Hi All,

My girlfriend and I are going on a 14 hour road trip back home next week with our 5 month old husky puppy, Sherlock. Driving to our destination, we are splitting the drive up by driving 7 hours - stopping at a hotel - and then driving the other 7 hours the next day.. on the way home we are probably driving the entire 14 hours

Sherlock does fine in a crate (4 hours at a time at most) and is actually fairly lazy for a husky his age. We have taken him on a 2 1/2 hour road trip and he was fine. However, I know that 7 hours will be pushing him out of his comfort level even with frequent stops and 14 hours? I'm having nightmares thinking about it.

My question really goes out to anyone who has taken their puppy with them on a car ride this long before? did you do anything special to keep them occupied? any "over the counter" remedies you gave to them?

My Vet prescribed him Alprazolam (Xanax), but I'm honestly pretty hesitant to give it to him. Benadryl is a 50/50 with him.. sometimes it calms him down sometimes he's a nut with it (apparently can happen with juvenile dogs).

Any advice would be much appreciated!!! also, sorry if this post isn't under the correct topic

Thanks!

Well let's see - I now live in the Big Bend area of west Texas; I used to live in Houston - that's about an 9 hour / 700 mile drive each way.  Before I moved over here, over the course of a year or so I'd come over, spend a weekend (3-5 days) and then drive back to work.

Whether they needed it or not when I'm traveling, I'd stop every couple of hours - gas and a 'pit stop'.

The lab I had at the time just laid down and went to sleep - woke up when I stopped.  The sibe I had at the time was just looking over my shoulder to see where we were going.  My guardian angel always had a paw on my shoulder for balance but it was also enough to keep me awake.

In other words, I didn't do anything special to keep them occupied - they did that themselves.  Gas and coffee stops turned into automatic pit stops for the dogs as well.

Drugs - I wouldn't even think of it, but you also know your dogs better.  Some, and for me it's been most dogs, travel well as long as you have water for them - maybe in the vehicle but always when you stop; be aware of their state, at one time many years ago I had a little spaniel who sometimes traveled well, sometimes got car sick - same road, same distance, who knows?  But I had to be aware of her and if she needed out because when she did, she needed out NOW.

If you don't mind a word of caution from an ex-truck driver (among other things) who probably has well over 2.5 million miles on the road - a 14 hour trip, even with two drivers, is an accident looking for a place to happen.  Is it doable, yep; but anything over about 10 hours, whether in the driver seat or the 'berth' and you start seeing things that aren't there, road noise can be hypnotic.  You'd be much better off to make that return another two day trip in my opinion.
(( yeh, you read that right btw; when I retired I bought a Jeep that now has 250,000 miles on it and I don't go much of anywhere, I like to drive ))

Gabby spends a lot of time in the car. I never really did anything special. Tried to give her chew toys that she didn't use. They only thing I ever did was stop more than I would if I were traveling without her. I made quite a few 12+ hour drives. If it were just me, I stopped once but if she was with me I would stop 2 or 3 times. That was it. She would even limit the amount of water she would drink. I think she just knew that if she were to drink a lot she would have to go potty and knew that was not an option in the car.

Al is spot on.
I'd also stay away from drugs. Adding medication to a trip could cause complications, and that's the last thing you want.

Make sure you are stopping every 3-4 hours. Make sure it's somewhere the pup can get out and play and get some energy used up (park, rest stop, etc). Make sure you take him for a good long walk before getting in the car to start the journey, and make sure you do at the end of the trip each day also. Water to drink should be right when you get out of the vehicle at each stop to make sure he has time to leave it behind instead of hold it in the car. Bring a large selection of chew toys, and rotate them at each stop. That will keep things interesting and new each stop.

Thanks everyone for the advice. We leave tomorrow morning! wish me luck (:

Best of luck on the trip and make sure to send pictures of all the laces you stop!!

aljones wrote:

If you don't mind a word of caution from an ex-truck driver (among other things) who probably has well over 2.5 million miles on the road - a 14 hour trip, even with two drivers, is an accident looking for a place to happen.  Is it doable, yep; but anything over about 10 hours, whether in the driver seat or the 'berth' and you start seeing things that aren't there, road noise can be hypnotic.  You'd be much better off to make that return another two day trip in my opinion.
(( yeh, you read that right btw; when I retired I bought a Jeep that now has 250,000 miles on it and I don't go much of anywhere, I like to drive ))

Al - you missed the part where they are driving 7 hours, staying overnight in motel, driving another 7 hours. with lots of pit stops.

No, Ami, I saw that - you missed the statement that they planned on driving all the way back in one trip "...on the way home we are probably driving the entire 14 hours"