Hit the Road with Tripawd Members’ Travel Tips

Hey pawrents, summer’s not quite over in case you haven’t heard!

There’s plenty of time to get out there and enjoy the fall season with your pack.

In the spirit of good times on the road less traveled, tripawds pawrents recently shared their road trip tails in the latest Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul contest, “Tripawds Travel Tips Win Prizes.”

Tripawds Spokesdawg Wyatt Ray has randomly picked a winner, and drew Tripawd Chloe’s name!

Thanks you to everypawdy who took the time to share their ideas about making a road trip fun. Stay tuned for more contests like this, which are more than just ways to win free stuff, but venues for sharing ideas about living a great life with your three legged dog.

Chloe’s Mom suggests the following when traveling with you Tripawd:

• A Comfy Seat (in more ways than one): There is a lot of room in the back of my SUV, but it has metal-clip ins for transporting things. Since her favorite dog bed fits back there, it covers those not comfy clips and allows her to sleep the hours away comfortably, while I drive (uncomfortably). Plus the back window rolls down, so she has a wonderful breeze, view and doesn’t have to budge one iota to enjoy it! Or if she is so inclined to stick her head out, she can enjoy that flying experience there too.
• Make Pawesome Rest Stops: It is important for both of us to stretch our legs a little and we have some places planned out on our-soon-to-be-regular-route that are dog friendly!! For example; the 2/3 mark from where I am in Nor Cal to my parent’s house in So Cal is the Arroyo Burro Beach in Santa Barbara which allows dogs! (I learned about this as a student at UCSB).
• Pick Great Music! For those long, seemingly unending drives (for me anyway), music certainly helps the time fly. I start singing and then Chloe joins in later and we make quite the duo! At least I assume she is singing with me and not telling me to quit my racket…

Sister Charon shared these tips for Traveling with Tripawd Gayle

• Consider timing when traveling from ‘nap position’ to the outside world: are we really ready to end our nap – do we really need to go outside to pee, or can we continue napping for a while longer, and have a few more great dreams.
• Make sure to get the most value from outside time: ok, i know i have to pee, but can i make a few rounds in the yard, and maybe take care of the ‘whole enchilada’ too? (this allows more nap time, see #1 above)
• Listen for the sound of the refrigerator opening, and the sound of cheese wrappers at all times: how many times have you heard the fridge open, and no food came out? not many at our house… once that seal is broken, go for it, even if it means interfering with nap time. if you hear a cheese wrapper, really high-tail it!! after the snack, a nap is usually recommended (once again, see #1 above).

Daisy2010‘s pack incorporated a bit of shameless self promotion into their tips (we love it!):

Calling all Tripawds in the NY region! Here is my travel tip:

• Come to the Country Inn and Suites in Mt Morris NY, located at the north end of Letchworth State Park (aka the “Grand Caynon of the East”). The fall foliage should peak the last week in Sept to the 1st 2 weeks in October.
• Mention that you are a member of Tripawds
• I will waive the $25 night pet fee! We have no weight restrictions and if you have more than one furry family member, they are welcome too. Each of our canine guests get a welcome tennis ball, some in room milkbone treats and a blanket to sleep on. You can explore the park or hike up the Genesee Valley Greenway which is a nice flat wide grassy walking surface. Another park close by is Stony Brook where you can actually get in the water. (Letchworth wont let you swim in the River due to the dam at the north end).

MaxiMutt’s pack are the pros at long road trips. Here are Max’s Mom’s travel suggestions:

• Bring along a hot/cold pack, just in case your Tripawd over does it in the fun category. We found that heat and a nice massage on the rear legs helped Max after a day of traveling in the car and/or playing at the beach.
• Rear seat hammock. We travel in an SUV. For short trips around town, the dogs usually go in the cargo area. But for our long road trips, we like to have them closer to us. We were able to get great photos of them, and they helped us navigate to our destination!
• Get a room on the first floor. We found our pups weren’t really fond of elevators, so we always asked for a room on the first floor. Generally, the room was only a few steps up from the registration desk.
• We took three excellent trips to Carmel-By-The-Sea, the dog-friendliest place on Earth. We always stayed at the Cypress Inn (co-owned by Doris Day), and they really cater to dogs there. I encourage everyone to take at least one trip with their Tripawds. I was really nervous at first, of all the things that “could” happen. Max handled each trip just great, and we have memories from all those trips that we wouldn’t trade for a bazillion dollars.

VikingQueen shared these ideas she uses for Travels with Charlie:

1. Have a bag of treats (written quietly so as to not get Charlie excited) when you go through a drive-through of any type. Dude gets majorly depressed if he doesn’t get a bone (i.e. drive-up ATM’s). *Driver’s side window down, we have stopped, VQ just made a transaction, where’s my bone!?!*
2. Yell out “Puppy!” whenever another dog is spotted. Kind of like the I Spy game, only with dogs. Be prepared to give an explanation if for some reason the dog misses the puppy spotting. “Sorry dude, the truck was in the way.” or “Awe, he was too little.”
3. Bring grandma along and fill up gas tank. Often we have to stop at facilities that don’t allow dogs (grocery stores, retailers, etc.). Leave the car running if it is hot, have air turned on, make grandma stay and keep dog company.

Lastly, our Tripawds tips were brief but to the point (and shamelessly self-promoting as well!):

1. Wear a Ruff Wear Harness for easy lifting in and out of vehicles, and preparing you for unexpected surfaces.
2. Carry plenty of water no matter where you’re headed. These portable travel bowls make watering time easy.
3. Remember to stop and smell the roses!