traveling with a new puppy

[blueyes]

hi everyone -

not sure why i haven't found this forum before this, but it's nice to stumble upon.

we lost our 11 year old cairn, riley - 2 weeks ago - he had a very fast growing brain tumor, and we had to let him go.

we love the breed, and have found a breeder in OK - a lovely woman, and she has a liter of new puppies that we are watching develop - they are 3 weeks old - we have our eye on a little wheaton/black male.

my question comes here - we will more then likely have a puppy shipped to us at 8 to 10 weeks old. we have a vacation planned - driving about 18 hours (a stop overnight) to GA - a few weeks afer he will arrive. he will be 3 months old at the time of the vacation.

would he be too little to travel with us? would this be a good idea? we will be gone for about 10 days - and will be staying at my sisters - and 2 nights at a hotel on the way there and back.

he would be crated during the drive - what do you guys think?

riley didn't travel well on long trips - and we wondered if exposing the puppy earlier would help. but, we don't want to harm him either.

we could leave him with my mom and dad - they are out "babysitters" when we go somewhere. just wasn't sure how "fair" it would be to leave them (they are 68 and 70) with a brand new puppy. they were used to riley and knew what to expect with him - knew his cues, etc.

anyway- thanks for any help -

--diane

[cleokiki]

Diane,

Congrats on the new puppy. Mine is laying at my feet right now taking a nice nap.

A suggestion is...Would the breeder consider waiting to send you the pup until after you have returned? This would be great for the pup to be with his/her mom and litter mates and learn from them...like no biting, etc. We got ours at at 12 weeks and would not have minded waiting a few weeks more.

Your breeder sounds nice and I'm sure she would understand your predicament. Those first weeks with you are so importatant and since you are traveling, she might be a bit confused as to her potty training, etc. The breeder I used had mentioned specifically when I got mine that it was not a good idea to travel too soon after getting your new puppy and she will not give them up if that is the case.

Hope this helps.

Ada & Skye

[Dixieandme]

Diane, we have 5 mo. old cairn and we also lost a cairn to stomach cancer a few months ago( Daisy was 10 years old)............. When our new baby was 3 mo.(Dixie) we went to vist our kids in Florida and it was a 8 hour drive and she did great going and coming..... She traveled in her crate and did good, no crying at all.. We stopped a couple of times to let her potty .......... she has always loved her crate so she was fine!!! Good luck

[Hawkeye]

I agree with cleokiki. Check with the breeder to see if they would keep the puppy while your on vacation. This way you can enjoy your vacation and also know that the puppy is still bonding. We got Bailey last August and we too were going on vacation. So I asked if they could keep him until after our trip and they were more than happy to do it. We actually picked up Bailey on the last day of our vacation, we drove up to Maine to meet the breeder and our new baby.

[bradl]

Puppies need your full attention. If the purpose of the vacation IS the puppy, it can work. Normally a vacation is for you to enjoy - making it a better idea to wait until after.

We would neither ship a puppy, nor place one at eight weeks. Our club's code of ethics recommends 12 weeks and we're in complete agreement.

Travel with a young puppy is doable, if you are well-prepared and willing to make the puppy's well-being the primary focus.

[carolinaila09]

paisley (9 weeks) has made a car trip to my parents house and to myrtle beach. she rides in her crate and does really well. she sleeps the entire ride and will only get up if we wake her up to go potty. she was really good both times, but then again, these were only 3 hours as opposed to 18! i dont know if I could handle that long of a trip haha it hasnt messed up any of her training either. but i did cancel our road trip to charlotte this weekend just because i dont want her to get too confused! (that would have been 6 hours total, but we were breaking it up 3 and 3.)

[hallswel]

I would worry a bit about the stress on the puppy. I do bring my pups to work with me daily so that I can feed them and keep the news paper clean and the travel is not a problem. I agree with Brad 8 weeks seems early mainly because that would have only allowed time for 1 set of shots.

Lots of changes for the puppy coming to live with you. Different sounds, different smells, different water. They are brave as little things 5 - 8 weeks old then they get a bit timid and that period of time I like the Momma to help train and be around. Then sometime around 12 weeks they get in the terrible twos and that is a good time for the new owners to get them.

So yes you can travel with a puppy but I wouldn't before they had at least 2 sets of shots. When you stop at a Rest Area they need to be vaccianted because you have no idea what was on the ground before you and the same goes for a hotel/motel room.

[Marty & Sherry]

We picked Obie up at 11 weeks old & went on vacation 5 days later. We were in our 5th wheel though & that makes traveling with dogs much easier. It was a great experience for him. He was exposed to lots of people & other dogs (even a miniature pig walking in harness). We made it a point to get him around as many kids as possible too. He had a blast and it gave him a fantastic start towards socialization. He got to the point that he just couldn't understand why someone would pass him by without making over him!

[cairnrescueleague]

I agree with Brad. The fact that the breeder is willing to place, not to mention ship, a puppy at 8-10 weeks is a red flag. There are very good reasons that the CTCA Code of Ethics specifies no younger than 12 weeks, and some breeders don't place until 16 weeks. There are critical things the puppies learn from their mother and littermates during that time period - bite inhibition being one of them, but also confidence, the ability to calm themselves down, etc. I would recommed going to the Breeders section of this website and contacting some of the breeders that are listed.