Okay, I'm going to be travelling to Louisiana for a wedding in October, and I want to bring Koda with me. We would be traveling about 8 hours in one day. My question is, should I bring her along? I HATE leaving her for any period of time, I hate traveling alone, and I will mostly be seeing family the rest of the week, there is nowhere she won't be able to be with me. She won't cost me any more money besides boarding the night of the wedding. She will be almost 8 months by then.

Any opinions? Should I take her along or just have someone watch her?

I think that is your call based on your preference. I love being able to bring the dogs with us on vacation, but there are some times where it is really nice to not have to worry about if the dog is welcome, will behave, can be left alone, if it's too hot for them etc...

Take her. She will be happier going with you than being left behind and if you can take her nearly everywhere with you without hassle then there's not really any reason not to. Just stop every couple hours or so and let her stretch her legs, drink, and do her business.

Ditto what Jenn said. Your peace of mind counts for some, having her as a traveling companion is (hopefully) enjoyable for both of you.

Of course, playing devils advocate here, if you haven't traveled any distance at all (say and hour or two) with her before and finding out that she gets car sick on an 8 hour drive is not an enjoyable experience for either of you ...

She does pretty well in the car, but the longest I have had her in the car was probably 45 minutes. I drove 3 hours to get her, but she was so young I don't think that counts.

Maybe we will take a day trip somewhere to try it out.

If she traveled 45 minutes without a problem, you're quite probably good to go. I'm trying to remember which it was, but I've only had one dog who got car sick and even she was good if I stopped a bit more often than I normally would have.

A day trip sounds like fun anyway - it's an excuse to go somewhere with her, no??

Of coarse! We might just take off on a Saturday and just see what happens. I need to be more spontaneous anyway. How often do you think I should stop? My family is notorious for only stopping when we are on fumes.

With a five month old puppy in tow, I'd plan on no more than 2 hours between stops.  Of course, it really depends on her.  Both my dogs are good travelers so we stop when we need to to stretch our legs and water the trees - which generally is every 4 hours or so.  After an hour you might want to start watching her (and the road, too, of course) to see if she's giving you any signs that it's time to stop.

Avalanche will travel until I stop and doesn't care; Sasha, who normally is laying in back patiently waiting, will start pacing around the back of the Jeep when she wants out. This is definitely a case of every dog is different and you're going to have to learn what her cues are.

A couple of notes, waiting too long may result in a wet spot and that's a loss of training, you want to stop often enough that she's comfortable that she can get out when she needs to. In general, making a dog hold it longer than is comfortable can result in UTI's (okay, not from a day trip, but I've known people who make their dogs tell them they want out - and then wonder why they have so many UTI's).

BTW, I'm also one of those people who will go till I'm at 1/4 tank or less and then start looking for a place to stop.

Ok, I'm one of those people who drives on fumes, lol, stop doing that! A couple years ago now, the power went out to this entire city, eeriest thing I've experienced so far in my life! Anyways, it happened just as I got off from work and let me tell you, I was SO thankful that I had gotten gas in the morning cuz if power is out (ok, I know, not exactly a common occurrence, however, obviously it happens! ) gas pumps don't work and when every single person is out on the freeways going home (either cuz they're going home anyways or they're being sent home cuz there's no power, lol) traffic is like a scene from the movies where everybody is trying to flee the city at the same time, complete chaos! And...you wanna have gas in your gas tank!!!

Ok, now on to your question, haha, everybody already gave you good advice, stopping every couple hours to stretch, take a pee, and whatever else , like GETTING SOME GAS, and you and Koda will be fine. Like Al said though, be sure Koda likes car rides cuz there are dogs who do get car sick, my friend has one.  I think it'll be a great experience for both of you!