Traveling with a Puppy
I will be moving from Virginia to Texas at the end of August/early September. We are planning a road trip with our current cocker spaniel, 1 years old, along the coast down to about South Carliona and then hading west through the southern states. If we were to get an OES puppy NOW, do you think it'll be OK to take the road trip with the puppy in a month for 7-10 days? I was thinking it would be a great opportunity to bond with the puppy and let him/her experience the beach, camping, cars, hotels, many people etc. Our trip will include camping trips as well as doggy friendly hotels. I will also have a list of vets/hospitals close to our route on hand I guess I'm wondering if it'll be too tiring and overstimulatin/exciting for the puppy since he would have only been with us for a month. What are your opinions? |
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| I think it would be a great opportunity for some real, good socialization! Lots of different sounds, smells, people to meet! The pup will sleep lots, so just let the little one take naps as required.
What a blast! |
| I would worry about is potty training. At that age puppies have to go fairly often, and you're talking about some long drives. Also, it takes a puppy a while to figure out where it's OK to go and where it's not. Being in a different hotel every night could be confusing.
I just thought of one other thing - you're supposed to keep a puppy isolated from other dogs until his puppy series of shots is completed. So you wouldn't want to do a trip like this until he's had his full series of shots. |
| Potty training could be tricky, but you could also use it to your advantage. Like the puppy would get used to doing potty everywhere, like grass, cement, and not only in his own barkyard. This is a plus.
Also, I assume whe the puppy is traveling he would be crated, so great opportunites to control the puppies schedule and be there to avoid accidents. Same thinkg in the motel, hotel or whatever. Crating when not supervised and outside to do potty when not. Just cue "potty" and treat when it happens on cue. Great stuff. But definelty wouldn't let the puppy around any strange dogs, for sure. |
Bailey's Mom wrote: I just thought of one other thing - you're supposed to keep a puppy isolated from other dogs until his puppy series of shots is completed. So you wouldn't want to do a trip like this until he's had his full series of shots.
Good point!!!!!! Thanks for bringing this up. I know people have different opinions on vaccinations, but would you say 2 sets of puppy shots is enough to say it'll be safe? Some breeders recommend socializing puppies immediately: take him to Petsmart, expose him to other dogs on leash, puppy kindergarden etc.. Our local doggy daycare/training requires at least 2 sets of shots for puppies to come... With my current dog, we did all activities except dog park/dog pen after 2 sets of shots. I'm PRO-crate training so the puppy will be crate trained immediately. |
Quote: I know people have different opinions on vaccinations, but would you say 2 sets of puppy shots is enough to say it'll be safe?
No, a dog isn't fully safe until he/she has had ALL their shots. With that said, we traveled so much with our OES puppy when we first got her (back and forth from TX to OK) and before she turned 1... we traveled from TX to ALASKA. We never had any problems and our dog just wanted to be with us (or my husband)! If I had to do it and were in your situation, I'd feel more comfortable taking my dog potty in places that aren't heavily populated by other dogs. This is what many vets have told me in the past. Like when my maltese was a puppy, I felt safe letting my dog pee at my friend's place because their apt. complex was a "no pets allowed" living area. I wouldn't take her to parks and many other places populated by lots of dogs that didn't have shots (which was in a lot of places for me since at the time I was in a college town and a lot of kids can't afford to give their dogs all their shots). |
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