Planning an ultra-long road trip, with dogs..anyone done it?
Discussion
OH has decided that Canadian winters are intolerable and is buying a winter house in Scottsdale, Az, where I will go now and then (my business has a huge amount of travel), but she will reside there from November to March.
The problem is the dogs. (Great Dane and Standard Poodle). Impractical to ship them by air, so only answer is to drive, through Ontario,Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, TX, NM and into Arizona. An additional fun item is that I will be towing her car on a trailer, ( I have towed various cars with the Cayenne before.)
SO, in October or so, I am leaving Toronto with an SUV full of dogs and dogfood, a mate of mine who will co-drive for a 3900km one way drive. The dogs are good travellers as far as I can tell, but their average trip is about fifteen minutes to the vet. I intend to sleep them in the SUV as it will be tough to find accommodation. Planning about 1200Km a day.Evidently everything will get a full inspection and service in advance, including the trailer.
Has anyone tried this with dogs?...should I bring some tranquillizers?...I am planning three hour stints, walks and pee stops in between ,bringing their regular dogfood and giving them plenty of water. Evidently i want to avoid having a Great Dane barf over my shoulder on Route 66
At some deep place I feel like National Lampoon's Vacation doing this. Something, somewhere is bound to get unstuck. I have done plenty of long distances so no worries there...used to drive Montreal to Key West regularly. Dogs and trailer had a dampening effect on the trip, though will leave trailer there and will have a better return run.
The problem is the dogs. (Great Dane and Standard Poodle). Impractical to ship them by air, so only answer is to drive, through Ontario,Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, TX, NM and into Arizona. An additional fun item is that I will be towing her car on a trailer, ( I have towed various cars with the Cayenne before.)
SO, in October or so, I am leaving Toronto with an SUV full of dogs and dogfood, a mate of mine who will co-drive for a 3900km one way drive. The dogs are good travellers as far as I can tell, but their average trip is about fifteen minutes to the vet. I intend to sleep them in the SUV as it will be tough to find accommodation. Planning about 1200Km a day.Evidently everything will get a full inspection and service in advance, including the trailer.
Has anyone tried this with dogs?...should I bring some tranquillizers?...I am planning three hour stints, walks and pee stops in between ,bringing their regular dogfood and giving them plenty of water. Evidently i want to avoid having a Great Dane barf over my shoulder on Route 66
At some deep place I feel like National Lampoon's Vacation doing this. Something, somewhere is bound to get unstuck. I have done plenty of long distances so no worries there...used to drive Montreal to Key West regularly. Dogs and trailer had a dampening effect on the trip, though will leave trailer there and will have a better return run.
It shouldn't be too bad a trip, I've done Southern Sweden to Southern Italy a few times in the past with 3 dogs (and one time towing a horsebox with two horses in, in addition to a car full of dogs!) and had no problems over the distance (roughly 3000km each way).
The dogs tended to sleep for most of the journey, and we stopped roughly every 3 hours to take them for a walk and a run round. The biggest difference is we stayed in hotels on a night (plenty of dog friendly places on mainland Europe) to give us all extra space to stretch out.
I don't know what, if any, paperwork you'll need for transporting dogs between Canada and the US, but if it's anything like Europe make sure everything's in order and they're up-to-date on all their vaccinations and boosters. Make sure to have a vet check them over before and after the journey too.
The dogs tended to sleep for most of the journey, and we stopped roughly every 3 hours to take them for a walk and a run round. The biggest difference is we stayed in hotels on a night (plenty of dog friendly places on mainland Europe) to give us all extra space to stretch out.
I don't know what, if any, paperwork you'll need for transporting dogs between Canada and the US, but if it's anything like Europe make sure everything's in order and they're up-to-date on all their vaccinations and boosters. Make sure to have a vet check them over before and after the journey too.
I've done Isle of Wight to near Palermo a few times which is 1700 miles ish (about 2700 in french numbers!) in a 1989 Land Rover 90 V8 with a big Labrador in the back and lots of luggage so 3900 should be a doddle in a Cayenne. You probably won't have to fill up every 190 miles either.
I did it in three stints with dog friendly hotels booked and stretched the dog every time I stopped for fuel. He is an exceptionally good traveller however and only stirred for food, trees and to bark at foreign-looking people. You'll be fine.
I did it in three stints with dog friendly hotels booked and stretched the dog every time I stopped for fuel. He is an exceptionally good traveller however and only stirred for food, trees and to bark at foreign-looking people. You'll be fine.
matt9k said:
I don't know what, if any, paperwork you'll need for transporting dogs between Canada and the US, but if it's anything like Europe make sure everything's in order and they're up-to-date on all their vaccinations and boosters. Make sure to have a vet check them over before and after the journey too.
From Canada to US you need a health certificate from the vet within ten days of the trip and rabies vaccination. Not too bad. They are basically healthy, but of course will have them fully checked. An interesting issue is that they are not used to the desert and there is some unpleasant wildlife around.(scorpions, various snakes etc), so we will have to watch any enthusiastic chases in the yard......RDMcG said:
there is some unpleasant wildlife around.(scorpions, various snakes etc), so we will have to watch any enthusiastic chases in the yard......
Ah, speak to your vet about anti-venom for snake bites in that case. Can't remember exactly what our vet provided us with but it lived in the fridge for emergencies - fortunately never needed it.In the meantime can you take them on a long trip somewhere as a practice, preferably more than once? This will get them used to long trips but more importantly you will see how they react, last thing you want is to be all packed up and 50miles in one of the dogs starts going manic. I think it's a little unfair to expect them to spend all day and night in the car, the walks during the day are unlikely to amount to much so it would be kinder to find some accomodation with somewhere for them to run around and stretch out when sleeping (thinking of the Great Dane!).
Last thing I would say is the day before you move, either take them yourself or more likely employ a dog walker/friend to take them for a VERY long walk/hike - preferably most of the day if possible, then see if you can distract them from sleeping too much during the evening/night, this will take care of the first day!
Last thing I would say is the day before you move, either take them yourself or more likely employ a dog walker/friend to take them for a VERY long walk/hike - preferably most of the day if possible, then see if you can distract them from sleeping too much during the evening/night, this will take care of the first day!
All I'll say on the subject is dog s
t stinks your car out...
Took our boxer puppy to my parents to pick the kids easter eggs up - only 50 miles from Stoke to Manchester. He was fine going, but on the way back he got a severe dose of the sts. All over the boot of the car, all over the kids easter eggs, all over their new clothes.
The smell was that bad we had to bail out after a few miles and try to clean it up...
t stinks your car out...Took our boxer puppy to my parents to pick the kids easter eggs up - only 50 miles from Stoke to Manchester. He was fine going, but on the way back he got a severe dose of the s
ts. All over the boot of the car, all over the kids easter eggs, all over their new clothes.The smell was that bad we had to bail out after a few miles and try to clean it up...
MikeyBe said:
All I'll say on the subject is dog st stinks your car out...
Took our boxer puppy to my parents to pick the kids easter eggs up - only 50 miles from Stoke to Manchester. He was fine going, but on the way back he got a severe dose of the sts. All over the boot of the car, all over the kids easter eggs, all over their new clothes.
The smell was that bad we had to bail out after a few miles and try to clean it up...
Wow that is just horrible, sorry but had to laugh! t stinks your car out...Took our boxer puppy to my parents to pick the kids easter eggs up - only 50 miles from Stoke to Manchester. He was fine going, but on the way back he got a severe dose of the s
ts. All over the boot of the car, all over the kids easter eggs, all over their new clothes.The smell was that bad we had to bail out after a few miles and try to clean it up...
*Al* said:
MikeyBe said:
All I'll say on the subject is dog st stinks your car out...
Took our boxer puppy to my parents to pick the kids easter eggs up - only 50 miles from Stoke to Manchester. He was fine going, but on the way back he got a severe dose of the sts. All over the boot of the car, all over the kids easter eggs, all over their new clothes.
The smell was that bad we had to bail out after a few miles and try to clean it up...
Wow that is just horrible, sorry but had to laugh! t stinks your car out...Took our boxer puppy to my parents to pick the kids easter eggs up - only 50 miles from Stoke to Manchester. He was fine going, but on the way back he got a severe dose of the s
ts. All over the boot of the car, all over the kids easter eggs, all over their new clothes.The smell was that bad we had to bail out after a few miles and try to clean it up...
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