First Big Trip!

[Guest mrskti]

Well tomorrow we leave home and head to our house in florida...it should be interesting. I know the girls did really well when we brought them home from TN, but they were little then and slept the whole way. We're taking a big enough crate that they can play and wrestle in there so I hope this will hold them over between stops. I feel like i have babies again with all the crap i have packed for them!!! I hope i havent' forgotten anything.

I wonder how often we'll have to stop for them? At night they sleep for around 9 hrs, but that's w/o eating or drinking, so i know i wont get off that good. We've reserved a motel room, they stuck us with a $15 charge for each dog!!!! I think i'll let them sleep on the bed with me now!!!

Well guess i better go load the car up...... See you in a few days when we're back to high speed!!!

[Toto times 2]

My boys love to travel and like to sit on my lap to see out. Then usually they just sleep. I usually stop for a few minutes every 3 hours and that seems to work out fine. Good luck.

[Greg]

I was realy surprised at how well Petey did on our 8hr trip to Daytona to pick Belle up and even more surprised at how well both of them did on the way back. We made a short stop every 2 hrs or so ......they could have went longer between stops but being it was thier first long trip we made a point to over do the stops. We use a seatbelt strap (short lead that snaps into the seatbelt latch)and harness......works great in that it restrains the dog so you dont have to worry about then interferring with driving or accidentally getting out of the car when the door is opened.

[jansop]

mrskti--off subject here, where in tn did you get your cairns?..........jan

[Eliz222]

Have fun on your trip!! The longest my two have been in a car has been about 3.5 hours and we stopped once for "potty breaks".

[Guest mrskti]

We got the puppies in Caryville, TN.

Ok we made it to Florida, they did pretty good too. No accidents in the car. They wouldnt' hardly drink though, or eat. But they've made up for the peeing thing already!!! Grrrrr! I know there's some adjustment time to a new place........oh crap, one just peed again..... Ok, maybe a lot of adjustment time! We're suppose to take them in our new motor home next week, hubby isnt' too thrilled right now.....

[Guest mrskti]

Well the second day is better....today has been good. They're enjoying their walks around the neighboorhood, sniffing everything they see! And not barking at everything they see!!! I wish their eating would pick up, but i'm sure it will. They did sleep good last night, so that's great since we woke up to a rip snortin storm and they didnt make a peep. Havent taken them to the motor home for a visit yet, i'm workin up the nerve!! But we did find that we can get a baby gate and put them in the bathroom area...it's tile. They'll just be getting crate time in while we're in there....and that wont hurt them, it will probably help the potty training thing.

Dori has chewed through her "Fifth" halter!!! We bought a beefier one today and it's still on her. I'm getting quite the collection of fasteners, and D-rings!!! LOL

[bubba]

Have you tried those 'x' halters? That is the kind we got for both our dogs and they work wonders! I don't think they could chew one off, unless it was from the other dog!!

pat.

[Guest mrskti]

Pat I'm not sure what an X halter is, I'll do a google on it. Well so far she's lasted the whole day with this bigger one. That's not to say it wont be hanging off her in the morning!!!

[bradl]

Clearly it's a bad idea to make a harness out of rawhide.

*goes back to drawing board*

[Guest mrskti]

Brad!!! You'd think it was rawhide!!!

[Eliz222]

Finch use to eat her harness all the time! We went to using a collar and she hasn't figure out how to chew this yet....lol!

[bubba]

I looked as I could not remember the brand name....PetSmart has it on their site and it is called the Coastal size right harness. I think you will like it...it really helped on the pulling ours did.

pat.

[Guest mrskti]

Ok, make that a 6th halter....i give up.

[Milopup]

Probably a dumb question, but how are they getting a hold of the harness? We use a harness as well, and put it on our pup right before we take him out. After his walk, we take the leash off and take his harness off, or else we will leave it on. But it is fairly flush to his body so it would be difficult for his to chew on it.

[Marmielin]

I don't know how they chew on them, but my Tink has chewed one up and started on the second. I put that one away until she is a little older. I'm going to check out that x-halter that was spoken about. I bought her a carseat for travel and tried to attach her with the harness. Well, she loves the carseat, but hates the harness so that's what she chews on. When she is just in the carseat she'll lay down and sleep for hours, but she isn't attached to it. So, she really isn't as safe as I would like. At least she is in the backseat, and not on my lap or trying to sit on the dashboard to look out as she did before

LindaB