Traveling with your pet can be a great bonding experience; however, you want to ensure that you can enjoy your vacation while also doing everything you can to make sure your dog enjoys the time off as well. Before travelling with dogs, it is important that you take several things into consideration, such as vaccines, medications, age, etc. For those that truly love their dogs like their own children, this is not a problem.
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A Few Important Tips That Can Help Guarantee an Enjoyable Vacation with Your Pet:
Before embarking on any vacation trip, visit your veterinarian. Your pet needs to ensure that he is current with all vaccinations. Make sure that you have a copy of up-to-date vaccines in case of an emergency. You may want to speak to the veterinarian about a light sedative in the event that your pet doesn’t do well riding in the car.
If your pet is currently taking any medications, make sure that you bring plenty along with you. You will want to pack a few extra pills just in case you decide to stay longer than you wanted or an unexpected circumstance arises keeping you from returning home on time.
Before you leave home, make sure to create an itinerary, or at the very least, print out maps to pet-friendly beaches, parks and restaurants that you would like to visit while on vacation. You can always do this at the hotel, but it’s easier if you handle it before you actually leave.
Make sure to pack your pet’s favorite food, fresh drinking water, treats, extra collar(s) and leash(es), and anything else that you can think of that might make the experience more enjoyable for your canine friend. It’s always better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.
Always carry a photo or two of your pet. Ensure your pet has current tags as well. You never know what can happen in a big city or out in the wild. Be prepared in the event that you and your pet get separated.
Make sure you do your research and understand the pet laws of the city that you are traveling to. Some communities require that certain breeds be muzzled in public while others require that pet owners have liability insurance. To obtain this information, it may be best to call the local animal control office.
Remember, it’s always better to be prepared for any situation than to not be prepared when a situation arises. You are familiar with the way your dog acts and what he wants and needs. Take all of this into consideration when traveling. By doing so, you are more likely to have a memorable vacation.
Traveling with your pets starts getting complicated when you cross country borders. Then it becomes more than just a matter of finding pet friendly hotels or booking a plane ticket for your pet. Because of the concerns of bringing diseases into the country from other places, many countries require an animal to be quarantined upon arrival, or at the very least, to have a health certification from a vet.
Tips for Traveling with Your Pets
Traveling into Canada is probably the easiest for Americans who want to travel with their pets. You can go back and forth across the U.S./Canadian border all day with your pets and no one is going to care.
Traveling into the U.K. is also fairly easy, as they have a program there called PETS (Pet Travel Scheme) that was set up to allow people to travel with their pets more easily. As long as certain conditions are met — such as coming from one of the approved countries, or the animal having been vaccinated for rabies, for example — you can bring your pet into the UK without having to quarantine them.
Certain other countries require your pet to have a health certificate, usually from an APHIS Accredited Veterinarian. This verifies to the country that your pet is free of any of the diseases they don’t want in their country, and is a much better alternative than quarantining your pet.
Quarantine may or may not be required, though. Some countries require it only when certain conditions can’t be met, such as providing immunization records for the pet. Other countries require it across the board.
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How do You Travel with Pets?
Knowing how various countries deal with pets coming into their country is important if you are planning on traveling internationally with your pet. You may need to plan for it in advance, for example, to ensure that you have all of the requirements (such as a health certificate, or certain immunizations) met before your trip.
You may also need to plan your trip according to which countries will allow you to travel with your pet without quarantining them. Be sure to do all your research ahead of time, so that you can better plan for your trip!
Tips for International Travel with Pet
There are many things that you have to take into consideration when engaging in international pet travel. Most airlines in the world allow for shipping pets internationally, as long as certain rules and regulations are strictly followed.
There are many things that you must take care of before international pet travel can successfully be accomplished. One important thing that is often overlooked is pet microchips. They should have a microchip that meets ISO standards and has a 15 digit number that should show up on all your vaccination certificates. This way your pet can be tracked at all times and you will never have to worry about it becoming lost.
Can You Take Your Pet to Europe with Airlines?
Pet travel to Europe is especially easy since most European countries allow an animal or two to travel with you right in the cabin. Millions of animals travel by air every year, so even though it may sound uncommon it really is not. Every effort is taken by the airlines to make sure your pet is comfortable and safe.
However, each airline does have its own specific requirements that must be followed so make sure you get in contact with them and ask them about all the particulars.
Of course there are times when you will not be allowed to take your pet on board with you, such as cases where it is too large to be stowed underneath the seat. In cases such as this you will have to travel by separate planes and your animal will be treated as cargo. Although this may sound rough, animals are actually stored separately from other baggage in pressurized, weather controlled areas where they will be safe.
As a matter of fact, these days there are actually companies, like pet airways, that specialize in just transporting pets, so you will not have a difficult time finding an airline that you trust to handle this for you.
How Much a Pet Should Be Old to Travel Safely
Finally, here are a few important questions that you will want to take into consideration when shipping pets internationally. For one thing, you have to make sure that your pet is old enough to travel. The USDA recommends that animals must be at least 8 weeks old and weaned before boarding a plane.
Also, in order to make things as easy as possible for your pet, you should do your best to book only nonstop flights to minimize the amount of time that you are in the air.
If you find that you have to move and travel with pet in tow, then there are plenty of things that you need to keep in mind. Moving pets across country can be particularly difficult so it is never something that should be undertaken without first taking the necessary precautions.
The following will help you out in this matter by explaining all the basic steps that should be followed when you travel with pet cats or dogs.
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Where should you start when planning to travel with pet dogs or cats?
First of all, you should determine just how you will be getting from point A to point B. Will you be traveling by car, plane, or some other mode of transportation? Your decision here will have a large effect on the plans that you need to make.
If driving, then you will have to prepare your animal for the long drive ahead. If all you have is a small pet travel bag then your pet is most likely not going to be too happy, so you may want to invest in something larger for the trip.
Another important step for pet relocation is to make your hotel arrangements if the drive is going to take you longer than a single day. Instead of waiting until the last minute and just hoping to find a hotel with some vacancies along the way, determine where a good rest stop will be and make your plans ahead of time.
This way you can also call around and find a good hotel that is very accommodating for animals. Having to drive around from one hotel to the next to find one that will allow your pet to stay with you is not a good experience, especially if you are tired.
If you do not wish to drive, then your other main option is to fly. The good news is that there are plenty of air travel options that allow a small pet to travel with you on the cabin. The main stipulation however is that they must be small enough to fit in a small carrier underneath of your seat; if they are not then they will have to travel in a separate compartment of the plane.
In fact, you might even want to fly separately since there are air travel companies like pet airways that specialize in shipping pets only. You can even track their location in real time over the Internet.
Regardless of the mode of travel, you will find that things will simply go a lot more smoothly when you have done the proper planning ahead of time. Traveling, either by air or the highway can be a stressful experience for an animal, so make sure that you do whatever you can to make them comfortable. Follow these steps and your travel with pet cats or dogs will go well.
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Your responsibilities while traveling:
♦Pick up after your dog. If your dog poops at a rest stop or outside of your hotel, pick it up. Dog friendly hotels and businesses will remain so as long as we don’t abuse the privilege.
♦Do your best to keep your dog from going potty in the hotel room. If you are going to travel with your dog, you have a responsibility to make sure he or she gets taken out often enough to avoid messes in the room.
♦Follow local leash laws. If your dog is supposed to be on leash, do it. It’s not worth a ticket. Personally, since I don’t want to have to worry about finding my dog in a strange city, I keep my dogs on a leash at all times when not in the car or the hotel room. It’s just not worth the risk of losing one of them.
♦Know your dog’s limits. Honestly, if you know your dog feels threatened by people wearing funny hats, and a woman with a potentially fear-inducing hat starts walking toward you, turn around and walk the other way.
It’s true — a lot of people don’t like dogs, or can’t handle messes, barking, hair everywhere, etc. That’s why finding dog friendly hotels and businesses can be such a hassle. It’s important for us “dog people” to be fully appreciative of dog friendly businesses, and be sure to act as respectful and responsible as we possibly can.
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