Ensuring Your Dog's Safety on the Road: Essential Car Travel Tips
Dogs are often considered integral members of the family, and many owners enjoy bringing them along for car rides. Whether it's a quick trip to the park or a long-distance vacation, ensuring your dog's safety and comfort in the car is paramount. By taking the necessary precautions, you can minimize stress for both you and your pet, making car travel a positive experience.
Securing Your Dog: Harnesses, Crates, and Barriers
Just as humans benefit from seatbelts, dogs need to be properly restrained in vehicles. This not only protects them in the event of sudden stops or accidents but also prevents them from distracting the driver.
Dog Car Seat Belts and Harnesses: One of the safest options is a car safety seat belt designed specifically for dogs. These harnesses keep your pet securely in their seat, preventing them from roaming around the vehicle. This allows you to focus on driving without worrying about your dog's movements. A harness also eases concerns about an unrestrained dog in case of an accident. Instead of clipping to their collar, dog car harnesses will securely keep your dog in place.
Travel Crates: For some dogs, a travel crate can provide a sense of security and comfort. By creating a cozy mobile home, you can help ease any anxiety your dog may experience during car rides. If your dog barks or is triggered by people or dogs outside the window, covering the crate with a blanket can help encourage them to be calm and quiet. Using a bed or blanket from home can allow your dog to adjust to the moving vehicle more quickly. The crate should be large enough for your pet to stand, sit, lie down and turn around in. Secure the crate so it will not slide or shift in the event of an abrupt stop.
Driver and Passenger Seat Barriers: A barrier can prevent your dog from climbing into the front seat and distracting you while you're driving. Instead of allowing them in the front at all, consider installing a special fence into the back of your car, keeping your dog safely in the back seat, allowing them to have space while you drive.
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Addressing Anxiety and Motion Sickness
Not all dogs enjoy car rides. Some may experience anxiety or motion sickness, making travel a stressful experience. There are several strategies you can employ to alleviate these issues:
Creating a Positive Association: If your dog's only car trips involve visits to the vet or groomer, they may develop negative associations with the car. To counter this, incorporate short, enjoyable rides to fun destinations into their socialization and training.
Pre-Trip Exercise: A tired dog is often a better traveler. Before embarking on a car ride, allow your dog to burn off excess energy through a walk or play session. The best dog passenger is a tired one. Rather than putting your dog in the car while they’re bursting with energy, let them burn some of that off beforehand. Before you leave, take your dog for a walk to tire them mentally and physically. Or play fetch, tug-of-war, or other vigorous games.
Managing Motion Sickness: Taking your dog on a car ride when they have a full stomach is a bad idea. Even a short trip in the car can cause motion sickness and lead to your dog vomiting. That’s a big mess to clean up. To avoid messes and help prevent car sickness, don’t feed your dog right before you head out. Instead, schedule your dog’s feeding several hours ahead of your departure.
Natural Remedies: Calming pheromones can also be incredibly helpful. These mimic the scent of a nursing mother dog and put even adult dogs at ease. Simply spray some on your dog’s blanket, in their crate, or on a bandana tied around their neck. Or try a pheromone collar. You can also try an anxiety vest or shirt to reduce your dog’s unease. These are tight shirts that provide constant, gentle pressure. There are several natural remedies, such as flower essences or calming treats you can try. Play relaxing music at a low volume.
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Optimizing Crate Placement: If your dog rides in a crate, try different locations to see if one suits your dog better. Place your dog in a forward-facing position if they use a booster seat or a seatbelt harness.
Essential Preparations for a Smooth Journey
Planning and preparation are key to a stress-free car trip with your dog:
Identification: When your dog is going somewhere with you, they should always be wearing a dog collar with updated identification tags. It’s also helpful to keep anything your dog may need in case of an emergency in the car. No matter where you’re headed or how you plan to get there, make sure your pet is microchipped for identification and wears a collar and tag imprinted with your name, phone number and any relevant contact information. It’s a good idea for your pet’s collar to also include a temporary travel tag with your cell phone and destination phone number for the duration of your trip.
Pet-Friendly Travel Kit: Prep a pet-friendly travel kit. Bring food, a bowl, leash, a waste scoop, plastic bags, grooming supplies, medication and first-aid, and any travel documents. Pack a favorite toy or pillow to give your pet a sense of familiarity. Be sure to pack plenty of water, and avoid feeding your pet in a moving vehicle. Your pet's travel-feeding schedule should start with a light meal three to four hours prior to departure, and always opt for bottled water. Drinking water from an area they aren't used to could result in stomach discomfort. It’s also helpful to keep anything your dog may need in case of an emergency in the car.
Potty and Walk Breaks: Don’t expect your dog to go for long car rides without water. Carry fresh, clean water and a portable dish so you can offer your dog a drink every so often. But if your dog is drinking, they’ll need potty breaks too. Stop every few hours to give your dog a chance to go. If you’re taking a long trip with your dog, make sure to pack snacks and plan potty breaks to give you both a break. Treats and chew toys can also help keep your pup busy and prevent them from getting anxious. Even if you have a shorter trip, give them the opportunity to have a bathroom break before and after being in the car. On long road trips, the whole family can benefit from breaks to prevent going stir crazy. Take a few longer breaks, during which you can actually get up and move around, rather than just relying on your gas and bathroom stops to stretch your legs.
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Protecting Your Vehicle: If you’re worried about your seats, there are plenty of dog car seat covers to protect your upholstery.
The Dangers of Leaving Dogs Unattended in Vehicles
Make sure you never leave your dog in the car alone, especially if the car isn’t running. It might feel like a nice day outside, but the temperature can quickly become dangerously hot for a dog in the car, causing immense discomfort and distress, threatening their health and even causing loss of life. Even with the windows cracked, the car can heat up fast. And when the car is on, make sure you’re checking on your pup frequently and be sure you have enough air circulating to keep them comfortable. Never leave your animal alone in a parked vehicle. On a hot day, even with the windows open, a parked automobile can become a furnace in no time, and heatstroke can develop. Car interiors heat up quickly, and even a quick stop at a fast-food restaurant can pose a great danger. On hot days, temperatures can rise quickly within minutes and can cause death. Dogs should never be left alone in cars, no matter how short an amount of time or what the weather is like. Dogs being left in cars is also one of the top outlets of dog theft.
Safe Driving Practices
Whether or not your passengers are furry, safe driving is important. For some pet parents, a trip is no fun if the four-legged members of the family can’t come along. But traveling can be highly stressful, both for you and your pets. If you’re planning to take a trip with pets in tow, we have some tips to help ensure a safe and comfortable journey for everyone.
Keeping Heads Inside: Dogs seem to love sticking their heads out of car windows, but it can be dangerous. Especially when the car is in motion, dogs shouldn’t stick their heads out of the window. Always keep your rear windows closed so that your dog can’t stick any part of themselves out of the window. Another risky venture is allowing your dog to hang their head out of windows during a ride. We get it: this practice can be fun for you both. When you're traveling down the highway at 55 mph or higher, debris and other flying objects can cause eye or head injuries.
Air Travel Considerations
Traveling by plane? Unless your furry friend is small enough to ride under your seat, it’s best to avoid air travel with your pets. If you must bring your pet along on the flight, here are a few suggestions to keep your pet safe while flying the friendly skies. Traveling with pets by plane takes careful preparation and planning and could also be costly.
Booking and Preparation: Book a direct flight whenever possible. This will decrease the chances that your pet is left on the tarmac during extreme weather conditions or mishandled by baggage personnel during a layover. Make an appointment with your pet’s veterinarian for a checkup. Prior to your trip, make sure your pet’s vaccinations are up-to-date and obtain a health certificate from your veterinarian dated within 10 days of your departure. For international travel, additional planning and healthcare requirements may be needed. Research the requirements for pets for your destination country as well as for the United States. Make sure to request a copy of your pet's full medical history so you can have it handy in case of an emergency during travel.
Crate Requirements: For animals stowed in the plane's cargo area, purchase a US Department of Agriculture-approved shipping crate. Line the cargo crate with some type of bedding-shredded paper or towels-to absorb potential accidents. Place a small dish of water in the crate. The night before you leave, freeze a small dish or tray of water for your pet. This way, it can’t spill during loading and will melt by the time they are thirsty. Make sure the crate door is securely closed, but not locked, so that airline personnel can open it in case of an emergency.
Identification and Communication: Make sure your pet’s crate has proper identification. Utilize the approproate “Live Animal” stickers on your pet's crate to meet the USDA requirements. Also add your name, cell phone and destination phone number, and a photo of your pet. Should your pet escape from the carrier, this could be a lifesaver. You should also carry a photograph of your pet. Tell every airline employee you encounter - on the ground and in the air - that you are traveling with a pet in the cargo hold. This way, they'll be ready if any additional considerations or attention is needed. If the plane is delayed, or if you have any concerns about the welfare of your pet, insist that airline personnel check the animal whenever feasible. In certain situations, removing the animal from the cargo hold and deplaning may be warranted.
Health and First Aid
Practice safe and healthy habits to prevent your pet from getting sick or hurt on trips. Some diseases pets may be at risk for while traveling include rabies, leptospirosis, campylobacteriosis, and diseases spread by mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks like Lyme disease and West Nile virus. Some of these diseases can spread between people and animals. Don't let pets swim in, play in, or drink stagnant water or water that looks discolored, smells bad, has foam, scum, algal mats, or paint-like streaks on the surface, or has dead fish or other animals washed up on its shore or beach. Keep basic first-aid supplies for your pet in your car. You can use a travel-sized first-aid kit for your pet on flights. Perform a daily health check on your pet when away from home to assess their physical and behavioral changes. Always remember: follow up any first aid administered to your pet with immediate veterinary care.
