One of the most difficult parts about going on a vacation can be leaving your animals behind. This is why, given the right circumstances, you should definitely bring them along!
Not only can you miss your animals while you are gone, but sometimes it can save you money if you can bring them along!
If you are like us and don’t have any relatives very close by (or who want to watch five dogs while you’re gone, in our case), boarding your animals can be expensive.
In our area, the average appears to be $25 a night per dog.
If we take a week long vacation, and board all five of our dogs, we are talking about $875! That money could go towards other things (such as traveling!)
We have five Yorkies, so the fact that they are small helps while traveling. If you have several large dogs, I can definitely see how that may be more difficult.
Driving
This may be the easiest way to bring your pets with you. We have a Ford Focus, so we simply lay the back seats down and put a blanket down for our dogs to lay on.
The first time we tried this we made sure to stop every two hours or so to let the dogs out to use the bathroom. More recently, we discovered that as long as the dogs are calm and sleeping, we try not to stop until they wake up. This way, they have more of a chance to relax instead of getting out more frequently.
We generally make it a point to either stop with them at rest areas or large truck stops, such as a Pilot or Loves, that have large grassy areas.
Our dogs rarely get car sick, but on the off-chance that they do, we don’t feed them a large meal before leaving. We generally give them a small amount of dry food a few hours before we head out. Obviously, each dog is different, but this has been what works for us so far.
We have also found that keeping the car cool can help with car sickness.
If these things don’t help, you may want to check with your vet for a prescription for nausea.
Flying
We are planning on doing this one day, but we haven’t had the chance yet.
It looks like we could really only bring two dogs with us this way, by bringing them as carry-ons. There is the option of flying them in the cargo area as well. This isn’t personally the option for me, but this could be a viable option for someone with larger animals. Keep in mind, there have been some sources that say this could be potentially dangerous.
Delta has actually banned pets from traveling in cargo due to 74 pet deaths over a 10 year period.
From what I have seen, most airlines have a set number of animals that can be on each flight. So, if this is your plan, book early and let them know about your pet in order to reserve your spot!
The fees for bringing your pet as a carry-on seem to range from around $75-150, so this will still cost a little.
If this is a new experience for your pet, you may want to see your vet before hand in order to make sure that your pet is healthy and ready for air travel.
While it isn’t always the best option, I love being able to share my adventures with my dogs whenever possible!
Our dogs range from ages 1-8 and have all been riding in cars since they were very young. If you think you would like your pet to be a travel companion, getting them accustomed to riding early can be a great help!
-Haley
