Long Distance Car Travel

[LizzieP]

My grandmother (96) needs to be placed in a nursing facility and I have to go back to Ohio to help my Mom pack up her apartment. I will be driving from Idaho to Ohio on Wedensday and taking Finnegan with me. Two older teenage boys and a husband would be overwhelmed and outwitted by 13 week old Finn so I have decided to take him with me. He has a travel crate and I will be stopping for exercise and play time. Has anyone travelled a long distance with their puppy? Any suggestions? Thanks so much for everyone's help.

Lizzie P.

[TheScotts]

We went on a long road trip with two pups that age. One traveled happily in his crate and the other would have been carsick without a mild tranquilizer from the vet. My vet offers Acepromazine (just makes them calm) and also mentioned over the counter Dramamine for carsickness. If this is a problem for your pup, discuss the options and appropriate dosage with your vet. If the pup does not get carsick, then chances are he will settle down for the ride after a few minutes. Have a good trip!

[Guest mrskti]

oh goodness, that's a long trip alone....poor thing. I think you're probably right in taking the baby with you, I couldnt trust my husband a weekend, he'd forget to take them out and the house would be full of pee!!! Sad huh?

I think the pup will do fine, put him as close to you as you can though, my dogs didnt like being in the back of the SUV, they wanted to see me! toys, chewies and some audio books for you missy!!! Cracker Barrel has a nice buy/refund thing with theirs. Also i got one of the hang on the crate water things, keep it full, then it doesnt leak much.

We've traveled a lot with our girls, starting at 8 weeks when we took them from the breeder in TN, to home in IL. 2 mo later we went to FL. And just got back from the Keys. lots of miles on their crate!!!

[toomanypaws]

Have you taken Finnegan w/ you on trips around town to make sure he doesn't get car sick? Our Abbey throws up after about 10-15 minutes in the car. We make sure not to feed her and we give her a mild dose of Ace for long trips. The last long trip was taking our 3 to N.C. We crated them and made frequent stops and they all did great.

[Binx75075]

Frisky loves to be in the car. I had to drive down to Houston at 3am at the spur of the moment because a friend was stranded. I did not have anyone to watch Frisky & since I did not know how long I would be gone, I took him with me. I don't remember how old he was, but he loved it when I drove with the windows down & the sunroof open. I had trained him previously only to lay his head down on the window, but he loves the wind blowing in his face.

[Guest rottndobie]

I went from SoCal up to the top of Oregon a couple years ago with 2 Dobes and Shadow. Had no problems. Just make sure you stop for potty breaks (you need them anyways) every few hours. There were many reststops along the way and they all had doggie areas. BTW this was a 2 month trip..LOL. All the guys did fine and loved seeing the new sights.

[LizzieP]

Thanks so much for the advice! Finnegan has been in the car many, many times in the past few weeks. No car sickness, thank goodness. He sits on my lap but today he discovered he could put his front paws on the door rest and look out. Quite the big boy! I do have the attachments for his crate for his water and food bowl and I'll bring his blanket, toys from his home crate so we he won't be too confused. I have satellite radio so I'll be listening to books, old radio programs, etc. I checked on the web and found that Holiday Inns and Comfort Inns are dog friendly. Maybe not Finnegan friendly, but we'll manage. Thanks again.

Lizzie P.

[Luckysmom]

Our first trip with Lucky was 9 hours (Virginia to Massachusettes when he was 4 months old) with our two kids 9 ands 13 at the time

[Angus'mum]

We traveled from Pittsburgh to Rehoboth, DE over the summer with Angus and our daughters (1 and 3 years old). Angus won the best traveler award of the 3 of them! He traveled in his crate (wedged in the back seat between the car seats). He was amazing. He was quiet and content the entire trip. We had to make frequent stops for the girls so he got out to pee and stretch his legs. I didn't feed him the morning we left so there wouldn't be anything to throw up--just in case. Good luck!

Mickey