What's The Best Way To Travel With Your Dogs?

My husband and I travel with our dogs a lot. We visit family, take little vacations and do sightseeing together. We’ve had Mocha four years now, and we’ve learned a lot about taking trips with our dogs.

When we first got Mocha, we tried putting him in the crate in the car. Well, he didn’t like that very much and would just bark at me from inside the crate. That’s a little unsettling when you need to drive six hours!

We realized that we couldn’t just leave him out on the seat to fend for himself while we were driving. The interstate speed limit is 70mph (can you imagine what would happen to him if we got in an accident?), and he’d thump face first off the seat at just about every stoplight. Plus, if we ever got pulled over or in an accident, I wanted him secured down so he couldn’t just run right out of the car.

The hovering car seat thing. It hooked into his harness. Mocha was really good at throwing up over the edge onto the seat...

Yes, that's the same dog...

We started out with this hovering car seat thing. I think he liked it, for the most part. Problem was, since he was up high and could see out the windows, he would throw up. A lot. Like, every time. And sometimes he’d throw up when we got to our destination too.

Then one time we left him hooked in there while we went in a restaurant to eat. (It wasn’t too hot or cold out, I promise, and he could see us through the back window the whole time.) Well, it got dark and he completely freaked out. From that point forward, any time we hooked him in that car seat he shook so hard his teeth chattered. (He’s a little sensitive…)

Then we got Ninja. Now there were two! They couldn’t both fit in the carseat, so we got them harnesses that clipped into the seatbelts. Mocha figured out how to slip out of that in about five minutes and Ninja would twist around so many times he couldn’t move, so that didn’t work.

Here’s our solution: We got a bigger crate and put them in it together while we travel in the backseat. It’s secured by bungee cords and has a blanket in it.

Mocha is calmer when they’re together. We tried separate crates and Mocha had a panic attack: panting, shaking, and drooling. It was bad.

See? Room for both plus a cozy blanky.

Why crate your dogs in the car?

An airbag will kill a small dog, just like it could injure or kill a small child. If you drive with your doggie on your lap or in the passenger seat, you risk them getting really hurt or even killed if that airbag goes off.

The crate keeps them safer if we get in an accident. It’s protection for them and peace of mind for us. They have a little bit of protection in the crate, and they also can’t be ejected out the window or thrown off the seat. Also, if we get stopped by the police or open a car door, we don’t have to worry about them bounding out.

What if my dog freaks out?

Start with small trips to somewhere fun. If the only time you put your dog in the crate in the car is to go to the vet, they’re going to be upset. Go across town with your dog to see friends or to hike.

Also, make sure you’ve exercised your dog first. Here is a video of my former foster dog Fozzie. I took him on a 20 minute car ride to go on a super fun hike. About 10 minutes in he started singing to me:

Believe it or not, on the way home he was sound asleep. The hike wore him out! And I didn’t give in to or patronize his panic attack. There was nothing to worry about, we went somewhere fun, he had a good time and we came home. Next time I take him somewhere, he’ll probably handle it a little better.

I’ve found that the best thing to do when your dog is singing or crying in the crate is to ignore it. If you try to coddle them or pet them you’ll just positively reinforce the behavior. Start with short, fun trips where they don’t have enough time to stress out, and eventually you’ll be able to drive for hours without a peep.

Another idea (some people won’t agree with this) is to give your dog a calming herbal remedy or a wee bit of Benadryl. Some dogs do actually have an anxiety problem and that could help keep them calm if they really need it. We gave Mocha Benadryl when he was a puppy but it didn’t really seem to help so we stopped.

However you choose to travel with your pup, remember a few things:

Don’t leave them in the car when it’s hot out (like above 70), especially if it’s sunny. Dogs can’t sweat. They’ll overheat and die.

If you don’t secure your dog in a crate or with a harness, beware of loose leashes and collars. I saw a terrible story on Facebook where this lady went into a store and her dog hanged himself with his leash from the clothes hook in the backseat. OMG, I can’t even imagine…

Bring water if it’s a long trip, over 2 hours, and a dish to pour it in.

Let them out to stretch their legs every 2 or 3 hours. You think your butt hurts from sitting in the car? So does theirs. Our dogs start to sing us the song of their people when they need to stretch their legs. At first we think it’s the radio…

Have some poop bags in your car and a towel too. Nothing like visiting a friend and leaving your dog’s crap on their yard. Or you take them out in the rain and they get your backseat sopping wet.

Don’t obsess.

Now, I’m not saying you should crate your dog that every single time you get in the car. I definitely take them to the park or the pet store and let them hang out on the back seat. But if you’re on the highway with your doggie, please consider crating them for their own protection.

How do you travel with your dog?

Do you crate your dog in the car? Do you board your dog instead so you don’t have to worry about it? Or do you have one of those little doggies that lays in the back window? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Do I Really Need to Crate Train?

This was one of my first questions when we got Mocha as a puppy. I mean, I didn’t get this little 3 pounds of love to have him in a crate all day while we worked. But we did crate train him because if we left him out he’d get into trouble. One day I came home and he’d pulled out all my yarn and was playing with it like a cat!

Also, I always use a crate with my foster dogs. Most dogs that come out of a shelter need a little time to decompress. For some, the crate works wonders and will always be a safe place when they need some quiet time. All my foster dogs go in their crate for a little quiet time every day.

Let’s break down this crate training thing a bit:

What is crate training?

This is where you train your dog to spend some quiet time in the crate every day. Most people crate their dogs while they’re at work. We did this when our boys were young. Some people don’t want the dog in the bed, and crate them at night. If done properly, the crate will become a safe haven for the dog. It’s their quiet place.

Crate training pros:

• Great potty training resource
• Nice to have if you need them out of the way (painting, teaching, having guests over)
• Safety feature for car rides
• Safe place for your dog

Crate training cons:

• Dogs can get a little stir crazy, especially if they’re crated for many hours at a time
• May exacerbate separation anxiety, especially if you crate train wrong
• Can be seriously messed up, and mess up your dog

Types of crates:

Mocha in his wire crate as a puppy.

Wire – These are pretty cheap and common, but I’m not a fan of the wire crate. Puppies will chew on the wires, and can really hurt their teeth. Also, if they have a tray that slides out of the bottom, dogs can really make a mess with that, pushing it out, chewing on it and getting stressed out.  

I’ve also found that a dog is less calm if they can see out of the crate at all angles. If you get a crate like this, you’ll want to put a towel or blanket over part of it.

A word of warning about the wire crate: I’ve heard of dogs getting stressed out and hooking their collar on the crate wires and hanging themselves. This was one of the lovely horror stories we heard at puppy kindergarten. If you do use this type of crate, please take off your dog’s collar before leaving them in it unattended.

Plastic – If I use a crate, I prefer the more solid, plastic kind. Less visibility means they’ll be calmer (generally). It’s also darker inside and noise is better muffled, all leading to a safer atmosphere. You can put a towel over this one too, maybe over the door, to reduce what they can see.

Mesh/soft – We have a pop-up X-pen that we use for agility trials, for when we have guests or for when I’m teaching piano. We spent some serious time training the boys to sit nicely in it. They’re never left in it unsupervised because they can open the zipper or chew/scratch right through the mesh. This is not for long-term, unsupervised crating.

End table/other – There are some cool designer crates out there that fit right into home décor. I saw one recently that was wood and looks like an end table.

Crate training 101:

1. Get the right sized crate. The crate should be big enough for the dog to walk in, turn around and lay down. That’s it. Any bigger and they’ll have room to potty in there.

2. Feed your dog in the crate. Some trainers swear by this. Giving them their food inside their crate is instant positive reinforcement because at least this one wonderful thing happens in their crate. Feeding your dog in their crate also helps with potty training because the dog won’t potty where they eat and sleep.

3. Start small. When you first start crate training your dog, do it in short increments. Five minutes at first, then 10, then 15. Don’t let them out while they’re barking or crying because then you’re reinforcing that behavior. Also, make sure you’re in the room at first, it helps keep them calm. If you put them in the crate and leave for three hours the very first time, you’re setting yourself up for disaster.

4. Make sure they’re comfy. Give them a couple toys, some treats and something soft to lay on. We ended up having to take the bedding out of the crates because our boys ate it.

5. Reinforce while you’re home. This one was key for us. We always crated the boys while at work, so they came to understand that if we were crating them, we were leaving. Then they didn’t want to get in the crate. So every weekend we would spend a little time at home with our dogs in their crates.

6. They don’t have to live like this forever. I feel like once a dog hits about a year to 18 months old and is reliably housebroken, you don’t have to crate them all day while you’re gone.

Here’s my opinion:

I think crating is a useful tool, especially for puppies. It keeps them from getting hurt (hopefully) when you’re not home. It also helps to house train your dog if you do it right. However, I don’t feel like dogs were designed to live in a crate most of the day, like many dogs do. An adult dog that is properly trained and exercised every day shouldn’t need to be crated on a regular basis.

Un-crate training.

Ok, you made it! Your dog grew up, doesn’t chew on the furniture when you’re not looking, and they haven’t peed in the house recently. I think that this is the time you can ease up on the crating.

What not to do – Don’t just leave one day without crating them if they’re used to being in the crate! 

And don’t give them the run of the house at first. Maybe just the kitchen or the dining room at first. You can also attach a wire pen to the crate and leave the crate open to the pen. Just make sure they can't jump out of the pen.

We started small, leaving the boys out when we went out to get the mail. Then we left them out when we got dinner or went to the mall.

Our boys at their customary place: right near the front door.

One day, I came home from work at lunch to walk them and didn’t crate them when I left. They did just fine (I think…). If you’re nervous about what they’re doing, you can set up Skype to automatically answer and go to video when you dial in. We did this for a while with a laptop in our kitchen until I realized they just lay by the door the whole time we’re gone.

Remember, every dog is different. My in-laws’ dog loves her crate, she wants to sleep in it every night and goes in it on her own when they’re not home. My dogs, on the other hand, are much more restless and anxious in the crate, so now we use it sparingly when we need to.

Have you used the crate to train your dog? Share your success or obstacles in the comments below. J

Where to start with dog training.

My little Mocha Bear that first week we got him.

I've talked a bit about specific training ideas, including teaching your dog to come to you, and teaching them to go outside in a way that is easy to handle.

When Nathan and I were planning on getting Mocha, we got a book by Victoria Stilwell. We'd watched her show, It's Me or the Dog, on Animal Planet, and we got her book as a kind of "in print" version of her advice. We read it cover to cover, and it helped so much. I love that she always uses positive reinforcement. I think that's the best way to train a dog that's forever loyal. This is the book we got:

                                                                   

The book did not, however, prepare us for Mocha's little personality quirks. For example, Mocha learned super fast that if he went potty, we praised him and gave him attention. This resulted in him trying to pee every 15 seconds or so, and if we didn't pay attention to him, he'd bark at us until we looked at him and then go pee.

One night, I got up to go to the bathroom (Mocha was sleeping in his pen in our bedroom at the time), and by the time I came back, Mocha had laid out a huge poop for me. He knew that if he pooped, I'd come back and give him lots of attention.

Needless to say, we needed professional help! (Mocha has always been smarter than me...) We took him to puppy kindergarten, the S.T.A.R. puppy program, in Columbia, Missouri. It was a great experience for him, even though he was the teeniest, tiniest dog there. (This picture on the left is Mocha at about eight months old next to a four month old lab,)

 The S.T.A.R. puppy class focuses on socializing your dog with other people and dogs. This is so so important. Mocha learned that it was OK to be petted by other people and to greet other dogs. He also learned sit, down, and how to walk on a leash. You can see everything on the test here.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you are lucky enough to get a puppy, either from a breeder or a rescue, please enroll them in a class. There are just some things that dogs learn better in groups, and it will help your dog a lot with behavior in the future.

Finding a dog training facility.

Honestly, the way we found ours was by doing a Google search for dog trainer. You can also search for All-Breed.The AKC has many clubs with good trainers, you can do a search for their training facilities here.

Do be sure you read the reviews. The first place we tried, the people were super nice but it wasn't very clean. Because we lived in a rural area at the time...let's just say there were bug problems. 

Also, sometimes dog people/trainers can be a little...socially awkward. Sometimes they're downright rude. I'll get into that another day, but it's not you, it's the people who treat dogs poorly that have turned otherwise caring, compassionate people into short-tempered people who can be more direct that we're used to.

Good luck! And let me know if you have any trouble finding a class, I'll try to help!

Teaching your dog to go outside nicely

I think there are some basic doggie manners that every dog can learn. These manners make the dog a joy to live with, and make the owner’s life easier. Today I’m going to be talking about training your dog to go outside nicely. For my dogs, training all the different parts of this took years. Literally, I’m not joking, it took us a couple years to get them (ahem, NINJA) to behave the way we want consistently.

So, what are these “let’s go outside” manners?

• Come to me and sit still while I put on the harness, collar, leash, coat, boots, and anything else they need decked out in to go outside.
• Stay right near the door and wait for me to get my stuff together to go outside.
• Wait for me to open the door. No rushing at it, jumping, climbing on it.
• Go through the door when I tell them to.
• Wait on the other side of the door for me to go through, shut the door, and lock it. We start the walk when I’m ready.

You can see my dogs going outside nicely with me in this video:

Here’s an example scenario:

I walk my former foster dog every day at lunch. He’s so happy to see me, I usually give him a big hug and hook his harness in while I’m holding him. He knows we’re going walkies and is ready to go.

Once I put him down, he waits by the door for me to open it. He knows that I won’t open that door if he’s standing on it or scratching at it. (This took at least a month for him to figure out.)

Now he gets a little bit excited once we get through the door. If there’s a person or a squirrel, he’s going to be racing off as fast as his little feet can take him. So I hold onto that leash real tight and make sure I have his attention before I try to shut the door behind me. He knows to wait on the front step, he just forgets in his excitement.

If I didn’t remind him of this behavior every time, then one day I’m going to go walk him, and he’s going to race out that door and rip the leash out of my hand. He’ll be long gone before I have time to say “WAIT!” So I practice with him every day, and one day it’ll just click and he’ll get it.

All the steps to get your dogs outside nicely:

All leashed up and waiting for me to tell them what to do.

1. Get leashed up - The first step is to get them to come to you when it’s time to go out. I talked about training your dog to come in a previous post, you can see it here. They don’t have to sit, but they need to understand that they need to stay near you, especially once they’re leashed up.

2. Open the door – Make sure they’re not jumping at the door or scratching at it. This takes a lot of practice. Be patient. If they jump at the door, shut it, get their attention with a “sit” or “watch me,” and try again.

3. Getting through the door – I’m a little lenient on this one. You can train your dog to wait for you to go through the door first. I wouldn’t recommend training that on an outside door, train it going into your kitchen or something, then reiterate the skill going outside. I have trained them to “wait” for my command to go through, and that’s good enough for me.

4. Waiting on the front step – I think this is the most important and the hardest skill to train. Have a good grip on their leash and plenty of treats. Once your dog is through the door, call him back to you, preferably have him sit, and treat him. Make sure he doesn’t just get up and rush off. He needs to stay right there while you lock the door.

5. Release – They don’t get to go until you tell them. They’re on the step waiting, you give them treats, tell them to wait again, lock the door up, treat again and say “ok.” Now you’re ready to be in control of the walk.

Do you want this hot mess rushing around your house?
NO! Make them wait by the door so you can clean them up.

On the same lines, you want them to get in the house nicely. No scratching at the door to get in, no racing around you and tripping you to beat you in the door, and no racing off once they get in. This is especially helpful if they’re muddy or snowy or just sopping wet. You can keep them near the door and towel them off before they go traipsing through the house.

I’m going to tell you again, it took us years to get both our dogs to do this consistently, and they still need reminded. Sometimes Mocha really has to go and he just pulls and pulls to get at the grass. (Or snow, this time of year.)

Hooray now we're walking and
I love you and you love me
and I love to walk OMG
this is awesome!

That’s a lot of skills to learn, where do I start?

Start small with these two key points:

1.  Don’t let the dog jump or scratch at the door. Be very consistent with this, it will pay off. If he’s not listening to you, you need a better treat to start out with. How does your dried little processed brown lump compare to the great outdoors and all those squirrels to chase? Get some cheese or a hot dog and get his attention.

2. Make him wait on the front step every single time. I’m not saying he has to be in a perfect sit looking at you with adoration in his eyes. Many of my foster dogs stood at attention looking out at the yard. But they stood on that step and knew they couldn’t go till I told them. Again, if you have something very tasty this will be easier.

Finally, be patient, especially if you have a puppy or a rescue. They only know what their instincts tell them and what you tell them. Give them time and be consistent by doing the exact same thing every single time. You’ll be surprised how fast they’ll learn.