Traveling with Your Dog
the following was recorded in front of a
live studio audience at the studio 21
podcast cafe this is the United podcast
network
welcome to the quirky dog podcast
inspired by some of the quirkiest dogs
you can ever imagine and the owners who
love them this podcast is brought to you
by the quirky couple themselves Scott
and just Williams their aim is to
educate and entertain here’s God and
Jess hi guys welcome to the quirky dog
podcast today we are going to talk about
traveling with dogs a lot of people take
their dogs on road trips and stuff over
the holidays when the kids have time off
from school so we are gonna work walk
through you through a few tips to help
you along the way but first we’re gonna
start out with the quirky tip of the day
good job babe okay quirky tip of the day
and we’re just gonna talk about a
particular crate or kennel and it’s
called ruff tuff kennels and now they’ve
they’ve just changed their name their
company name to ruff land kennels I
don’t know why but these are a um what
the heck is that it’s a roto mold yeah
solid like one piece plastic very
durable
you know they drop them off the roof of
buildings to show you how tough they are
but it’s a real safe crate and we we
started using them a few years back and
just about everybody when we know that’s
in the dog world has one of these
kennels these days yeah there I just put
the picture on Instagram from the ones
in our car I did leave the pig out of
the Instagram pic so I’m kind of feeling
regretful of that things upset I think
it’s the first time I did my Pig post
without the pig um but these crates are
really good because the doors aren’t
like those wire doors the dogs can just
pop off and a lot of times if a dog is
in a crate in a car and it’s just a
typical very kennel or one of those wire
crates once the dog flies out of the car
in the crate if the crate busts open
you’re kind of in tough shape there so
they’re great for travel a lot of people
have gotten in some pretty serious
accidents with them they’re super safe
and then they’re also really good for
dogs with anxiety we always recommend if
your dog has broken out of a crate
before check them out but these crates
that are super safe
to travel with and all one piece and
everything else can range anywhere from
you know a couple hundred bucks to a
couple thousand bucks so the rough land
kennels are a little bit on the more
affordable side so if you are traveling
with your dog we recommend you create
your dog and if you haven’t heard of the
company ruffling kennels before check
them out and also like Scott said they
do crazy stuff in the videos dropping
weights out of buildings and carp the
crates flying out of cars so check it
out
the proof is in the pudding ya know it’s
a nice crate I mean if you’re gonna
compare it to a pet smart crate I mean
it’s probably gonna be twice the price
but yeah quality crates go but for a
crate that’s good for a dog with anxiety
or dog that’s gonna be safe in the car
especially if something goes wrong it’s
um definitely on the more affordable
side and you can get them at like
Cabela’s now all being and we just did
have Black Friday sales but sometimes
you can catch them on a good sale or
it’s a good buy a good way to get them
yeah get them on sale plus you don’t pay
that shipping charge yeah they’re
selling mine Craigslist or something but
good crate we’re all about him check him
out so we came up with this theme today
one because like we said as you’re
traveling over the holidays with your
dog she might want some more tips and
then we also my very best friend from
high school was out here last week her
and her girlfriend came and they came in
a big RV with a couple cats and a dog
and they’re traveling now all around the
country for the next few months so it
kind of got our imaginations going like
I only escaped one time but there’s
different things you have to consider
with traveling where you’re traveling
and everything else so the first thing
to think of when traveling with pets or
traveling with a dog is the microchip
and a lot of people think oh there’s not
a huge need for a microchip but if your
dog for some reason we’re to get out and
someone you know brought them to a vet
or a local animal shelter whatever else
by scanning them the microchip you get a
call right to your phone so that saves a
lot of time and hassle of Flyers and
phone calls and all this added stress if
your dog is social enough and it’s going
to approach someone that’s a very direct
way for that veterinary office or that
shelter or whomever to get ahold of you
right away and the other thing about
that is make sure your contact info for
the microchip is up-to-date
if you change phone numbers or something
make sure it’s your current phone number
there’s a way to link that animal
directly back to you yeah you can do
that through the website of the micro
company yeah and the sport that Scott
competed in a lot was French ring it’s a
protection sport and they scanned the
dogs before those trials because they
want to make sure that the dog that
you’re competing with is actually the
dog that you’re saying it is just for
breeding purposes and ethical purposes
and everything else so the dogs either
need to be microchipped or they need to
have a tattoo and the microchip
sometimes it’s put in right between the
shoulder blades is not a big process at
all it’s just a quick thing they it’s
like a vaccine almost but um sometimes
they can travel also so just be
conscious of that that you know every
now and then they go a little bit lower
towards the shoulder everything else so
it’s a good thing to consider if you
don’t already have it and if you are
going on a big trip about our late than
never
yeah why does the owner have to be
conscious of a traveling microchip well
if they thought their dog was
microchipped and someone scanned them
they could say oh it might be lower I
know I did this before yeah check the
dog’s elbow it’s travel sometimes I was
discussing the vet once well God has
done okay so the other thing is vaccines
and we’ve talked about vaccines a little
bit before and Scott and I vary with
vaccines more so than some other dog
owners maybe but when you’re traveling
really you want to make sure things are
up-to-date because you know if you’re
going to an area that’s more filled with
parvo or something than where you live
and it’s gonna be warmer there than in
the winter where you live you really
want to make sure your dog is up-to-date
on all those important vaccines yeah I
mean when I lived in California I didn’t
give my dog heartworm that wasn’t an
issue but I took my dog to Texas and
wound up giving him heartworm for that
trip yeah same thing there I cut the
dogs off of Sentinel over the cold
months because it’s pretty cold here a
lot of people say do it 12 months a year
but I run snaps on all of them blood
work to make sure they’re not heartworm
positive before I start to reintroduce
that in the spring but since you know
especially my friends we’re traveling to
southern parts warmer parts again
there’s gonna be mosquitoes there’s
going to be stuff there the dog needs to
be treated on heartworm again because
he’s traveling in areas that are gonna
be warmer and are going to be filled
with heartworm and you don’t want
anything random you know it happened
medically on the road enough stuff can
happen just in general with dogs and
travel and everything else so you want
to make sure the health stuff is all
dealt with and then with that said
it’s really important to have all of
your records with you so no not every
single vet visit and what went on every
time but a vaccine record definitely a
rabies cert if you’re going to Canada
Canada at the border is pretty big
stickler about rabies starts with dogs
however many animals are in the car you
need to show this these are rabies sorts
for each animal you know what I mean um
and it’s not a huge thing it’s not a big
stressful thing but if you don’t have
the documentation and if your vet isn’t
open at the time that you’re crossing
the border it can become more of a
hassle and it definitely can delay plans
so whether you’re traveling within the
US or you’re crossing the border and
going to Canada or something be sure
that you have your records with you and
again the most important ones would be
the rabies certificate and then an
additional vaccine certificate but a
vaccine sir that just says rabies do XYZ
isn’t the same thing as a rabies
certificate in and of itself we ran into
this a lot with our board and training
program because we needed to have rabies
certs on every dog that we had for the
animal control officer in the town if he
came and did a kennel inspection and
people would give us like receipt from
the vet all rabies done here just
informal vaccine certificate the rabies
certificate says rabies certificate and
it’s more official than other things
yeah I had a buddy that was going into
Canada and forgot his rabies certificate
and he had to wait at the border for his
vet to fax a certificate to the border
so that he could pass-throughs yeah but
that’s when the vets open if it’s
Christmas morning or something you know
that’s gonna be an issue so make sure
you have all your ducks in order and
just a picture on the phone is not good
enough for most places they want to see
an actual print out and then nowadays
with technology if you have an extra one
on the phone to print out that’s great
but make sure that you have a physical
copy of these things and keep them close
keeping with your passports everything
else the other thing I want to touch on
is getting your dogs moving them around
safely because you know there’s they’re
gonna be in different areas new areas
rest stops can be dangerous and
everything else and like it boggles my
mind how often we have been at someone’s
house to do and in-home or something and
the dog Walker’s been there and like the
equipment that these dogs are walked on
or that I see dog walkers on the street
and the dogs are walking like big
collars that are way too big for dogs
heads that could slip over their heads
you know
equipment can be faulty but if you don’t
make it safe it can be even more
dangerous so one thing that we always
use are these slip collars you can get
them super cheap and it’s just a good
backup collar to have on the dog’s neck
whether it has a flat collar on or a
martingale collar on or sometimes people
put a pinch collar on incorrectly and it
can pop open just have two collars on
the dog because if you have two collars
on the dog and one pops open you have a
backup and the dog is still attached to
you
yeah I mean especially at these rest
stops that are right off the highway the
freeway there’s a lot of traffic and a
lot going on that could spook your dog
just a you know in a brought our brakes
on a Mack truck or something your dog
might back up and all of a sudden slip
out of a collar you don’t want them all
of a sudden trying to round them up
right next to the freeway you know ya
know it can be stressful and even a lot
of people use the front attach harnesses
I have seen so many dogs just kind of
climb out of those real quickly this is
a great tool for that if you get an
oversize slip collar you can now clip
the leash to the slip collar as well as
the front attach harness if I’m using a
gentle leader to like fly a dog or
something else I use it in conjunction
with that so now the slip collar and the
gentle leader can both be clipped on the
same leash but think of backups and
Scott and I are rather crazy because we
dealt with a lot of people’s dogs who
weren’t our own and we didn’t want to
lose them obviously I mean that’s what
we were getting pay to do keep their
dogs safe and send them home or
well-behaved but a lot of times when I
see people walking their dogs around
especially dogs that have fear and are
shying away from things I think oh my
gosh like that dog could slip out of
that flat collar or that dog could break
out of that harness into second so make
sure you have a backup and if for some
reason you don’t have two collars you
can always noose the dog with the leash
like kind of like how I’m doing here you
can noose the dog with the leash and
have a leash on their neck as an
additional piece of equipment or if your
dogs small enough just pick the dog up
make sure the dog is safe because when
you’re in all these new situations and
like Scott said you’re at a rest stop or
something and the air brakes go off and
in a truck and that’s a fearful thing
for your dog make sure that you have a
plan so if they do go to ball they can’t
get away successful go on a dog run down
the highway with no microchip no rabies
certificate overdue on heartworm is a
buddy help
right guys after the break we’re gonna
give you some more tips about keeping
the dogs comfortable during trouble does
your dog seem anxious
would you like your dog to relax do you
want to feel more in control
would you like your dog to cooperate how
to calm your canine calm that’s how to
calm your canine calm all right we are
back okay
we have here when we’re driving down the
road with our with the dog in the car if
you don’t normally take your dog in the
car it would be a good idea to condition
them to get him used to the driving in
the car because a lot of dogs get
carsick and if they do get carsick I
mean my puppy was getting carsick when I
first got him and I would just bring a
roll of paper towel down tea towels with
me and a spray bottle of some I don’t
know what it was some type of a
disinfectant and I planned on him
getting sick and I did get sick you know
several times when he was young and then
he outgrew it but if you have a dog that
doesn’t like the car that maybe gets
carsick it would be nice if you can
counter condition them a little bit
before you actually go on your your big
adventure yeah and the other thing is
people really only put the dogs in the
car to go to the vet or maybe to do
something stressful unless they’re you
know going to daycare every day or
something like that so think about like
just going for short trips with your dog
and making it you know something easy
you can do it right before their dinner
at night that’s a good way to transfer
the value from oh I’m gonna eat right
after I get in the car and everything
else but don’t make it a big deal and if
the dog stress is after 15 minutes of
and in the car do a 5 minute trip do a
10 minute trip then go back to a 5
minute trip then try the 15 minute trip
you know try not to get them into the
state where they’re getting super
stressed and super anxious and another
good way to keep dogs more comfortable
is to physically restrict their movement
so a lot of people use harnesses and
such and you know safety zone
and that’s fine people have done that
before but you want to be careful that
you know if you think about okay you get
t-bone now and all of a sudden your dog
is just in a harness and seat-belted in
like how safe are they really so again
we go back to advocating for crates in
the car because and sorry to interrupt
you but getting back to dogs they get
carsick much better to have them throw
up in a crate than all of your friend
duck see yeah no it is true it’s a it’s
a hefty detail when it gets underneath
the seats and everything it’s not pretty
yeah but you want to think about okay so
if the dog is in a crate now maybe it’ll
be more comfortable if a dog gets
carsick and it’s in a crate and it can
see out the window try to have it not
have visual access to things passing by
we went to the White Mountains with our
dogs a few weeks ago and we were driving
through the mountains and we had enough
dogs in the car that the crates were
getting full so Scott had Jimmy at his
feet and you could see going over the
mountains being at Scott’s feet he was
starting to kind of gag so we switched
out dogs but dogs can get carsick even
if they don’t usually if it’s a
different situation or something else so
just be thoughtful of how they’re
feeling and everything else and try not
to over analyze the situation like if
they are shaking oh you’re gonna be okay
you’re gonna be okay because if it’s a
16 hour drive you don’t want them
shaking for 16 hours just put them
somewhere tell them that they’re gonna
be okay and forget about it and most
likely they’re gonna acclimate just fine
yeah if you have a dog that’s a little
bit territorial at home you know they
tend to bark whenever someone comes to
the house knocks on the door goes by a
window is a good chance they probably do
that in the car as well so if you have a
dog there’s a little territorial in the
car it’s nice if you can put some type
of visual barrier so they can’t see if
they’re in the back they can’t see out
that side window when you pull into a
gas station and they’re blowing up every
time an attendant walks by your car so
yeah and with that said if it’s warmer
out if you’re traveling somewhere where
it’s warmer and you need to leave the
windows open when you leave don’t leave
your windows open wide enough that a
your dog can escape or be someone can
reach their hand in because people are
idiots they do this oh they come over
and all of a sudden and maybe your dog
is totally fine but you don’t want
people interacting with your dog when
you’re not there it just doesn’t sound
like a good idea so make sure that
that’s not a situation especially if you
have a dog with territorial aggression
that that’s gonna escalate because you
left the windows open too wide also and
I’m
so no lady get bit in that situation she
was just parked next to that the car
that had the dog in it and it was summer
so the dogs window was rolled all the
way down and she had to get near the car
to get into her car and the dog just
reached out and grabbed her by the arm
yeah and people are wacko now about dogs
and cars I mean if it’s over like 65
degrees they’re calling the police or
busting windows open and everything else
state laws now well exactly but you know
federal thing you need to do prison time
thanks for escalating you want to take
your dog on holiday be careful no but
really you want to be thoughtful if the
dog is in the crate one they’re probably
gonna be quieter too they’re not gonna
have access to people in three those
windows can be rolled down more we do
have this device I really like these um
it’s called a sensor push and they’re
pretty affordable I think they’re like a
fifty bucks on Amazon yeah it’s
reasonable yeah but um they see if the
app is on your phone real quick so we
can zoom in on that too please I don’t I
do but I think we did when brick can I
see we go into a restaurant leave your
dog in the car you can see the
temperature in your car when you’re in
the rest go they run off of Bluetooth
and if you need to you can get one that
has a gateway that runs off of Wi-Fi
also here it is right there
but um you can get a whole bunch of
these and put them different places but
it’s gonna let you know the temperature
and it’s great I mean if you’re in a
restaurant it’s great to know oh the
cars gotten below 45 degrees or the cars
gotten above 65 degrees you able to zoom
in on that I’m not sure it’s it’s not
very big
but it just gives your head’s a
superstar lift it up a little bit there
we go so I don’t know if you guys can
see but it shows it has humidity it has
temperature and everything else and you
can check it on your phone so the
Bluetooth option is great but then if
you’re gonna be away from an area like
if you don’t want the air conditioning
to fail or something in the summer they
also have these gateways that can hook
up to Wi-Fi so you can know the
temperature when you’re not there so we
had these in like every room of our
kennel when we had our dog training
facility because you know if it’s and if
an air conditioner breaks and we’re out
to lunch we want to know that that
temperature is increasing also if you’re
into smoke and cigars
you can keep these in your humidor yeah
because they give you a humidity that’s
true its humidity and its temperature
but um this is a great device it’s
called a sensor push and it’s something
great to bring on the road and then for
some reason
you were getting flak at a restaurant
like you came out from Applebee’s and
your dog was in the car and some cop
pulls up beside your car you can say hey
look the car is 52 degrees like I have
the temperature right here you’re kind
of being proactive in all of that and it
alerts you you can set temperature
boundaries so it will alert you either
through Bluetooth or if you have the
Gateway it will alert your phone through
Wi-Fi even if you’re far away what the
temperature is and that there’s an issue
and that it needs to be addressed not
that we’re condoning leaving your dog in
the car
well even just going into a rest stop to
use the restroom I mean crazy yeah okay
so another thing we were discussing is
going to the bathroom on command and
this is more of a behavioral thing but
when you’re driving it is a pain in the
butt if your dog will not go to the
bathroom on leash I remember one time my
mom came out to visit me from Colorado I
was going to school at University
Michigan still
she drove from Colorado to Ann Arbor and
um the dog didn’t go to the bathroom for
17 hours because she didn’t pee on a
leash and then she slept in a hotel and
didn’t go which the dog made it and the
dog was physically fine but that’s
uncomfortable so conditioned your dog to
be going to the bathroom on leash so
when you are traveling it’s super easy
and you also don’t want to be at a rest
stop for an hour especially if it’s
raining or snowing or something come on
Sparky go potty like you can’t have that
I was gonna say a nice workaround for a
dog that doesn’t go pee on a leash is
bring a 10 or 15 foot line with you
because that leash length of being six
feet you know for whatever reason
they’re not comfortable doing it but if
you can let them get out 10 feet away
from you on a long line they’ll probably
go yeah and a long line is a little bit
more preferable to a flexi because those
flexi retractable yeah they can be
faulty and then this is more of a just
thing but um if you do get to a rest
stop I used to travel around a lot when
I did the canine entertainment I was at
rest stops all over the country if you
do get to a rest stop and it says pet
area that’s all fine and good but for
people that are watching don’t
necessarily just rush to the pet area
especially if you have a young dog or an
old dog you know if you can comfortably
take your dog to pee on a tree and it’s
not going to ruin some nice flower
arrangement or whatever at the rest stop
do that because those pet areas are
where all the other dogs have gone to
the bathroom and they’re not just
getting sanitized on a regular basis and
everything else
and most importantly pick up after your
dogs it is just boggles my mind how much
like feces there are on the road at
parks and everything else like have a
method and a plan to pick up and most of
the time even if no one sees you you
still have to pick up yes we went
through that lesson in our marriage
earlier it’s like that random act of
kindness thing you just do it for you
but no really I mean it
there’s nothing worse than you’re in a
really nice outfit and you have high
heels on and then all of a sudden you
stepped in dog crap before you came to
your family’s Christmas so be conscious
of having your own poop bags available
and looking for others and like it seems
like a little thing but people are
abusing it more and more and more this
is why hotels are saying no to having
dogs come because people keep abusing
the rule you know there’s condos now
they’re testing the feces in Boston did
you hear that I wasn’t aware of that
yeah they actually have you bring a
fecal in when you sign that you have a
dog in your unit so then if there is
something left over they go back and
they test that and they can direct the
fine right back to your apartment DNA
testing yeah but like it’s people are so
disrespectful that it’s like oh yeah
I’ll do this and we’re talking like a
small little area in these Boston
condominiums and people are doing
whatever forget it so just be thoughtful
of other people and everything else yeah
and if you do live in the condo and you
see someone’s dog poop in there just put
it bring it over to their door or pick
it up yourself email um
and then prepare kind of for anything I
of course you know your car is in great
shape everything’s great stuff happens
you can break down I ran out of gas one
time with my melon one in the car and
triple-a had to come like you don’t know
what the situation will be so one have a
plan for your dog if that does happen
that they’re on a secure leash and a
secure collar and everything else and
then two if it’s cold out have blankets
like have blankets to cover the dog if
it’s really hot out make sure you have
water there’s been multiple times that
if we’ve had a few dogs in the car and
it’s like 85 in the summer I’m thinking
oh my gosh if we break down like the
black tops hot what’s gonna happen how
are we gonna manage everything so just
be prepared and you don’t have to be
crazy it’s not like big y2k preparation
but be prepared that things can
sometimes go wrong when you’re on the
road and do you have a plan and you have
a plan for the dog obviously it’s easier
to have a plan
for yourselves and your kids and
everything but a lot of tow truck
drivers aren’t gonna be like oh yeah
load the dog on end so be thoughtful of
that and if you have a crate it’s really
easy to put a blanket over the whole
crate it keeps the dog’s heat inside
there so it’s a much easier way to keep
them warm than if they were just
floating around in a cold car yeah we’re
big on traveling with dogs and crates
honestly and safe grapes because if
they’re just in some flimsy crate or a
soft crate or something else that
doesn’t necessarily mean they’re gonna
be safe but how many times have you
slammed on the brakes and your dog
smashes into the dash or something like
you don’t want I did that when I was a
kid probably did that last week when I
wasn’t in the car with you and chew but
you don’t want there to be a big
incident like that with the dog and the
vehicles themselves are not designed to
keep the dogs as safe as they are
hopefully designed to keep us safe
and then lastly be thoughtful about your
dog’s food it is so funny how many
people when we had our board and train
business would like come in and say oh
you know he can eat anything don’t worry
about it or they bring cat food in on
access that was not everyone is elect
you but like one I am NOT going to use
all the other dogs food and two when
you’re switching up food it can be
sensitive dog with a sensitive stomach
that could be an issue so time and time
again I was like no tell me the brand
and I would bring myself out to the
store and go get the brand and half the
time pet smart didn’t sell it so I’m
going to the specialty stores but make
sure that you are bringing the food that
your dog is accustomed to eating on the
road with you and then it’s in like a
tightly sealed container and it isn’t
gonna get bad and then you were talking
about feeding wrong on the road well
along the lines of the food to just
bring a gallon jug of water to so you
can give your dog some water you know
yeah if we feed our dogs a raw diet so
they raw meat chicken beef that kind of
thing so we don’t typically bring a lot
with us if we’re traveling across
country we’ll just go to the local
grocery store and buy our meat right
there but if we’re going somewhere local
we’ll get a cooler styrofoam cooler and
we’ll just bag it
so it’s individual meals and we’ll pack
it frozen and then by the time it’s
ready for dinner the stuffs thought out
yeah rather than carry everything with
you and then like if you do feed raw or
home-cooked sweet potatoes canned
sardines canned tuna those are an easy
thing to get you through the first day
or two and take on the road and keep the
dog safe so we’re not meaning to be
overly crazy about this whole thing I
feel like we say that a lot
I feel like I say that a lot I’m used to
clarifying that after I married Scott
but um these things do pop up we’ve had
a lot of experience traveling with dogs
and if you are traveling with your dogs
over the holiday season or into the new
year just think about a few of these
little things because the smoother
things are during travel more likely a
more pleasant vacation will but don’t
strap the roof to the it’s time for the
car yeah it’s a good one from Mitt
Romney
all right guys next week we are gonna
deal with energy healing for dogs and in
the meantime if you need to reach us you
can find us at studio at the Corky dog
calm and keep it quirky the views and
opinions expressed by the hosts guests
or callers of this program do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the
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