Since you consider your dog a full fledged family member, as you should, you’re of course going to want to take them along on your vacation. However, there’s some essential safety tips when it comes to bringing four legged friends along on road trips – here’s some of the most important, as prepared by the dog lovers / driving experts at Chicago Towing.
Preparation
If your pet never ever leaves the confines of your home, it’s going to be scared and confused if they get stuck inside a crate and taken on a long ride in a vehicle. You want to make sure that your pet isn’t susceptible to carsickness as well. Get them used to the crate by keeping them in it for bits of the day inside the home, and take short trips inside the car with them before the trip so they can understand what it feels like. It certainly will help them feel excited to associate the car with fun trips to other places besides the veterinarian.
Travel Kits
Bring your pet’s favorite toys, blankets, towels, as well as any medicine they take and tons of bottled water. Bring a leash for going on walks in between traveling – and a frisby can do wonders as both a toy to help your dog spend some of that extra energy, as well as as a water bowl. Make sure to bring clean up materials for all necessary bathroom breaks.
Bathroom Breaks
Make sure to allow your dog the same courtesy of regular bathroom breaks that you afford yourself. We recommend making excursions to parks or rest areas so your fresh can get a little clean air and nature time.
Sleeping Places
Make sure to check all motels or hotels ahead of time to see if they welcome pets. Since these hotels are in high demand compared to their scarcity, it’s important to make an advance reservation. Look up pet friendly hotels on travel review sites, and call the place just to make check.
Never leave any dog or person unattended in a car
Cars can heat up quickly even in just 10 minutes, and can become up to 40 degrees hotter inside than the outside temperature – even when the windows are open. So if you’re stopping for any reason, never leave your dog inside the hot car.
Car Seats
While dogs love to stick their heads out of the windows of moving cars to feel the breeze, this isn’t necessarily safe as they can potentially be injured. Make sure that they have a comfortable and familiar kennel in the back of the car, and that they can be comfortably and non constructively protected with a belt – the same as everyone else in the car.
ID Tas
Before you leave make sure that your cell phone number is attached to your dog’s tag so that you can easily be reached if it somehow escapes. If you follow these advice factors, you and your dog are certain to have an amazing trip!
