Best Puppy Travel Tips: Minimize Stress for Your Pet

Written by Senior Editor Peter Gehr

Best Puppy Travel Tips: Minimize Stress for Your Pet

Best Puppy Travel Tips: Minimize Stress for Your Pet

If you’re planning on traveling with your pet you’ll want the best puppy travel tips: minimize stress for your pet. It’s important from the get-go that you understand that his change will be upsetting your dogs regular schedule, and you’ll need to be aware of the affect this may have on him/her.

One of my favorite adages that I use on people is to remember that dogs are dogs and not people. With this in mind, although you may be excited and looking forward to traveling, your puppy will have no idea what’s going on. Anxiety and uncertainty may result in your pet experiencing insecurity due to different smells, people, noises, surroundings and many more factors that need to be considered.

Best Puppy Travel Tips: Minimize Stress for Your Pet

If you choose to fly with your dog, a health certificate will need to be written by the veterinarian within thirty days of travel. It is important to plan this ahead and make an appointment, because many veterinary centers are extra busy during the holidays. The health certificate’s purpose is to state your animal is free of any contagious diseases.

If driving, a health certificate is unnecessary.

Some airlines have regulations regarding rabies vaccine status, so check with your airline to make sure you have all the paperwork in order ahead of time.

If you have a smaller pet, some airlines will allow them to board with you. Check with the airline ahead of time to find out what their policy is. Your pet may be placed in cargo if they are larger. I recommend that you fly with your pet in the cabin as often as possible. It is much less stressful for them, has better temperature regulation, and allows you to keep close watch on them while you are flying.

If your pet is traveling in cargo, make sure your pet has a comfortable, ventilated carrier that is airline approved. Make sure your pet has been out for exercise and has used the bathroom prior to placing him in the carrier. Make sure that he has access to water while in the carrier, but food is unnecessary in most circumstances.

Another important thing to realize is that most pets traveling under the plane may sit outside the plane for up to an hour with the luggage before being placed on the plane. Thus, if the temperatures are not comfortable outside during this time, flying with your pet may not be a good option. Many airlines have regulations regarding what ground temperatures must be for pets to fly. This is also breed specific, for example, a husky would be fine outside in the cold for an hour, where as it would not be a good idea to keep a bulldog outside in a crate in July.

When traveling with your pet by plane or car, many people choose to use a crate or carrier. In my opinion, this is the safest way to travel with your pet for long rides. Many dogs will become stressed in the car and want to sit on your lap for comfort or can even get under your feet. As you can imagine, this makes for very distracted and dangerous driving. It is important that the first time you place your pet in his travel carrier is not the first car or plane trip.

Your pet needs plenty of time to get used to his crate before the travel date. Introduce your pet slowly to his crate with positive reinforcement (using food or praise) several weeks to months before traveling. Let him get used to it slowly in a positive fashion. Also, don’t forget to make sure your crate is airline approved. Many airlines have specific height, length and width requirements. Click here to visit the original source of this post

For the best puppy travel tips: minimize stress for your pet, and this will also take some of the stress out for you in knowing that you’ve provided the best possible means to transport your pet. A key point is also to remember that if you are flying to check with your airline as to cost, as this varies between the carriers. Either check online, or ask when you call to make your booking. I cannot stress enough about preparing well in advance of your trip. This will solve all issues that may take time to overcome prior to your travel date. Safe travels.

Please leave a comment as I look forward to your responses.