The Ultimate Guide to Traveling Well with Your Dog

My Airedales have covered thousands of miles, and not one of them started out being easy in a car. Our success with traveling came from work, not luck.

It began years ago with one sentence: "We're going to Dallas for six months." I had a client there and a project that needed an extended stay, and if I was going, the dogs were going too. The drive from Rhode Island to Texas was a lot more than a three-hour tour. Eight hours a day for four days is a lot of car time.

So we trained like it was a marathon. Crowded places, hotel manners, checking in and staying in the room, getting in and out of the car in an orderly way, rest area manners. We ran trial trips to New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington DC before the big one.

My dogs loved hotels and all the attention. The car ride, though, was another story.

Halo, Cherry, and Grover did fine — as long as they agreed with the music. Yes, they had opinions about the radio station. 😂 Airedales are more Yacht Rock than hard rock, as it turns out.

Once the practice runs were behind us, we made two round trips between Dallas and Rhode Island over eighteen months.

That was years ago, and honestly, the training never really stops.

This summer I kicked off Fleetwood's Southern Summer Tour, with stops in Charleston and Savannah. Different dog, different decade, same reliable process. Fleetwood has never met a stranger, and on day one he met about four hundred of them. We stayed at the Wentworth Mansion, walked the city in the morning, and took a trolley tour through Charleston.

What impressed me most was how he handled himself. He listened and gave me everything I asked for, in a brand-new city with a lot going on.

Here's the part most of us get wrong.

Socializing your dog does not mean making sure they're friendly with everyone. My trainer Marc Windgassen put it simply: socializing means training your dog to react calmly and neutrally to any new sound, sight, smell, environment, dog, or animal.

It doesn't mean turning them into a robot. It's fine for your dog to be excited, happy, nervous, or curious. They just need composure on the outside. On our Charleston history tour there was a very large horse standing right next to us, and Fleetwood was interested without losing his mind. That is the whole game. Get that right and you can take your dog almost anywhere.

Here are our best travel tips.

Practice before you go.

The biggest mistake I see is skipping the practice runs. If your dog's longest car ride has been twenty minutes to the vet, don't expect them to handle eight hours to the beach without some buildup. Start short. Let them get comfortable with the car being a normal, boring part of life before you ask them to spend a full day in it.

Stop more than you want to.

Stop every two hours. Your dog doesn't care about your ETA. They need to stretch, sniff, pee, and just exist outside the car for a few minutes. At the end of eight hours, we were all done. 🥱

Water, water, water.

Bring more than you think you need, then bring more. A collapsible bowl lives permanently in my car. Dehydration sneaks up fast, especially in warmer months. On our Savannah walking tour in July, water breaks were built into the route — not squeezed in when someone started panting — and it made all the difference.

Time your meals.

Skip the big meal right before you leave. A dog with a full stomach on a winding road is a combination you only need to experience once before you learn your lesson. Feed a lighter meal a few hours before departure, then a normal meal once you're settled at your destination.

Bring a piece of home.

A blanket, a bed, their favorite disgusting toy they won't let you wash. It keeps anxiety down, especially for dogs who aren't seasoned travelers. We had a unicorn, a dinosaur, and of course, Lamb Chop.

Secure your dog.

A crate, a crash-tested harness, a barrier — I don't care which, but "sitting on someone's lap" is not a safety plan. In my case, having an Airedale in my lap was never an option, for all the obvious reasons.

Vaccines, chips, and medical records.

Make sure vaccinations are current and you have a copy of medical records — on your phone, in the glove box, or both. All my dogs are chipped as an extra precaution.

What you can skip.

Fancy travel kits. Calming sprays that smell like a yoga studio. Doggy playlists. (Yes, those exist. No, your dog does not need Enya — but they may need Yacht Rock.) Your dog needs water, breaks, something familiar, and you not being a stressed-out mess behind the wheel. I think that's the whole list.

Savannah gave me a perfect example of all of this done right. We did Oliver Bentley's Historic Dog Walk, and our guide knew as much about dogs as he did about the city. Every dog was properly introduced before we went anywhere. We walked a block together so everyone could settle, then the tour started. We stayed on the shady side of the street the whole time. Two hours in the Georgia heat, past trolleys, families, outdoor restaurants, and other dogs, and every dog was terrific. A good introduction, a little preplanning, and shade on a hot morning is the whole foundation.

I've taken a lot of long trips since those first Dallas runs, most recently with Fleetwood as our Happy Aire spokesmodel. I stick to the process, bring friends and family along the way, and collect moments I'll never forget. Daisy is up next.

PS — What's your best road trip hack with your dog? And what's the most dog-friendly city you've traveled to? I'm always building the list.

-Kim Opdyke

💗