Traveling With Dogs

[DoggyDaddy]

My dog Ultra is my co-pilot in my RV and on my Harley. When riding in the RV

she sleeps most of the time curled behind my chair or on the floor on the riders side.

In the Harley she rides with her head out in the wind or tucked in her foxhole if it is cold.

In the RV she has a crate (bed) with toys she retires to when she is tired or wants privacy.

If she ever need to go outside for a nature call she stands by the door and yodels or barks.

When we are out walking, she has a lease on her and I carry a plastic bag.

In case we should ever get separated, she wears an ID tag with my name, cell phone number,

e-mail address, and my son's phone number just in case I am traveling in a dead zone.

In addition I had her chipped for permanent identification in case she should be picked up

by the man or taken to a vet for treatment.

[Guest Wayne77590]

As you can see by the picture below, Miya, our Husky/Chow SPCA wonder girl, helps me make decisions on where to go. I don't know what I would do without her. She loves her daddy and her mommy and is very protective when on a leash and other dogs approach. I will warn other dog walkers that she is protective on the leash. Now, if it is a dog run she will play and play and play with other dogs as long as they are friendly towards here. She has been rendered incapable of having puppies and if any dog thinks otherwise, she will fend them off real, real, quick. She is semi-well behaved. Semi meaning she looses her focus pretty quick when I make her sit unless I keep Psssss'ting her. She loves people and I have to keep a tight leash on her when people approach to coddle her. What she does is try to jump up and play. I don't like that and I am slowly getting it under control. It's a lot easier when people go down to her level. (Then she doesn't have to jump as high. (Hee! Hee!))

I call the picture, "Decisions, decisions, where to go next."

P.S., I forgot to mention that I had Miya "chipped" also. And, she is so well behaved when we are not there she said, "I don't need no cage." (Doggie talk)

[seajaycecil@yahoo.com]

We travel with two dogs. Gus the wonder dog and ''Phineas Foghorn Farnsworth from Filidelphia'' Gus is the oldest and our first dog. He is fluent in four languages, a graduate of Harvard Law school and has his doctorate in nuclear propulsion. He loves a good Cuban cigar and a shot of brandy while he reads the Wall street journal. He is about eleven years old and he is my ''best friend''. He has the rare talent in that he can actually crack open a sunflower seed, eat the goodie and spit out the hull. He can do the same with raw peanuts. ''Phineas'' (Finnie) is a whole different story. He was a gift to me from Willa on my birthday a couple of years ago. He is so full of ''puppy'' that he cant stand himself half the time. Everything is ''play''. He loves to ''have a running fit'' and burn up the floor from the front to the back of the coach. We had hardwood floors installed throughout the coach and this gives him some ''stopping'' problems but the bed and the motor doghouse serve as bumpers for him to bounce off of. He and Gus are best friends and Finnie will institute play and a running game and Gus will stand and watch him make circles. Finnie loves to chase a ball or a pull toy. Gus mentioned that he seen no point in chasing a ball because it was a dumb game. We love our dogs and we always, always clean up after them. We have a special holder for rolled up ''poop bags'' attached to their leash handles. We love our dogs and we would protect them with our life if necessary. On their I.D. tags I have my cell phone number listed as well as my e mail address and the word ''REWARD FOR RETURN'' on there also. We had them special made with this info.We have a sign on our window in the coach ''IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, SAVE OUR DOGS''.....'' ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD''. Both these dogs are trained gorilla killers and we have never had a ''gorilla attack problem'' since we have been camping with them. I will post pictures of them later ....

Seajay the sailor man

[kalynzoo]

Dear SeaJay, very cute story...please don't forget to take your daily meds.

Back on topic, we travel with two little dogs, Mia and Pixy. They are very friendly, and we find they act as a conversation magnet when we travel. People will stop to pet the dogs, a conversation is started, and the day is made more interesting.

Happy Trails to you all, and don't forget to pick up after the dog.

[Chunkybeastracin@aol.com]

My dog Ultra is my co-pilot in my RV and on my Harley. When riding in the RV

she sleeps most of the time curled behind my chair or on the floor on the riders side.

In the Harley she rides with her head out in the wind or tucked in her foxhole if it is cold.

In the RV she has a crate (bed) with toys she retires to when she is tired or wants privacy.

If she ever need to go outside for a nature call she stands by the door and yodels or barks.

When we are out walking, she has a lease on her and I carry a plastic bag.

In case we should ever get separated, she wears an ID tag with my name, cell phone number,

e-mail address, and my son's phone number just in case I am traveling in a dead zone.

In addition I had her chipped for permanent identification in case she should be picked up

by the man or taken to a vet for treatment.

We too travel with our dogs, two English Bulldogs and one of them loves to ride on my Harley. Here is a pic

[coneclare]

I have a springer spaniel that hates riding in cars. He paces back and forth in the back seat panting something terrible. i will be buying a motorhome this summer and living in it full time and want him to be able to adjust to being in the motorhome. Anyone have a similar problem that you fixed?

thanks

DC

[Guest BillAdams]

We have a similar problem but the motor home is not likely going to be the fix. If they don't like traveling, they just don't. We have a cat who will get sick just because we start the engine. He's just a nervous traveler and after over 7 years of traveling, he's only truly happy once we stop.

[MELTONFOTO]

We travel with a pair of Bichons that are brother and sister from same litter. Different as night and day, female is alpha and obeys and really has wonderful perception and understands a lot. Male dog is like a 8 year old male human-runs through mud puddles, comes when he is ready, usually a meandering path looking for squirrels and snores in his sleep. But what a loving teddy bear. When it comes to traveling in MH, he rides shotgun between wife and door so he can see out front and side window. Female is also a lap dog but will go get on couch and take a nap. Love them both.

[andyshane]

We've got two Havanese, a 5 year old and a pup. Havana took to the motorhome immediately, thinks that the sound of diesel signifies the start of a road trip; kind of awkward with the UPS guy when he looked down and she was sitting beside him, waiting to go...

She likes to ride on the dash on our DP, a minor mishap would send her into traffic; so, I fabricated a custom harness that she slips easily into. It has a single velcro belly-strap and nylon stiffener to protect her spine. Deceleration is distributed from neck to hips, unlike commercial canine harnesses, which simply encase the shoulders. The primary tether is pleated, so in a serious mishap, the harness has a shock-disipation function.

Heather, the pup, is in a pet carrier that is belted to the sofa. When she gets to be a year old, I'll tailor a second harness to her. In fact, I'll do two new harnesses and rig a crash-test dummy, like a sack full of potting soil, destructive-test the prototype with a 30-foot drop to simulate a moderate impact...

While each of our canines is different, EMS personnel tell stories of disoriented pet tragedies after animals have survived a road mishap. Granted, some will stay glued to their owners; but, others have darted into traffic or simply fled in a panic. While they are our children, first responders are going to look at them as mere pets. The latter concerns me as much as the primary safety issue. I hope we've prepared sufficiently.

[OkieDave]

We travel with our American Eskimo. She does not bark, especially when people walk by the MH. We can leave her alone when we go out and she sits in the driver seat and watches the world go by. She paces when she wants out. She generally sleeps while moving behind my driver's chair. At night she sleeps in the corner of the bedroom. She is loving and sweet natured. Always a people magnet when walking her because she is calm and friendly. She has a tag on her collar with our name and phone number.

When traveling in the car she sits in the back seat, never trying to get in the front. Best dog I ever have had.

[QuiGonJohn]

Andy, funny you mentioned about the harness you made. I just read on Yahoo that New Jersey is now starting to ticket people who drive with their pets unrestrained. My own, humble, personal opinion is this is another example of too much government, sticking it's nose where it doesn't belong. Thing is, the article said fines can run as much as $1000. I bet they don't even fine that much for unrestrained people. I was wondering how most here travel with their pets. I would guess they lie wherever they are most comfortable in the motor home. In fact, I bet 95% of Americans who travel with pets, (in cars, trucks, RV's buses, whatever), do not have them "restrained" within the vehicle.

[johntelling]

We show dogs, and they are the primary reason that we have an RV. I NEVER travel with them loose in the coach. A hundred pound dog that gets stressed is not a good situation loose in a moving vehicle. Ours ride in wire crates, which can be purchased at most pet stores. Since our dogs are large (Alaskan Malamutes) I took out the fold-out bed so I could fit extra-large crates in for them to ride in.

After raising and showing dogs for 35 years, I can tell you that some of them never get over the stress of traveling, but most are more comfortable when they are confined in a crate - and they are so happy to be going on a trip, they dash into their crates as soon as I open the RV door!

JT

[SEETON]

I used to show dogs and whenever I had puppies we taught them to travel before they were weaned by placing them in a crate and setting the crate next to the door then asking, "who wants to go for a ride?" and the entire pack would leap with joy and the puppies would watch from their crates and see that all the adult dogs were leaping with joy, and then we took crate to the car and the pack followed, and everyone piled into the car and we took short rides to places like sonic, where stangers would approach the car and provide us with food!

As they got older, they would go on rides without the adults, and then I'd take them one at a time. My goal was to teach them to drink ice water from a cup, view strangers as potentially friends, and to be happy and confident riding in a car on the floor or in a crate.

Yup, my puppy buyers talked about how easy their dogs were in the car.

Being out of dogs for a few years, I hope to add a dog to show again in the next few years; this time around I will have my 36foot RV to use. I plan to train any new pup the same as I did the ones I bred, drives to teach them how to be happy and friendly.

We also like obedience, the formal kind with all the rules--fun! (yeah, I'm wierd).

I prefer my dogs to travel crated or in a harness seatbelted into a seat. Crate is usally prefered because if they DO get car sick, I would rather hose out a crate than try to get it out of the car seat-- been there, done that, no thank you.

KAS