How does your dog travel? The picture above (left) was taken from my car a few weeks ago. People scare me to death when they travel this way with dogs but I know a lot of dogs love it and a lot of dog lovers travel this way. It may be better than making the pooch stay home. This rottie was all over the truck but after watching him for a few minutes I saw him more as a pick-up surfer than a hapless rider. He knew how to move with the truck and there was no doubt he was having a good time.

My own dogs (on the right) probably aren’t a whole lot safer. This was the day of the rabies clinic in town, one of the very few events we all travel to together.  I had strapped Panama into a car seat in the back, knowing that he’d behave but also knowing that he wouldn’t be likely to share a seat. The three little ones were sitting nicely in the front car seat until Skidget (who was not hooked into a seat) jumped in with them. Well, who could blame her. It is “her seat” after all.

Most dogs love to ride in the car. Of the 6 dogs who currently make up my household only Dixie doesn’t love riding in the car. I think it has to do with their early travel experience and how well you plan it for them (or don’t plan it at all) as well as their own individual temperament. Whatever it is, as in most situations with dogs, it can be modified at least to some extent.

The first time I remember thinking about dogs in cars was when my beloved Pooh, my first poodle, was with me.  He liked to stand on the seat and look out the window but at 12 pounds he could topple if I took a corner too fast or hit the brakes. I was surprised to find an actual dog seat in a thrift store back around 1989 (in the pre-Internet dark-ages). I didn’t know that there was such a thing.  He used that seat for the rest of his life and he loved it from the very first time.

The dog’s safety isn’t the only reason to consider securing your dog in the car.  A cop who saw my car seat once told me what a good idea it was because if I were in a wreck they could get to me without dealing with the dog.  I’d never thought of that but it makes sense. Many dogs, he told me, won’t let rescue workers near the accident victim which can be a real problem.  It’s a good reason to secure your large dog even if he just sits quietly on the seat when you travel. Little dogs can cause other types of danger.  If left untethered they can be under your feet in the blink of an eye and interfering with your ability to drive.

We’ve tried a lot of different types of car seats and I like some better than others. For a long time we used a “milk carton” seat.  The seat belt could slip through the openings in the carton and a pillow in the bottom made it a good seat. Panama liked being up a little higher so I put a single drawer under the seat that held water, leashes, paper towels a disposable bowl and poop bags. That lifted him up and contained anything we might need if a short ride turned into a long outing. The best thing about this seat (aside from price) is that it is deeper than a lot of the little seats now sold for dogs. Even though they are tethered by their harness in most seats they would fly over the edge of some and be left hanging by the harness.

Of the seats currently on the market our favorite is by “Solvit”. Outward Hound (makers of a lot of good dog items) makes a similar one that I don’t like because it has a strap that goes from the front of the seat around the auto seat’s headrest and that strap tends to get in the way.  The Outward Hound also tends to sag and try to sit flat on the car seat. The Solvit seat is built so that it stays up off the seat allowing your little pooch a good view. The price varies but it’s reasonable. (Try Ebay. I found some there for about $26. ) There are a couple of sizes. We have the small one that says it holds up to 12 pounds although Panama is a little heftier than that now.

We have tried using barriers and letting all the dogs travel in the way-back. That didn’t work very well for me. It doesn’t really secure the dogs it just keeps them in the back – if it works. Ours had spaces that were too big and the dogs climbed through them. (Great planning on my part.) I just discovered this new barrier that looks interesting if you just want to keep the dog(s) out of the front seat.

This is the Kurgo Pet Barrier and can be found on Ebay for around $43 (including shipping).  Please let me know if you try this one. It looks like it might be a good one.

Have any other suggestions or pictures of your traveling pooches? Let me know or upload your pictures to our facebook page at Dog Stuff

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This article is in response to the comments on the  piece I wrote Tuesday, Getting the dog in the bag.

There are some big differences between owning big dogs and little dogs. Some of us have both. It is sometimes like having two different species of pets because the lifestyles can be so different.  I know some people who live big-dog lifestyles with little dogs.  I also know people who have 80 pound lap dogs.  There are concessions that need to be made for dog size though and sometimes for age or infirmity.    I have dogs who range from 4 1/2 pounds to 40 pounds.  Panama Red is the biggest of the little dogs at about 12 pounds. He’s a pretty good size to walk on a leash. He’s just big enough to not get stepped on. The smaller dogs are too little to walk in a crowd or at an event. They get swallowed up and people seem oblivious of them. Baji at almost 7 pounds will walk nicely on a leash but isn’t safe if there are a lot of people around. She’s small enough to go in a bag and is generally safer there.  The little ones also get tired. They can’t always walk as far or as long as their people can.

No matter the size of the dog, he needs exercise.  Being carried in a bag is a means of visiting places that would otherwise be difficult but the dog will need some other exercise if  he’s not walking. Fortunately these dogs are so small they can get ample exercise indoors playing fetch or doing some other little dog activity.

My favorite all around bag is the roller bag. This bag can be used when flying with a little dog as it fits under the seat in front of you (although it doesn’t seem like it would).  There are many similar variations of it but this one is the greatest price when you get it from petedge.com. It holds up to 22 pounds, can be used as a backpack or wheeled. It has a pick-up handle (but no shoulder strap) as well as the telescoping handle.  Your car’s seat belt can slip through the straps on the back making it a passable car seat (my dogs like car seats that lift them up so they can see out the window).  It comes in black and tan. (I have the tan one. It matches the duffle style bag shown below.) The regular price is $29.99 which is a real deal but sometimes it’s on sale even cheaper.

Another standard bag (that can also be used for flying) is the duffle style, sometimes called a Sherpa. These too come in a wide variety of colors with different features but the good basic bag is available from petedge.com in red, black or tan for $24.99 (on sale right now for $18.74). PetEdge doesn’t sponsor this site or pay me anything I just love ordering from them. You want to order from them when you’re getting more than $75. worth of merchandise to avoid a handling charge but they have tons of stuff at great prices. Be sure to check them out.

We also have a sling from Outward Hound.

I bought a really nice travel bag on Ebay and it arrived yesterday, earlier than I expected.  It’s not for any one of the littles in particular but will work for Baji, Brighid or Java.  We have numerous carriers/roller bags/strollers and they are all good for different things. I really intended this bag for smuggling. Aside from the fact that it’s an eye catching bright yellow it would not be noticed as a dog carrier and that was my intention.

Periodically when I have a little one with me on vacation I just have to sneak her in somewhere. I’m sure some people will take issue with this but I’m sorry. The rules against dogs are unfair so I make my own. (That could be a topic for another day if anyone wants to pursue it.)  We almost always stay in pet-friendly hotels and eat in outdoor restaurants where they will not have a problem with the dog. (Don’t think that just because it’s outside they’ll allow the dog. Most I’ve come upon do but some don’t.)

Inevitably there comes a time when I need to run into a grocery store or some other place and the temperature outside is in the 90s ruling out leaving my pup in the car. That’s when a smuggle bag is invaluable.  However, it requires cooperation from the dog.  A bag that is moving, whining or yelping will call attention to itself, no matter what style bag it is.

I didn’t make a plan for getting the dogs used to the bag. I just plowed ahead and stuck Baji into it and put a Cheerio in her mouth.  Baji is game for most things and is curious so she was fine sitting in the bag.  My intent was not to have her use the bag with her head sticking out  which meant she’d have to lie down in the bag so I could zip the top. I did that rather unceremoniously too by tossing a few Cheerios into the bottom and pushing her down under the zipper. She didn’t protest too much.  But then… I lifted the bag off the table and carried it across the room. This was the part I should have been more careful with.  The bag swayed a good bit and she felt insecure. (Who wouldn’t? She didn’t expect to go sailing through the air.) I could feel her trying to get her bearings so I put the bag right back down and let her out. I decided that since I’d scared her (not traumatized you understand but made her a little nervous about the bag) I’d need something better than Cheerios to make her love the bag.  We happened to have left over hot dogs from Panama’s birthday celebration and my little dogs will do anything for hot dogs.  I broke half a hot dog into tiny bits and stuck Brighid into the bag this time and handed her a hot dog bit.

Something that works in my favor in certain instances (and against me in others) is that when you have multiple dogs they tend to compete. What one has the others want. When you have smart dogs they know they’ll probably have to do something to get it so once I came over with the hot dogs everyone knew that they wanted to find the way to interact with the bag that would get the hot dog bits.

As you can see,  everyone wanted their turn in the bag at which time it turned into a game.  By then it made sense to hold off on the hot dog bit until the dog was lying down in the mostly zipped bag and then reaching in to deliver the hot dog.  Dixie and Pamana are really too big for the bag (although in a pinch I could use it with them and the specs did say up to 20 pounds. Panama is 12 and Dixie is about 10) but I felt the need to give them a turn – and some hot dog bits – too.

Next I’ll have to attach a command to the game so that when they get in the bag and I give the command they’ll lie down in it. (I can’t use the “down” command. I think the reason it’s confusing is that they stretch their front paws out in front of them during a regular “down” and in the bag it’s more of a scrunched up “down”). Once I do that they can sit up in the bag unless I need to go into smuggle mode at which time I can give the command “scrunch” or “smuggle” and have them assume their smuggle position. In the mean time everybody likes the bag game.

Imagine going for a ride and when you get home your house is no longer there. A completely different house has taken it’s place but people are acting like it’s your house. Your stuff is not there. (Stuff being familiar smells mostly – I think smells substitute for what we think of as memory a lot of times in dogs.) The stuff that is there keeps moving around, your toys, bowls, etc. Inside and outside are in different places, you aren’t sure how to get outside and you’re not even sure that outside really is outside – it sure seems different. Strange people and critters have been here who have no business in your normal environment and all traces of you and your people have been removed from it.

You can’t even find the bathroom! There are no maps. Your person is completely preoccupied and doing completely different things than you are used to which is making you certain that she’s as lost as you are. This is very scary! You need comfort and being a dog rather than a person you can’t get to the Ben & Jerry’s so you go for a familiar smelling shoe that happens to be accessible and climb on the bed with it. Having your person’s smell close by and having something to chew on are just making you feel better when your person (also already stressed out) comes in and freaks out on you for the shoe thing. All is lost! You pee on the bed in panic without even thinking about it and things spiral downhill from there.

I really think this is what moving is like for dogs (although peeing on the bed is just one example of how they might react) and moving causes so much stress for humans that we tend to overlook the stress it will put on the dogs. It’s not unusual for dogs to begin some new bad habits when you move (barking and chewing being the ones I hear about most). I think though that with a little planning this is also the perfect time to get rid of some bad habits. Dogs are so ritualistic and breaking patterns is really hard but when the patterns are broken by something external you have the perfect opening.

Doors are a very big thing in dog life. My dogs have terrible behavior at my back door that has crept up on me over the years. They all push against the door yapping and fussing. I can make them be quiet before I open the door but when I do open it they slam through it (noisy again) and every one of them has a bruise from the corner of the door because they would rather slam into it in a poodle pile than wait and walk nicely. My back door is in my laundry room which is off the kitchen and until recently had no door. When we put a door on the laundry room there was an instant change in the dogs because they had no habits related to this door. With the laundry room door closed they all stood in the kitchen looking perplexed and asking “What do we do?” which is exactly where I want them! This is a perfect training opportunity.

A lot of dog behavior is centered around doors: Jumping on people when they enter, how they react to people knocking at the door or walking past it, how they behave when you come in or go out, how they behave when they go out or come in. (Do they get their feet wiped before continuing on? Would you like to start that habit? Now is the time!)

Here are some things I would do to make moving easier on the dog and to use it to change habits (and not create any bad new ones)

Assuming that the dog is crate trained I would make a point of having the dog spend some time daily in the crate before moving. This way when you get to the new place the dog will have one very familiar area (and keep the bedding from the old place in it for a few days, even if it’s not spotless).

Do some (at least) daily training sessions with the dog before moving. Practice sitting, staying, being quiet…all the basics. Call him to you a few times a day and give him a good treat for coming. When you move, continue this. It will be very comforting to the dog because it is a familiar ritual and it a place where you are clearly being the leader. A moved dog needs a good leader.

Try to plan to put the dog’s stuff (food bowls, toys, etc.) in their permanent place as soon as you get to the new house rather than moving them a bunch of times. If the dog uses a litter box you HAVE to decide ahead of time where it will go and it will have to stay in that place.

Make a list of your dogs “standard” behaviors both those that are routine (and good) and those you’d like to change. One standard behavior would be whatever it is the dog does to let you know he has to go out. Let’s say he sits by the back door and waits and this is what you want him to continue to do. So when you get to the new house, bring him to the back door, have him sit, then take him out and when he pees give him a super treat – just as if you were training a new pup. Try to run him through his standard behaviors in the new house and make a plan for re-training the behaviors you don’t like. I know this can be hard when you are so busy moving but it’s not often you get an opportunity like this and the stuff packed in those boxes can wait a few days!

Do a lot of treating and reassuring. Pay more attention to the dog than you have time to.

Here are a few additional tips:

If you’re dog’s ID’s on their collars don’t have a cell number that’s going with you, make sure you get new ones before you leave.

In the chaos of moving you’ll want to make sure the dogs are crated when things are being moved and the door is opened 1500 times. (I would not rely on baby gates for this or closed doors to rooms they are in.)

It would be a good idea to check out licensing laws and get dog licenses before you get there. If a dog managed to escape while the move is happening you want to make sure you’re already legal.

If the dogs are microchipped be sure to change your contact info with the database (Pet-Trac or whatever one it is.)

Finally…Be SURE you have some Petastic or Nature’s Miracle when you first enter the house wtih the dogs. It’s not at all uncommon for a well housebroken to have an accident in a new house. If that happens you’ll want the smell out right now before it becomes an invitation.