The Holidays, Traveling, & Dogs

The holidays are here and though people seem to be traveling less these days, shorter car trips are on the agenda of many people this season. We are going to share some traveling tips to take your dogs along with you from our trip from San Diego, CA to Taos, NM.

We’ve traveled almost 2,000 miles in 7 days. Started in San Diego, CA to Vail, CO. From there we went on to Telluride, CO… one of the coolest dog places in the world in our opinion… and it rocks for people who like the outdoors as well. As much as we wanted to stay there, we went on to Durango, CO where we met our good friends Marv & Marty, proud owners of a Tibetan Mastiff. (Next time they’ll bring the dog now that they see how cool it was to travel with ours!)

From Durango, CO we headed to Taos, NM where our we have a fabulous place to live too… The dogs have to acclimate a bit from being total beach dogs in San Diego… but as you can see from the pictures they dig the snow and are quite adaptable.

So here are some traveling tips… make sure to stop every few hours, depending on the age of your dogs. Ours are all grown up and have been traveling with us before so anywhere from 2 to 3.5 hours in between stops seems to work well.

We also travel with crates. It’s just makes it a lot safer. Many times stop lights or unpredictable drivers can cause you to have to step on the brakes hard, throwing dogs all over the place. Dogs also don’t necessarily “get” the driving thing and may decide at the most inopportune moment to try and get in your lap. The crate or kennel solve these accidental moments completely.

Bring water and food with you and feed them on their normal schedules. We tend to get them a bit of exercise every time we take them out for a “potty break” and give them a bit of water after exercise.

Make sure to pick up after your dog no matter where it is that you stop with them so more places can remain “dog friendly”.

You can go on the internet and find many dog friendly hotels or motels to stay at… we traveled in a small RV and were able to keep them in there. Since we were traveling in cold climates we had heat available for the dogs overnight. Though they can withstand temperature change more easily than we are, make sure to keep a comfortable climate for them.

Make it easy, and every one will have a lot of fun. We have our dogs trained to an off leash recall through our dog training camps in San Diego and Temecula. Having your dog come to you no matter what takes the stress out of traveling with them in a very big way.

Our dogs have become more and more part of the family. Traveling with them not only saves boarding costs but the family connection gets even better. Have a great Holiday Season and get out and have some fun with your dog!