Road-trip Advice

[Lyzelle]

After the first hour or so, Zander settles down and just goes to sleep. I keep his leash, water bottle, and treats up front with me. He also gets hot easily, so I blast the air and wear a hoodie. Benedryl does wonders too. I give it half an hour to 45 minutes before we leave, then again before we stop to ease any stress about the hotel room and all the noises and smells. Whenever the car slows or stops for gas, food, or going through towns he still gets a bit antsy. Click/treat for quietly looking out the window and we're golden.

I make a roundtrip 64+ hour drive every 6 months, so we've nearly got the system down pat.

[MericoX]

I only stopped once about halfway through on 8-hour drives down to Texas with the older dogs. On the way back because I had the pups about every 3 hours, or when they woke up and were being restless.

[CaliTerp07]

Yikes, I don't envy you. I just did 5 hours one way, 3 hours back this weekend, and Lucy whined the ENTIRE time in her crate. I put her bark collar on to keep her from totally going crazy, but yeah...it was "turn the radio up, cover the crate, and pray for no traffic". She does much better loose, but it was a friend's car so she had to be crated.

I really thought she'd sleep in the crate on the way home today. She had 2.5 solid days of running on the farm with 6 other dogs, chasing goats, hiking, training, swimming, wrestling, chasing the gator when we drove it around, etc...and STILL she whined and scratched at the crate door the whole way home. Booger!

[PlottMom]

I've never had a dog have to make less than a 3 hour or so trip on their date of purchase, so I don't know if that's made a difference but until we moved cross country I'd never crated a dog in the car, and never had anyone whine. Mostly they just sleep.

[Raegan]

I took Marsh to Ohio last year, it was an 8 hour drive. I stuck an antler in his crate and we just went. Stop a couple times to air. But Marsh is always good in the car. Poor boy spent about four days in a crate before he got a turn to work at the seminar, and WOW was he wound for sound!

[noludoru]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

Yikes, I don't envy you. I just did 5 hours one way, 3 hours back this weekend, and Lucy whined the ENTIRE time in her crate. I put her bark collar on to keep her from totally going crazy, but yeah...it was "turn the radio up, cover the crate, and pray for no traffic".

That's what I am worried about. I bought a huge pack of bully sticks this evening and gave him one as a test, though - mostly to see how long it takes him to finish it off and whether I can stand the smell. It went well. He's been chewing on it for almost an hour and a half and isn't finished yet. I figure if we start out with a couple bully sticks he'll have time to get comfortable in the new environment. I'll have the truck for a day before the actual move, so I am going to try to get him in it and stuff treats in his face.

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

Considering my dogs hold it 10 hours at a time at home I can't imagine stopping every two hours on a drive.

Agreed. We will definitely not be stopping every two hours - I can't imagine how much time that would add to the trip! We'll be stopping every 4-6 hours or however long it takes me to have to pee (I generally go 6-8 hours and so does he), and I'll just let him go to the bathroom at the same time.

[release the hounds]

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

Considering my dogs hold it 10 hours at a time at home I can't imagine stopping every two hours on a drive.

no kidding, i used to stop rather frequently, like every 4 hours on long trips and they just look at me like "you got me out for this again?" Now we rarely stop at all if ever on a trip except for me. I have a tiny bladder and feel the need to drink a lot when I drive. Great combo.

We travel a lot. For that reason, my dogs are crate trained early and they travel in crates. They lay down and sleep and could care less where we are until they car stops and they are let out.

[skittledoo]

When I drove to NM I had Bamm and Goober in the car. When I moved back this way I had Bamm and Cricket. We stopped roughly every 4 hours since Cricket was still a puppy and since I have a tiny bladder. Bamm settles real well in the car, but Cricket had to have chews. We didn't crate them on the way back since there was no room to set up crates unfortunately and we were all a little squished together.

I absolutely LOVE road trips though and I've been really aching to take a road trip to New Mexico and CO with Cricket and plan to hopefully soon. Cricket just sleeps in the car nowadays.

[Bailey08]

How often does he ride in the car? You may want to try to desensitize him by driving him around more. If you're going to medicate, try that in advance too (B had a paradoxical reaction to Xanax, and I know people can have that reaction to Benedryl).

Bailey stresses out on long car trips and doesn't settle down, poor boy. Grace the crazy dog does amazingly well.

Be sure to bring water and a travel bowl. Both of mine drink a lot on trips. I like to bring long leads and stop at rest stops so they can burn off some steam.

[noludoru]

Originally Posted by Bailey08

How often does he ride in the car? You may want to try to desensitize him by driving him around more. If you're going to medicate, try that in advance too (B had a paradoxical reaction to Xanax, and I know people can have that reaction to Benedryl).

Bailey stresses out on long car trips and doesn't settle down, poor boy. Grace the crazy dog does amazingly well.

Be sure to bring water and a travel bowl. Both of mine drink a lot on trips. I like to bring long leads and stop at rest stops so they can burn off some steam.

At least two hours once or twice a week. Sometimes four hours in one day. I never really know where I'm going and when, so I drag him along with me a lot. The problem is not riding in the car - it's a car he doesn't know. If it was the other Miata or one of the Expies we'd be fine.

The last time we went somewhere in a strange car he whined the entire time. We will be in a moving truck this time, so. . . yeah. But with benadryl or dramamine (he's good with both) and some bully sticks I think we'll be fine. Good reminder about the water, too - I need to get a bowl or a zip-lock bag or something to put water in for him.