Dog and Travelling

Kutterbull · Newbie

Dog and Travelling

Santa · Guru

Always a problem that needs to be taken in to account B & H, particularly during the summer months.

There is no question traveling with a dog restricts you, i.e. cant take them in to national parks, on public transport, restaurants, shops etc.

In the past we have booked our dog in to a kennel when we wanted to visit a NP overnight and on a couple of occasions have found helpful residents in a van park for day sitting (ask the park manager)

Good luck with your travels. smile

done dreaming · Senior Member

We have 2 dogs and if we are only going away for 4 hrs we leave them in the caravan with aircon turned on.Other times we have left them with other people in the park and done the same for them.We have also found some vets in the bush also do dog minding

chopit · Senior Member

Our girl is happy to stay in the 'van but we plan to be back in less than four hours.
Fan on if needed. She's no fool,gets under the breeze.

Kutterbull · Newbie

G'day All, thank you for your tips, we will play it by ear.

Save Travelling

Bernie & Heather.

Happywanderer · The Master

Daisy is happy in the van for 3 to 4 hours. I open the hatch for some air, turn on all the fans, usually 3. Big bowl of water and some food. As I leave I give her a fresh bone which take up the first couple of hours.

She probably sleeps the rest as she is usually asleep on my drivers seat when I get back.

pawsoz · Senior Member

If there are other campers in the area where you are staying who also travel with pets, see if you can exchange pet sit duties, that has worked well for me on many occassions.
If you are in or close to a larger town with a vet surgery they will often day sit pets. Even if the town is not large if it is in a tourist area there may well be someone in town who cares for pets for a day or half day, there was a lady who did this in Derby I recall.
I have always travelled with dogs and apart from National Parks have not had topo many issues at all, in ccoler times of the year I have left my dogs in the motorhome with good air flow and taken a half day trip with no problems.

Annie

RosieW · Guru

We have kenneled our two kelpies, or used Madpaws or Pawshake to get them sat at someone's home. All experiences we have had through those two services have been exceptional, and we have used multiple sitters.

www.madpaws.com.au

http:www.pawshake.com.au

Kantiki · Senior Member

On our recent trip to Qld we stumbled upon a lovely waterfront cafe which welcomed dogs and provided water bowls. We had such a good time we spent Sunday afternoon there with a delicious lunch , live music and the dog was a very welcome guest. While in Port Macquarie we were booking onto a sunset cruise, planning to leave the dog in the van, the owner invited Taffy to go with us. He loved it and so did the other passengers who enjoyed meeting him. Now we just look for opportunities that he can come with us. Not many at the moment but I think it could be a growing trend. Just hope Ratbags don't spoil it for the well behaved ones.

hokianga · Senior Member

Kantiki that is great to read you have had good experiences, I wish more tourism operators would take this on board and allow dogs on tour buses and boats.

RobandFlip · Senior Member

The Opal Caravan Park in Lightning Ridge which is an amazing park, offers a free dog sitting service while you visit the towns highlights. Great place to stay.
cheers,
Robyn

Vince · Senior Member

RobandFlip wrote:
The Opal Caravan Park in Lightning Ridge which is an amazing park, offers a free dog sitting service while you visit the towns highlights. Great place to stay.
cheers,
Robyn

We hope to be there next year in March with our 2 little furbies.

Koko · Member

We have travelled before with our little dog Koko. She has terrible separation anxiety & howls/squeals when she is left in van also when left at kennels and when she is picked up, can't even leave her in car for a second to pick up lunch or have a toilet stop etc. does anyone out ther have any helpful hints to help stop this. It makes it very hard to travel with her but we wouldn't think of leaving her at home.

-- Edited by Koko on Saturday 9th of January 2016 10:08:47 AM

Koko · Member

Koko wrote:

We have travelled before with our little dog Koko. She has terrible separation anxiety & howls/squeals when she is left in van also when left at kennels and when she is picked up, can't even leave her in car for a second to pick up lunch or have a toilet stop etc. does anyone out ther have any helpful hints to help stop this. It makes it very hard to travel with her but we wouldn't think of leaving her at home.

-- Edited by Koko on Saturday 9th of January 2016 10:08:47 AM

Kantiki · Senior Member

Deleted a double up.

-- Edited by Kantiki on Monday 11th of January 2016 05:03:31 PM

Kantiki · Senior Member

We are currently touring Victoria. While in Bendigo we took the Talking Tram. Took the dog also and we all loved it. Its always worth asking.

Myrlin · Veteran Member

Echuca was a very dog friendly place. On one of those 40C days just before Christmas, they welcomed our pooch into the air-conditioned comfort of the information centre while we used the wifi to catch up on bills and things. They had a water bowl for dogs which had a picture of a large bone on the bottom. Our dog was more interested in getting the bone than the water.

We were welcome to take the dog onto the paddle steamer known as "Pevensey" but it was just too hot.

We opted instead for lunch at the local pub. It had a nice cool beer garden under a tree and a nice cool beer.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

Koko wrote:

We have travelled before with our little dog Koko. She has terrible separation anxiety & howls/squeals when she is left in van also when left at kennels and when she is picked up, can't even leave her in car for a second to pick up lunch or have a toilet stop etc. does anyone out ther have any helpful hints to help stop this. It makes it very hard to travel with her but we wouldn't think of leaving her at home.

When we got our puppy, the breeder told us to make sure we left him at home alone every day, beginning with shorter times (e.g 30 minutes or so) and varying it up working up gradually to 3 or 4 hours. She said the puppy would soon learn that we always came back, and that he should wait.

We did, and it worked....but ...

...when we travel, the dog gets really excited when we stop, because we ALWAYS get him out and he ALWAYS gets a walk. Once we realised that we had taught him (inadvertently) to do this by rewarding him with a walk and attention for yapping like crazy, we changed our "routine" and he was our last priority no matter how noisy..............now he just gets ignored ...... not cured 100% (still barks when we pull up) but I can now leave him in the car while we nip into the toilets, etc. He just settles and usually goes to sleep till we get back.

I did try lots of suggested "cures" before looking at our own behaviour...........like walking him first, using a water spray in a squirty bottle, yellying sit/stay, having one of us stay with him...........it just seems like we had trained him to demand what we had made his normal routine. Totally our own fault.

Hope it helps you.

Rosie

Maxy · Member

We are fairly new to caravan travelling, so I read this with interest. We have a very small terrier pup and are very responsible pet owners, she is always with us, never left in the van and we also travel outside of the school holidays and busy periods but so many parks do not want us, and some are outright rude and it is like we are leppers. We know there are some places we will not be able to go, and know there are rules to be abided by and that is ok but we are so dissapointed with some of the responses we have received and it has at times been a bit of a challenge. I know there are the good and bad in all walks of lives and unfortunately some make it hard for those of us that do the right thing. But I can say that when a park owner tells me that we cannot have a ensuite site or any other site we choose and the park is next to empty !! because of our small dog and that we have to have a dedicated site at the far end of the park away from all the amenities with long grass and next to no lighting that I will take my $$ elsewhere.

hokianga · Senior Member

The pleasure of travelling with your pet will outweigh any hurdles you may face, as others have said, there are always solutions when you want to go into a national park or on a day trip. We have a rule at our park that dogs cannot be left unattended on a site or in a cabin for long periods, today we allowed a guest to leave their dog in their van for a few hours and unfortunately the poor pup howled all the time they were gone. They were very surprised when they returned to find out their pup had been truly upset. We have decided to stick to our rule of not going out and leaving your dog on site. We offer doggy day care to help make it easier for guests, because sometimes I will be working and also in charge of a guests dog, they may find themselves doing the laundry with me, cleaning the showers, or doing a bit of gardening.
I travelled with my two dogs for a little while and really enjoyed their company, I would recommend taking your pet travelling to anyone considering it.

dizzydee · Newbie

Gorgeous Boston Terrier. We have one too and took him on his first caravanning weekend to the Sunshine Coast. He was a hit with the locals and the perfect travelling companion.