Ah, yes, I could see that being an issue. I know that can make ME carsick when I’m not driving.

A lot of planning ahead comes with practice. Each dog is different and needs different things. It sounds like all you need is more fun road trips! Ha, ha.

Many hotels don’t allow dogs to be alone in the room anyway (although people with quiet dogs can cheat). It’s no big deal when traveling fall to early spring because it’s usually cool enough to leave them in the car. Places that are cold but get a lot of sun can still cause issues though. In those cases, it’s a lot more challenging to travel with a dog if they can’t sit in the car while you go to a restaurant or non-dog-friendly attraction.

Yes, flexibility is key. I knew what day/time we were leaving and I knew what day we needed to be at our goal destination. I made some tentative plans for in between but we had to be flexible in a million ways. That’s when the adventure happens though so it’s all good.

That’s a very good point. Here in the Northwest we have a lot of grass. Gretel is less pleased when I make her go potty right on dirt or rocks. The first time it took her a while to realize it’s ok. Luckily, Chester and Gretel are pretty trained to go potty on demand. I just kept saying the magic word and eventually she went.

How fun that Dusty liked the car. That can be rare with cats.

The alarm trick sounds good too. I CAN ignore the speedometer or forget to check.

I LOVE road trips. I don’t mind driving at all. I did have driving help on this trip though.

6 hours is still a pretty long day. When we are on the road, the longest days we do are about 12 hours (of actual driving).

ALL THE TOWELS! Ha, ha. Chester and Gretel have more towels than I do 🙂 Luckily, I’ve found that almost all hotels put you on the bottom floor if they know you have a pet. It’s better to ask than be unpleasantly surprised though.

Aww… come on now. I see cats riding in cars and RVs all the time on Facebook 🙂 I know what you mean though. All of my cats have hated the car. I never tried to get them used to it though.

Do you know why he doesn’t like the car? It’s usually because it makes them car sick or anxious… or both. I wrote an article on getting a dog to enjoy riding in the car if you are interested 🙂

Fortunately, my “common sense” alarm was going off…alot. Which made the trip bearable for our boy(pit stops, potty stops, once we stopped in a parking lot and just jogged for a bit) but, had I planned ahead with this post, things would have been much more comfortable for everyone

These tips seem so obvious BUT for someone like me they are a timely reminder of do’s and don’ts for a travelling animal. When we took our Dusty cat on road trips (he was the ONLY cat who loved LOVED the car!!!) we were like your list – we need this, we should take that and finally did we forget anything.

These needs to be pinned to every dog owners fridge it is SO useful!

Gretel sleeps most of the time so she has no idea how long we’ve been driving. Ha, ha. I sure do though. The breaks are almost more for stretching and destressing ME.

Gretel is a time-traveler too 🙂 She’s out about 30 seconds after the car starts moving. Ha, ha. Glad you found what works to keep Rooney more comfortable. I think a crate can help them not jostle around so much.

Yes, good point I actually wrote an article about dog carsickness and do mention that. I just didn’t want to write a novel here. Ha, ha.

At least you get a warning sign. Ha, ha.

Yes, keep me posted. Poor Monte 🙁

It’s unfortunate how confusing the marketing can be. I wrote a whole article on car “safety” harnesses. Personally, I don’t use a crash-tested harness. I haven’t been able to find one that fits tiny, weird-shaped dogs well and/or a product that fits our lifestyle and the way we like to travel. However, I know the decision I’m making and the risk. It’s sad when people buy a harness thinking that it will keep their pet safe in a car crash and then find out the hard way that it won’t 🙁

I hope you are well!

I love to drive so that’s not so abnormal for me 🙂 I’ve driven to Las Vegas from Seattle several times in a little over 1 day. The last time I did that was for the BlogPaws conference. It’s so nice to have dogs that like riding in the car 🙂

Gretel won’t eat when she’s stressed. Not even her favorite treat. That usually only happens when we fly though. She often doesn’t drink enough water outside of the house though, no matter what we are doing. She has me trained to put some coconut water in her bowl. She loves that and will drink. The things we do! Ha, ha.

Our trip was to Arizona and back from Seattle. As you can imagine, it was a pretty short trip. We still saw a lot of stuff though. We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Bryce Canyon, Wire Pass Canyon/Buckskin Gulch, Horseshoe Bend, Waterhole Canyon, Peralta (sp?) Canyon, and Dutchman Gap State Park. Plus we drove several backroads.