Road-trip Advice

[Lyzelle]

Ditto on the long lead! It can definitely be a lifesaver at rest stops, to just let them stretch their legs.

Having a blanket that smelled like home/his bed helped too. I just took one of the sheets he lays on at the house, put it in the car. When we got to the hotel, I spread it out on the bed. It helped greatly compared to the first time around when we had nothing.

They sell travel bowls in places like Petco and such. I have one that folds up, it's good for when we stop. But we usually use a water bottle more often. (As it turns out, moving car + moving dog + water bowl = a huge mess in my case.)

I just flip it over my head while driving, it isn't too distracting or anything. He gets his drink, and I screw the top back on.

I have one like this, but I know they sell just the caps you can put on any water bottle, too.

 

[SaraB]

We just got back from a cross-country road trip, Minnesota to Florida and back. Not to mention the Florida tour we did while we were down there.

The dogs were awesome. I have my dogs crated in the car because Zuma doesn't really like other dogs touching her, plus I personally believe it's the safest method of transporting your dog (not just for the dog but for the people that are riding in the car). Here's a picture of our setup:

We took 3 days each way, averaging 10-12 hours of driving each day with a hotel stay at night. Everybody including the puppy, slept in their crates the whole time. We stopped every 3 hours or so for quick potty breaks. They would rip around the hotel room when we first got there for a half hour or so but then were perfectly content to sleep.

I didn't do anything special like long lines or anything, most of the places we were stopping at wouldn't have benefited from a longer line anyways just because there were small pottying spots. I did happen across a rest stop with a small fenced in dog park area (vacant of dogs), so I let the girls tear around that for a few minutes.

They had bully sticks once on the way down and antlers to chew on, but honestly they didn't really need it.