Just Labradors banner

Who else takes their dog on long car trips?

2342 Views 21 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  myfavoritedog
We took Jersey to NJ (LOL) for Thanksgiving, 1000 mile car trip, 18 hours driving one day, with lots of food/exercise/bathroom breaks. She was such a good traveler! I guess she just thinks this is what my pack (me, my husband, 3 sons: 22, 17 & 11) does together.

Thursday, we're driving to Ft. Lauderdale, 1300 miles. We're taking 2 days to drive it. Our hotel is pet friendly, of course. Found a canine beach, and dog parks.

Want to share your experiences? Good or bad!
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
Jakey goes everywhere I do so he's used to traveling. All my dogs are used to traveling though some are better at it than others. Shanny is a horrible traveler. She yips in the back of the van the whole time. Drives me crazy. Quinn talks for about the first mile or so then she'll settle down. Seamus likes to sit up and see where he's going for the first couple of miles, then lays down and sleeps. You never know Jake is back there, he's so used to going with me.
The longest we've gone with Abbey was ~4 hours. She did fine, so I think longer trips would be okay for her, too, as long as we made a few stops for exercise/pee/poop. :)
We've taken Toby on long car trips twice, from Houston to western PA and back. The second trip, we had Chamois so of course she came, too, that year. The trips were two days each way, about 12 hours of driving during the days with potty/stretch stops about every two hours, and overnights in pet-friendly hotels (Red Roof Inn is pretty convenient). Toby LOVES riding in the car, he'll watch out the window, sleep, watch out the window, sleep... Chamois stands and pants for hours before she finally settles down. She doesn't seem particularly stressed, and she's always happy to get back in, but literally hours of panting non-stop before she's finally tired enough to lie down and sleep while the car is in motion. Fortunately, neither is a barker or whiner on rides.

Of course, the car trips probably seemed like nothing after the plane trips that came with our Libya move. On the way there, we flew from Houston to Frankfurt and were delayed so missed our connection. So we had to re-route through Malta and then on to Tripoli, total elapsed time 25 hours (the animals all got a break at the Frankfurt airport kennels during the six-hour layover where they got food, water and potty breaks). On the return trip home a year later, we flew Tripoli to Amsterdam, where they were boarded overnight at the KLM facility, and then on the next day non-stop to Houston. They did great, and I really have to hand it to both airlines (Lufthansa and KLM) in the way they treated the animals - and us, giving us updates and reassurances that they were on board.
See less See more
Sammi goes pretty much everywhere with us, so yep she has been on some pretty long trips and does great! The only problem we have is keeping control of all the biscuits folks want to give her, biscuits at the gas stations, biscuits at the coffee shop, biscuits on the ferry's, she could be in biscuit heaven if mom didn't always ruin the fun;)
All of mine do great! After about an hour Thunder realizes we're going for a road trip and starts to make noise about going to the bathroom, so we stop and let them out and they are good to go for however long...
Puff does fine riding in the car on trips. I'm sure given a choice between food and riding in the car, food would lose.

In 2008, we had 2 long trips, the first from Topeka, KS to Vail, CO, to Bend, OR, and back -- about 3,000 miles total. Sometimes we camped out (tent), sometimes we stayed in pet friendly motel (Super 6) or stayed with pet friendly friends. We'd drive 2 hours and then stop for 10-15 minutes for Puff to P&P and fetch the training dummy I'd sling. Then off again for another 2 hours.

A second trip a month later was from Topeka, KS, to various spots all over Vermont and return -- again about 3,000 miles. We followed the same routine.

In 2009, we made the KS → VT → KS 3k mile trip again (as we will in 2010).

I recline the back of the front seat as far as it will go (that's about 30º from horizontal) and Puff at times parks her butt 2/3rds of the way up the seat back, splays her front feet on the seat, and watches out the front window. She alternates that with curling up in a tight "C" on the front seat or reclining on her side on the front seat back (reminding me of Cleopatra on her Nile barge), or hopping into the back seat and stretching out there.

Since Puff's only 62 lbs., she fits a lot more places than an 80+ lb. Lab would.

Our '06 Honda Civic Hybrid 4 dr (plates: "LAB CAB") has leather seats and I turn off the airbag for the front passenger seat when she's there.

Having her often in the front passenger seat so I can stroke her fur is soothing to me.

And stopping to let her out every 2 hours prevents me from pushing the driving too much.

She's a great help and great companion.



See less See more
Bauer goes everywhere with me, and loves riding in the car. He knows that if he is the only passenger he is allowed to ride in the front, but knows that if there is another person he takes the back seat. His favorite thing is to pop his head up from the backseat, and out the driver's window while going through a drive-thru. :D The longest he as gone is about 10 hours when we visit my parents/siblings. We make lots of stops, and other than that he sleeps most of the way. When he sits in the car, he sits like a person (very sloppy sit with back legs spread wide). My son will lean against him to sleep, and when he does this Bauer will turn to rest his head on the back of the seat and sleep sitting up rather than laying down and disturbing him. If he doesn't lean on him, Bauer curls into a little ball.
See less See more
I don't travel much but Gracie and Lola are usually in the car with me when I go out and about doing errands or we just go for a ride, they both love the car.
I'm thankful that both of my boyz are great car-travellers!! We drive over an hour each way to go to classes every week, and at least that long if we're travelling to shows. Henry just settles in for a good nap while Ollie is like his sister, Quinn, and likes to talk for the first 10-15 minutes, and then he will settle in for a nap.
Daisy has been driving with me in the car for 6 hours trips, since I brought her home at 9weeks, in fact the day I picked her up she went 6 hours with me. We do this drive (12 hours roundtrip) at least twice a month, sometimes more. She's fantastic in the car!
We always take our labs on vacation to NC from PA. They do well traveling. They also behave in the hotel rooms when we stay on the way. Next year will be the first time we will be taking three labs. Hopefully Kate will be trained. :)
My dogs travel everywhere. Few a made the trip to Maryland and back from Michigan.
They travel SO well that many times I have to look back in the van to see if they are actually there!! LOL
Our dogs have traveled all over with us to dock diving events. From Florida to Missouri to Ohio to West Virginia to Maryland and all stops in between. They are great travelers both in the car and in the hotels.

We have a Chevy Avalanche. We put the cover over the bed, take out the back and put the back seat down. So they have they entire back of the truck from the back seat area (that is down) all the way back to the tailgate. Lots of room to stretch out and sleep.

In the hotel rooms, Sally sleeps with us (like at home) and we take the bed covers and put them on the floor for the boys. We've gone on so many trips with them, they know the routine well...how to behave in the room, walking through the hallways and lobby. We get lots of compliments on how well behaved they are. (proud mama moment!)

Here are some traveling pics.

Spud and Hoppy sleeping on the bed cover on the floor:



Sally crashed on the bed after a day of dock diving:



Spud and Sally asleep in the back of the truck:



Posing in the hotel room:

See less See more
4
My dogs all travel a lot in the car as we dog show. I have three crates in the TrailBlazer, we pack in like sardines, but the dogs really enjoy going and they are so quiet in the car you don't even know they are there. I enjoy travelling with them.
Shadow was a great traveller. She'd hop in the back of the van, up on the back bench seat, and be out like a light before we got off the dirt roads. When we stopped she'd sit up, stretch, look around, and lay back down again if we didn't ask if she was getting out to potty.

The boys, on the other hand, pant and whine and pace unless they have just been to the park and run until they were too tired to move. :(
Our first Labrador traveled with us through the whole of Europe ;)

And it realy doesnt matter to her, as long she could be with us :)
We regularly take the 2 dogs on car trips of 4 hours to my parents and even though we stop at least once to let them out to stretch their legs and potty, they really woulnd't even need that break. We took Emilu to CapeCod once and that is pretty much an 18 hour drive with breaks. She did great, and once again didn't need as many breaks as we did. Luckily they LOVE car trips, don't get sick, and usually just fall asleep.
The longest trip so far with 3 dogs in a Subaru Outback was a 14 hour drive with stops along the way...My three curl up and sleep away...when the start getting restless I know they need to stretch their legs...ours travel very well.
Tank and Orson are world class travelers. Tank has had 4 or 5 1300 mile trips. Orson has had one in the motor home from up north Michigan to Oklahoma. You would never know they are around. They sleep the entire time and only get up when we stop for a potty or gas break. Orson thinks he can go with me in the car where ever I go. He especially loves going to the "cookie bank". :D
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top