3 choices for a traveling pet parent
Everybody needs a vacation.
Sometimes they also just have to get out of town due to work or family celebrations.
Unfortunately, not every trip is pet-friendly. And not every pet is travel-ready.
Either situation can leave pet parents stressing, scrambling or resistant to hitting the road at all.
Back when the animal count at Wayward House was two foster dogs, two forever dogs and a cat – one fur baby over the legally allowed limit in our municipality – we sure didn’t get out much.
When we did, we paid a big price.
Now that our pack is down to a more manageable size, figuring out accommodations for the dogs while we’re gone tends to be less expensive and less worrisome.
But we still only have three options when traveling without the dogs:
- Send the dogs to someone else’s house.
- Invite someone else to stay at our house.
- Pay to board the dogs at a professional facility.
Over the next week, I’ll review the pros and cons of each option and offer a few tips for getting the most out of whatever situation you’re in.
In the meantime, share what works best for you in the comments.
Posted on June 17, 2012, in Dogs, Travel and tagged pet sitting, what to do with dogs when you travel. Bookmark the permalink. 11 Comments.
We’re lucky in that we have a decent sized fenced in yard and a doggy door. We also tend to watch our family or friends digs from time to time. So, when we go out of town, we either have a friend stay over or family (that lives less than a mile away!) comes over to feed the dogs. We have a webcam set up in the living room, so we can check in on them periodically.
We also are a three dog family. Iwe are fortunate to have founf an awesome pet sitter who stays with them when we are gone. Boarded them once, they were too sad.
That’s great! I agree that it’s can be very challenging to feel comfortable when boarding pets.
We haven’t got anyone around to watch them when we leave, so they have to go to a boarding kennel. Breaks my heart to leave them every single time!
Aww, well, I hope you have a nice boarding facility in your area.
I haven’t been anywhere overnight since 1996.
Personally, I have yet to go on holiday anywhere that I cannot take my dog. The cats, unfortunately, have to go into boarding, as moving them around to a multitude of new places just isn’t quite the same. Breaks my heart each time though
I am lucky to have many places I travel to be pet friendly (and often request Abbie over me) so I can take her. My boyfriend has a dog, so if we don’t go together, the duty falls to him. If we are gone for an extended period of time, my bff will step in. Said BFF is on a week long vacation as I type this, bringing MY household dog count to 4 and a daily stop to check on 3 kitties. It all evens out!
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