Tips for road trips with your dog?

[JessWarn]

Next saturday we are making a 14 hour (split over 2 days) road trip with Pepper. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips for road trips with their danes. Thanks in advance!

[crdane]

We will be moving across the country, so I will be watching this thread. I am going to bring water and their meat with me. We are staying at Motel 6's because they allow the big guys. We have an SUV, and one of those dog hammocks for the back seat. A dane is too heavy for it,but we are going to put plastic bins of stuff we need to bring under it,and then cover the bins with a thin board, and Ayla and Milo will have a huge area to spread out in. I am also bringing bully sticks to entertain them for the ride.

[NavyWife]

We have moved several times with our dogs. We moved from Florida to Illinois, Illinois to Colorado, Colorado back to Florida, Florida to Jersey, then Jersey to Virginia. I feel like a pro now! One thing we do is obviously make sure our dogs love the car by the time we move, if you have a dog that is not comfy with the car, start taking them to McDonalds everyday and get them a hamburger. Only takes a few days before "car" is the best word that could ever come out of your mouth. Everyday, every few days, whatever you can swing to get them to love it!

We always designate one car for the dogs/kids and don't pack anything else into it except in the floor space. This way they don't feel crowded and boxed in. We lay their beds down in the back, the ones they sleep on in the house, so its something of home that travels with them. This also seems to help with the transition to the new house, they have something familiar in the new house right away (thanks DOL tip!).

We also put a fan in the back. Even with the AC, I don't think the air flow is enough for the dogs to really be comfortable, and I don't want to drive all day with the windows open. So we have a few of those fans that plug into the car and we put them in the back blowing on the dogs.

We also bring Benadryl with us. Sometimes we need it, sometimes we don't, but I never travel without it. I buy the economy size with these big guys. We also don't feed them before driving. This may depend on your dog though mine have always been slightly car sick, so no food before driving, we wait until we get to where we are going for the day.

We try to stop every few hours, I have to anyway due to a clotting disorder, so it always takes us forever to get anywhere, but the more frequently we stop, the happier the dogs are. Rest stops are always a favorite because they usually have picnic areas I can take them to stretch their legs. And be prepared to get stopped by everyone.

[zoocrew]

I agree with everything said. I've moved multiple times as well. Mostly w/i a state or neighboring state but I've done a few trips from SD/Mn to Ca with one dog, and then 4 dogs/1 bird.

Lots of stops. My husband has a bladder the size of a pea so we were literally stopping about every 2 hrs..............I would have preferred 3-4 hrs but oh well. We actually drove 2 cars out, the dogs and bird would not have fit in one since we both just have full sized cars. Lots of water.

Don't be surprised if Pepper doesn't eat for a day or three. With all the changes, alot of dogs usually go off their food. She may hesitate going to the bathroom too, so its good if you use a potty command. My two rat terriers hadn't learned the potty commands before we moved as we moved literally days after getting them. Neither of them peed for over a day and Posey did not poop for about 3 days, despite walking them for about 30 min morning/evening and multiple potty breaks in between.

I always bring a few toys along, something to keep them occupied and familiar in the hotel room. Make sure she has identifying tags with current info on her collar, just in case God forbid she were to get loose.

[Marick]

We also recently moved with our dogs. We were quite scared, but it turned out perfectly.

We doped them with a very light, natural calming medicine. It didn't put them out, just helped them deal with the situation.

Be careful of the AC, dogs aren't used to it, so it may give them the sniffles. Also be careful to give them too much water or food since this may make them ill.

Make regular stops and allow them to stretch their legs.

Give them something to play with during the drive, but not something to chew since this could make them ill.

Talk to them and ensure them that everything is ok.

Determine which side the sun will be shining from and hang a towel or blanket over the window and close the window up so that the sun doesn't shine through the window. Too much sun makes it very hot and can give them sunburn.

Best of luck!

[thisiscyndi]

We always stop every 2 hrs whether anyone needs to or not. Logan can get a little stiff in the legs if not allowed to move around often.
Collapsable water bowl and bottled water.
Econo bottle of Phazyme (for gas/bloat) with a large safety pin to pierce the pills.
Plenty of Endosorb for diarhea/upset tummy.
Extra towels & drool rags.
Bully sticks/chews & kong for overnight stays.
His "baby" - the stuffie he's had since his very 1st day home with us.
For the hotels - a sheet to cover the other bed (we always book double queens or couch or pullout), a blanket and his pillow.
Flexi lead for potty breaks when he cant be off leash (he has to have room to do the "poo trot")
A list of emergency vet offices for every town we are staying overnight in.
ETA:
A copy of his rabies certificate (not just the tag) and shot record.
Our Delta Society info (or AKC CGC if you have it) - since it sometimes helps over-ride weight limits when they see he is a Delta Society complex rated therapy dog.
Carpet cleaner spray (I like Arm & Hammer) -- Logan has puked on hotel carpet twice & this saved me damage fees.

[JessWarn]

Thanks for the advice everyone!
She knows what "lets go potty" means, but we don't have a #2 command... I guess we'll just have to see how that goes.

She is normally very good in the car and likes car rides. This one will just be a bit longer than usual! I've never seen her get car sick but this will be a much longer drive than anything she has ever been on.

We'll definitely bring some benedryl and I will call the vet to see if we can pick up some other precautionary meds. I would rather have em and not need them.
We have a collapsable bowl that we take on outings with us.

I wanted to try and hit up a dog park each day we were driving so hopefully she can burn off some extra energy and just sleep while we are driving.

Her tags are all up to date and on her collar. We always use a separate collar when walking so if something happens she will still have her tags on that collar. Plus she is chipped with both of our cell phone numbers.

[JessWarn]

RE: crdane

We will be moving across the country, so I will be watching this thread. I am going to bring water and their meat with me. We are staying at Motel 6's because they allow the big guys. We have an SUV, and one of those dog hammocks for the back seat. A dane is too heavy for it,but we are going to put plastic bins of stuff we need to bring under it,and then cover the bins with a thin board, and Ayla and Milo will have a huge area to spread out in. I am also bringing bully sticks to entertain them for the ride.

Hi, I just wanted to update this because you said you were interested

Pepper did well in the car, like others said she didn't really eat much (about half of what she normally does. We tried to feed her the normal amount for dinner at night after we stopped and she ate about 75% and then ate the rest in the morning after I stirred it. She loves it when we stir it, so weird.) She wasn't a big fan of going to the bathroom on the road though. We walked around for a good 20-30 minutes at each rest stop before she went and a lot of times she didn't at all. The cars and the people definitely distracted her (she thinks everyone wants to be her friend, not a bad thing normally! every time she sees a new person she starts waging and wants to go say hi though! Its to the point where she knows what "Pepper, they don't want to be your friend" means haha. I suppose leave it works too, but ) But none the less, it may take a while for your dogs to go potty when they visit rest stops.

On our second day of driving we drove for about 3 hours and Pepper started standing up and crying a little (after she refused to go to the bathroom at any of the rest stops previous to that and hadn't pooped since the day before) so we pulled over ASAP and she went right away. So do pay attention to the noises they make.

We have a bell that hangs over the door that we meant to take but somehow we forgot (our theory is you have to forget something... if we only forgot the bell its not so bad. One of us could have forgotten underwear or our drivers license or something important like that haha) If your dogs are bell trained try bringing that and hang it somewhere in your car.

I took a page from your book and stayed at motel 6 and it worked out well! Thank you for the suggestion! Pepper did very well and only gave a few woofs when the maid knocked on the door in the morning. For some reason though we didn't have a clock (I mean not at all, unless you leave the tv on all night) so hopefully yours is nicer than the one we stayed at. It was clean and quiet, just no clock in the room.

For the actual ride Pepper mostly just slept. We borrowed a 4 door truck to take down so we had cargo room in back (for her crate and stuff) and had a back seat for her to relax in. Because it was a "new" car it took her a few hours to relax. She did after the first few hours though and it worked out great. I didn't really want to bring bully sticks because sometimes they smell so we brought her kong and peanut butter, and something called a himalayan dog chew. you can find them here http://www.himalayandogchew.com/ They take longer to chew up than bullies (she can go through a bully in about 20 minutes... if its a big one. these take about a week or more for her to chew up) and they don't upset her tummy and are all natural.

She didn't get car sick, but every dog is different.

Thank you for your advice and I hope our tips help you Safe travels!