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Roadtripping with Dogs: Part 3 – Exercise and National Parks

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In this post we will discuss how mental and physical exercise are a critical component to happy and healthy dogs on your road trip. We will discuss accommodating exercise wherever you happen to be. We will also talk about how to schedule your time when the humans are planning on spending time in the national parks.

 

Mental and Physical Exercise:
  • Make stops to take long walks and stretch your dogs’ legs: we like to power through when we drive long distances but we always make a point to stop at intervals to take a good 30-45 minute walk so the dogs can get a stretch. We do take short potty breaks every few hours, but we also stop every 6-7 hours for long-line walks.
  • Bring a long-line: Maybe your dog is great off-leash but there are a lot of places where leashes are required by law. When that is the case, I love to take out my 30-foot line and allow my dogs to stretch their legs and roam a bit. I have an awesome biothane one that never gets dirty or wet! I love it!
  • Bring LOTS of chewing projects to keep your dogs occupied. Before going on our trip I ordered enough bully sticks for each dog to have one a day if needed, along with one trachea a day. I also brought kongs that I could fill and freeze in the hotel freezers, along with their typical food dispensing toys. With working for their food, having plenty of appropriate things to chew on, and stopping at a bunch of new places, they weathered the 8000 miles of driving very well!
  • Travel Hack: Fill a Kong with peanut butter from the continental breakfast mixed with kibble and place in the hotel freezer to give when you have to leave your dog behind in the hotel and you forgot something to re-fill the kong with!
  • If you plan on leaving your dog alone in the room, or just generally want them to behave well on your trip, exercise is crucial! We like to get up early and take care of the dogs needs before we head out on our own, especially in National Parks that tend not to be dog friendly. Take a couple mile stroll through your new surroundings or find a local park where you can play ball and burn off some energy to start the day. There wasn’t much in the way of places to walk in Wall, SD but we did find an awesome field to let the dogs run and play in. You have to be flexible and creative!
  • Sometimes it’s too hot to exercise your dog in the middle of the day (like in Arches when it was 104 mid-day!). That’s when you can get creative in your hotel room. Over the years I have taught many tricks in a hotel room including get me a tissue, put away the trash, turn lights on and off, put down the toilet seat, open and close doors, etc. You can even play hide and seek with your dog in a small hotel room. Your dog will burn energy when you call him and you’re hiding behind the bed or behind the shower curtain. There are a lot of fun games you can make up to do in small spaces so your dog can get mental exercise!

Schedule for National Parks:
  • What worked really well for us, especially in the summer heat, was to wake up early and exercise the dogs. At that point we would head into the park. Six to eight hours later we would come home to let the dogs out. This allowed us to do longer eight mile or so hikes while still being able to accommodate the dogs. After some play and exercise with the dogs we would head back to the park for another couple hours. This also gave us a nice break during the day as we were doing a marathon of different parks and this allowed us to not burn out.
  • Check with the park about where dogs are allowed. Most allow them 100 feet from paved roads and in campgrounds. Some parks have dog friendly trails or sections like Zion National Park. Take advantage of those areas when you can.
  • Our dogs are used to hanging in the car (they come to work with me on days when its not hot out) so in the places where temps were in the 50s all day, taking them was even easier as we just left them in the car for our shorter hikes and then they were able to sit outside and have dinner with us in the park and have a walk around.
  • Tip: Check out the parking situation before you go into the park. We didn’t know there wasn’t enough parking at Zion and we would have to take a bus into the park to take another bus to the hike we wanted to do. This would add time to our planned time away from the dogs who were hanging out in the hotel room. Luckily when we went into the park in the morning to walk the dogs we found out and were able to make adjustments to our schedule and plans. Be flexible and try to gather as much information beforehand as possible
  • Have fun and relax! The point of going on these fabulous trips is to enjoy this country with your best friend by your side. So plan ahead as much as possible and then sit back, relax, and take in the gorgeous country that we get to call home.

 

I hope these posts have given you some ideas to consider when preparing for a road trip with your dog. Yes, it’s a little extra work to bring Fido, but it’s totally doable with a little extra planning! Happy Roadtripping!

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Roadtripping with your Dog: Part 1 Preparing, Vehicle, and Packing

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Roadtripping with your Dog: Tips on keeping everyone happy and healthy when driving cross country

Roadtripping across the country can be a dream for many! Hitting the open road and seeing the amazing places this country has to offer is a life-changing experience. But what to do with Fido? Bring him of course!

This three part blog post will discuss everything from prepping your pup beforehand, to what to do with your dog in the National Parks (most do not allow dogs off main roads and campsites) to how to keep your pup happy and healthy during the trip!

I just finished a 3-week road trip with my 10-month-old Coolie puppy, Whip, and my 8-year-old rescue cattle dog Jake, a seasoned traveler. It went off without a hitch! Our itinerary included Badlands, Glacier, Yellowstone, Zion, Canyonlands, Arches, Great Sand Dunes, and Nashville, and we have plans for a 6 week road trip next year. I’ve also traveled for years with my own personal dogs through my work as a guide dog instructor. With a few accommodations, you too can bring your best friend with you and have them enjoy the experience just as much as you!

Preparing for the Roadtrip:

  • Look for dog friendly hotels and do some trial runs before committing to a month long trip. We did several overnights and long weekends with the puppy so that she understood how to behave when away from home. Her first night in a hotel she was a bit concerned with the noises of people walking down the hall, but by her third or fourth trip she was a pro!
  • If you plan to leave your dog crated while you are on a humans-only adventure, make sure you have practiced the length of time you plan to leave them and they are quiet and happy doing so. Because my dogs come to work with me, I actually had to build up Whip’s crate time so she was comfortable being left alone.
  • I recommend that if you have any concerns about your dog chewing or being uncomfortable in the hotel room that they should be crated so you know they are safe while you are gone.

 

Vehicle:

  • We ended up renting a van to take this trip. We were driving over 8000 miles and didn’t want to put that on my Subaru, along with wanting the extra space. It worked out great because we had plenty of room for a crate and all our luggage, along with the friends we met up with along the way. Next year we are looking at having a camper-van so we are even more self-contained. Think about what vehicle you’re going to use and then make sure it will fit everyone and all your gear comfortably.
  • Make sure you have a safe way for your dog to travel. Whether it’s crates or a harness/seatbelt combo, no one intends to get in an accident. Safety measures for your pet are just as important as you wearing a seatbelt.
  • Travel Hack: If you don’t have a dog seat cover and want to keep hair off your bench seats, especially in a rental, grab a fitted sheet and cover the seat with it. Extra towels can protect against nail marks.

 

Packing: This is not intended to be an exhaustive list but I will enumerate some things that you may forget to pack on the trip and might be helpful.

  • Collar with phone number and address clearly listed. Some tags wear out over time, make sure your dog is well identified in the case of an emergency.
  • A familiar dog bed or mat to lie on. I like the Ruffwear Mt. Bachelor Pad, as it rolls up small when not in use and has a waterproof backing.
  • Food: enough to have extra in case of emergency. We will discuss more on food in a later post.
  • Backpacks and portable water bowls. If you plan on hiking, bring the appropriate gear. Portable water bowls were really helpful when we went to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. If your dog can carry their own gear in their backpack, even better!
  • Heat related gear: I brought Ruffwear Swamp Cooler’s and a Ryobi fan run on drill battery in case it got hot. Both the humans and the dogs used the fan but we didn’t need the swamp cooler as our hikes were always early morning or later in the day. What I forgot to pack was dog boots. It was over 100 at the parks in Utah and we ended up carrying the dogs over blacktop on more than one occasion.
  • Exercise Pen: If you are meeting up with friends or want to be outside with your dogs without them being leashed to you, an ex-pen can work really well for both containment and seperation. You can pick one up for pretty cheap on Amazon or craigslist.
  • Tupperwear Bins: On this trip we packed one tupperwear bin for us and one that held all the dog stuff. This way everything was organized, easy to move around or bring into the hotel, and we knew that if we needed dog related, look no further than that bin. It also meant the dogs couldn’t get into it if we left them in the car with a 30 day supply of food 🙂
  • Nothing you don’t need: This is a great reminder that you CAN overpack. I brought anything that was critical and wasn’t easy to get (ie. I brought the dogs raincoats because I didn’t want soaking wet dogs in rental homes.) Remember that you will be near civilization, so if you really need something you can always run out and get it.

Next time we will discuss choosing hotels and locations along with considerations relating to food and storage.

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