I just finished reading an article about travelling with your dog by Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, on Cesar’s Way. His suggestions make sense, and the article covers car travel, plane travel, hotel stay, and if you can’t take your dog on the trip, the determining factor in choosing a facility.
The main points I got from reading his article are:
- your calm, positive attitude sets the tone–from putting your dog in a crate to walking away from the crate at the airport
- exercise your dog before the trip so he would feel like resting during the car ride or plane ride
- do your research with the airline and hotel ahead of time
- how to assure your dog in the new environment, for example, the hotel
Here’s an excerpt from Cesar’s article:
By planning your dog travel ahead of time, you can make the vacation a truly relaxing time for you and your dog. Here are my best dog travel tips to help make that happen:
Crating your dog for travel
It’s natural to feel bad about crating your dog. After all, you wouldn’t want to be crated. But don’t project your feelings onto your dog. They don’t mind the crate and some even feel safer in one.
Taking your dog on an airplane
The first thing you need to do is check with the airline for their rules regarding pet travel. Many require a health certificate and may have other rules you haven’t thought of that you don’t want to be surprised with at the airport. Your dog will almost certainly be traveling in a crate and it will probably make everyone’s lives easier if you crate your dog before you enter the chaos of the airport.
Keeping your dog calm during travel
Make sure you bring your dog’s blankie or his favorite stuffed animal, toy, bone—any item which is familiar to your dog and will comfort and relax him.
For a little extra calm, try rubbing a little lavender oil between your hands and give your pet a little aromatherapy or deep tissue massage at the beginning of your dog’s spine or base of her head.
You can read the entire article here.
Article source: Cesar Way
Image source: NikoMC on Flickr.com
