journey?
First, about our dog:
Billy is a 50lb mix of Golden Retriever and German Shepherd. He looks yellow and soft, with red, fox-like ears that train like satellites on any ball. He adores playing ball! That dog can catch a ball thrown 60′ into the air, bounces off a wall at an angle, and 30′ lobs at him. He came like that from the pound when he was 7 years old. It must be the retriever in him.
Billy tends to be a nervous dog, and had fear issues when we first got him, especially with strangers, and workmen until he met them. He has some separation anxiety too. When dealing with this it helps to think of the dog as the nervous parent, and not the child being left behind. He was pretty aggressive while passing fences with barking dogs behind them, although he has been trained out of that through commands like “Leave it!” and praise when he does a good job of ignoring it.
The Trip:
However, all this changed on vacation. The dog loved being with us all the time, 24/7. I have heard they are social pack animals, and now I really believe it. He couldn’t be left in the hotel, because it wasn’t allowed without a cage. We also thought he’d bark, and be scared alone in a new place almost every night. So we got take-out food and ate it in the car or hotel room. Occasionally we ate inside a restaurant if we could see the car in the parking lot, or it was cool enough outside to not be a danger (it is winter now). Today I set a timer on my phone for ten minutes, because it was quite cold today. I went outside soon after the timer went off.
The best part traveling for our pooch: multiple daily walks to all over many different cities, and roadsides whenever he whined to go out. It must be like winning the dog lottery. It’s closer to what Cesar Milan of the Dog Whisperer fame calls the natural energy of dogs: being led over 10 hours all over the place. He’s done much better than expected and really gotten used to hotel life.
We traveled for fifteen days from LA to Boise, Idaho, and back. It was about three days each way, with toddler time. Then a few weeks later, we moved into hotels and have travelled from LA to Palm Springs and Phoenix, Albuquerque and Santa Fe, to Colorado: Pueblo, Denver and Fort Collins in the north. Part 2 has taken twenty-eight days so far.
Tips and Tricks to Make Travel with Your Dog Easier:
We brought his bed to help him adjust to sleeping in a new place. (We brought my husband’s pillow for him, but left it somewhere along the way, probably Phoenix.) We have a padded seatbelt for him, to hold him down in an accident, and stop him from climbing into the front seat. (I wish it had a quick release attachment, and that our seat belt didn’t stop letting out slack. It brakes, and won’t let out anymore. We had to use a grip clip to keep it from tightening down too much, to the point that he can’t move. )
He shares the back with our toddler, and uses her car seat edge as a pillow. The seats are covered with towels to stop the muck and dog hair from wrecking the seats permanently.
At first we gave him water in a mesh, dog food, hiking bag, but you have to throw the water away afterwards because it soon leaks. That can use up a lot of water in the desert. Next we used a 6″ wide tupperware for water. That worked great, because it’s large enough to catch drips, doesn’t leak, and you don’t need to empty it after each use. Once when walking around Santa Fe I brought an empty, gallon plastic bag with me. When we stopped for lunch, I filled it with water for the dog in the bathroom. When he was done, we emptied it, and stuffed away a very light thing away again in my bag. Clever, huh?
We gave him treats after we all had them, sometimes after my toddler got one. I did that to stop jealousy, and because he was losing weight on the first trip, probably due to eating the same amount of food in a much colder environment.
For waste bags, we used grocery bags at first. They got used up pretty fast, and were large to carry in our pockets, so we bought the dog waste bags from a pet store. They are very compact, and a whole roll can fit in your pocket or bag. Baby stores also carry them. I would recommend having a rubberband on hand to stop the whole thing unrolling. That was a bit annoying.
When we reached January’s snow and ice in Flagstaff, Arizona (7000′ elevation), he started walking tenuously. I had to pull his leash, which is not the norm for outings. I finally figured out that his feet were hurting him, and his LA-warm weather-I walk on only sidewalk-pads were cracked from being on snow, ice and harsh anti-icing chemicals. We found booties for him in Santa Fe, and read about how to fix it in the meantime. Snow and ice gets frozen in between their pads, on the long hair. That and the chemicals causes cracking around the center area of the pads. To fix this, trim the hair shorter in the middle, just to the bottom of the dogs foot. (Good luck with this- we had to do it in stages.) Then put a little vaseline on their pads daily (a very little, knowing they are going to eat it). I was wondering if butter would be a good substitute (haven’t tried yet). Using booties: I felt ridiculous using these, but oh, well. The dog couldn’t walk, so I had to swallow my pride. We couldn’t keep the front ones one, so only the backs were worn. The backs had a velcroe strap that went over the curved part of his heel.
As I was reading about the dog’s feet, they also recommended using a jacket on dogs who aren’t used to being in cold weather (especially for little dogs, bred for fun, and not survival.) So we found a jacket for him, also in Santa Fe, NM. It was a choice of red or blue, and luckily the larger dog ones did not have frilly fuzz around the neck. (I just couldn’t face taking him out in that!!)
We carried food in a small can about 1.5′ tall and 10″ wide. We bought small, more expensive bags of food (which hurt, let me tell you, when price comparing). But we had to buy what would fit in the trunk, and we were already packed to the gills. I think if I did it again, I would fill up a few grease-proof stuff sacks or large, gallon ziplock bags instead of carrying a hard can. With a can, you can never squish it down if the can if half empty. Bags would mould better to changing storage needs.
I Have to Go Out:
At first the dog didn’t know how to go out. We had a few problems with him peeing or pooping on arrival, from excitement, and once it seemed he was mad about something. It seemed very deliberate when he peed in the middle of us. So tried to train him. We said, “Outside?”, shook his collar (it makes noise), brought him to the door, made him sit, and then we put on the leash and left the room. We did that five times in a row. Then we brought him out every hour and a half religiously, just before bed at 11 or 12, and first thing in the morning. If he stood up and shook his collar in the night, wandering around the room, we took him out. It didn’t matter if it was 3 or 4 am, or 7am. We figured: “Ignore the dog’s signs at your peril!” We haven’t had a problem since then (knock on wood). (OK, we had a problem tonight. I thought I would mention that this dog has to go right after or in the middle of eating. Eating stimulates the digestive system. Be aware of that.)
Now he comes and puts his head on our knee, or sits in front of us with Bambi eyes to go out. In the car and the hotel I can ask, “Outside?” and he’ll wag.
On long stretches in the car, he generally sleeps, since its boring. His head leans at an awkward angle on our kids car seat arm rest. We knew he had to go out he sat up from lying down a few times, or started to whine. He also started to whine sometimes whenever we slowed down. And anytime we all stopped for a bathroom break, the dog got one, too. I just wish I could tell him to leave it all on the one tree, but it seems to take a good 5-7, if you know what I mean.
The dog got used to elevators, and now walks in, turns, and sits down like its all no big deal. I can’t help think of dogs in New York City when he does that. I started petting him during the elevator ride down to make him relax.
He misses playing ball in a yard, but a long 16′ leash helps with that, and if you get a ground floor, you can play some ball in the hotel.
Dog-friendly Hotels:
La Quinta Hotels welcome dogs with no additional pet fee. They have high speed internet, fridges, microwaves, and free breakfast with waffles, and sometimes hard-boiled eggs. Note that the breakfast ends on the dot, so don’t be tardy! There is often free wireless internet in the lobby. Don’t bring your dog to the lobby during breakfast.
Candlewood Suites Hotels also welcome dogs. The pet fee is either $10/night (Boise), or $75 per 6 day visit. This is really harsh for a one night stay, but great for six or seven. They have full kitchenettes (no oven), large fridges, high speed internet, a large desk, cable, large TV’s, and sometimes a separate door for the bedroom. This is invaluable when traveling with a toddler, or if one parent wants to either get some space, or just sleep in! They also have free: movie loans, laundry, fax, computer use. Yes – all of it free. The only drawback is that these hotels tend to be further away from things. The Loveland hotel is just off the highway by a Carl’s Jr. and convenience store. Other than that we could be on the plains, with view of the highway in the distance. Great views of the Rockies, though. The one in Boise was near some food and a mall was across the street. The main action was a bit of a drive away: 1-5 miles. The one in the Denver Tech Center has some restaurants close by, within walking distance. A larger shopping area is about three minutes away by car. There were open fields around it, and it felt a little barren somehow. That one did not have a business center, but they printed many things for me at the front desk. Supposedly there is a weight limit of 30 pounds, but they have not troubled us over it.
So now Billy the dog has traveled seven states, with as much as 13 hours in the car (that was a bad one- it should have been 7 without stops!), but we have all survived, and he loves being with us all the time. He’s much more friendly to people and other dogs (even wagging at them in public), and he mostly barks now at maids outside the room, in the hallway. And his leash skills are very good some days. We can’t believe how well he has adapted to living in hotels and on the road. And he loves it when people stop all the time and tell him how pretty he is, or ask us what breed he is, because their brother, cousin, or dad have a dog who looks just like him.
So try taking your dog out with you more. He will probably surprise you with how well he does.
