My family is all still back on the west coast and my wife and I go out to visit them as we can. Now that we have Nanook we've asked the question of "what to do with him?". Personally I don't like the idea of having him in a crate in a plane flying across the country (which is what we'd be doing) so we'd be having people watch him while we were gone. So that got me thinking, what do the rest of you do when you need to travel with your husky(s)? Do you fly with them at all/recommend it? Just curious to see what other people think/do.

We only take our huskies with us when we can drive. There was too many times a dogs died when they were flying for different reasons.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/flying-deadly-skies-florida-man-140-pound-mastiff-bam-bam-died-cross-country-united-flight-article-1.1169505

http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2012/09/second-dog-dies-on-united-airlines-flight/

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/united-airlines-killed-golden-retriever-model/story?id=17287486

http://www.peoplepets.com/people/pets/article/0,,20631952,00.html

Here are a few stories on dogs dyeing on a plane.

The dogs only come with us when we drive. If we have to fly, either someone stays at the house to take care of them, they'll be kenneled or they'll go to a friend's house to be taken care of in our absence. I have never considered flying my dog anywhere, I personally just don't trust the conditions they'd be in (besides which, they'd probably drive everyone nuts with the howling...not only separated from their humans, but each other).

We recently had another thread asking about flying versus leaving a dog behind for vacation. For your dogs sake, please do not fly with your dog in cargo unless absolutely necessary. Board them, hire a pet sitter, have them stay with a friend or family but don't fly them via cargo.

We take our dogs everywhere when we drive, when we fly we leave them with family members. I flew my sibe from WA to FL and back for vacation one time and he was okay, but knowing what I know now I would never do it again unless I absolutely had to, such as for moving.

We weren't considering flying with him I was just curious if anyone else had/does fly with their pets. Personally I agree and will never fly with my dog unless I can have him in the seat next to me (which isn't going to happen cause I'm sure the rest of the passengers would just Love him and his antics!) When we do move back west we'll be driving with him and when we go back in July he'll be staying with some friends. Just wanted to get others perspectives . Sorry about the repeat thread.

I flew with Diamond, our rescued deaf girl, from WA to PA for Nationals a few years ago. They treated her like royalty and she met me at the pickup location all smiles and tail wags. She was a happy camper. Super happy when we let her out to potty though, it was a long ride.

Other than that one time I've driven everywhere else with my dogs.

I'm going to revive this thread for a quick question about traveling. My husband had a death in the family and we may possibly have to travel from Missouri to Arizona in a very short amount of time. We don't have any friends or family that have the means to watch Kenzi and the only board anywhere near us won't work. (They have been known to mix dogs up and try and give them to other people and not get them back in the right run. Scary) Our time frame is leave on a thrusday and come back the sunday. We are thinking about driving it but it would be a straight through drive (20 hours non stop) and I was wondering how to keep Kenzi settled for that length of a drive if at all possible. She rides well and when I got her she had a 3 hour drive home without an issue but there's a huge difference between 3 hrs and 20 hrs. We would fly if they would allow her in the cabin with us but I will stay home and miss meeting his family before I will crate her to fly her. Has anyone tried to cover that kind of driving distance that fast with their dog and how did the dog do? Any tips to make it easier for them? Or should I forgo the journey and just stay home with her and let my husband go alone? There will be a lot of family there I will never get another chance to meet and I want to support my husband is why this is so important.

Do you have any kind of boarding place in your town? Honestly, she would probably want to stay home if you could some how hire a pet sitter who is knowledgeable in the breed. That most likely would be a lot of stress for her from the driving to then being in a new place to turning right around to go home again. If you have to bring her, I would say then driving would be the best and make sure to have plenty of breaks where she can stretch her legs and get her lots of exercise before you start the drive there and back. Good for you for not wanting to fly her for that short period of time and putting her through that stress.

I think she would be fine honestly, just bring stuff for her to chew on and play with and get her good and worn out the day before. She might get some stomach upset, just from the stress of travel, so take some pepto with you, we use the little chewable tablets, he LOVES the cherry flavor. Think about how often you plan on stopping and adjust her water intake accordingly. Keep her out of the sun and cool if you crate her in the car, which I recommend. Also, think about where you're going to stay. There are pet friendly hotels and some even have local places for dog daycare (if she's okay with other dogs). We recently stayed at a Hampton Inn in Rochester, NY that allowed Dizzy and had teamed up with a local daycare that we could have dropped him off at if we needed to. I thought it was a pretty great idea and probably would have actually done that had I realized in advance they offered that service. Plus, it would have tired him out for the car ride home.

If you are driving you will need to make lots of stops and that will add alot of time to your trip.
 

We have taken ours on an 8 hour trip and it took us closer to 10 hours with the stops and such we stop and walked them for about 20 minutes in a park just to give them a break. now when we come home we did stop as much because it was mostly at night.

siku&nikolai wrote:

Do you have any kind of boarding place in your town? Honestly, she would probably want to stay home if you could some how hire a pet sitter who is knowledgeable in the breed. That most likely would be a lot of stress for her from the driving to then being in a new place to turning right around to go home again. If you have to bring her, I would say then driving would be the best and make sure to have plenty of breaks where she can stretch her legs and get her lots of exercise before you start the drive there and back. Good for you for not wanting to fly her for that short period of time and putting her through that stress.

The boarding place around isn't trustworthy. There have been multiple horror stories that have come from it about pets and their things getting mixed up. It's not well run and the people don't pay attention to the animals. Since we are new to the area and it is a very rural area there aren't really people to pay to house sit, kinda like there isn't such thing as a dog park nor doggy daycare. We live too far from family to have them dog sit at the house. It would be a whirlwind trip. Leave after work thursday evening and drive to AZ by friday night, attend funeral saturday, then leave saturday night to get home sunday so we can be at work monday morning. Not the ideal way to do it but funds are low and since we are new in our jobs we don't have built up time to take off and do this properly.

wpskier222 wrote:

I think she would be fine honestly, just bring stuff for her to chew on and play with and get her good and worn out the day before. She might get some stomach upset, just from the stress of travel, so take some pepto with you, we use the little chewable tablets, he LOVES the cherry flavor. Think about how often you plan on stopping and adjust her water intake accordingly. Keep her out of the sun and cool if you crate her in the car, which I recommend. Also, think about where you're going to stay. There are pet friendly hotels and some even have local places for dog daycare (if she's okay with other dogs). We recently stayed at a Hampton Inn in Rochester, NY that allowed Dizzy and had teamed up with a local daycare that we could have dropped him off at if we needed to. I thought it was a pretty great idea and probably would have actually done that had I realized in advance they offered that service. Plus, it would have tired him out for the car ride home.

The pepto idea is great. Probably for both her and I. We will be driving my Mustang out so no room for a crate. She usually just lays in the back seat when we take her anywhere. If we could take my old Fox Mustang I could lay the seat down in hatch for more room, but taking a non-A/C car to AZ in August is just unwise. lol. If you know any pet friendly hotels around the Phoenix area that won't break the bank that would be great. If we don't run across anything we will be staying with mother-in-law. Kenzi isn't good with dogs though and she has three little yappers so I would like to avoid that.

Shaqua has gone on a lot of long trips with me and she does just fine. I see you adopted her a few months ago- how old is she? I have taken Shaqua on many long drives (12+ hours) and she does just fine. I walk her every time I stop for gas and food, and I would stop periodically at rest stops. It honestly never took me all that much longer...
I always have a small bowl of water (heavy so it doesn't tip) that I would keep near her so she can drink when she wants. (In my Jeep I would just stuff my luggage on the floor board until it was level with the seat and lay a blanket across. It gives her more room to lay out). For the most part she just sleeps or sits up watching out the window but I do give her a busy bone to chew on if she wants. Usually she never bothers it.
This is just what I do, but I have an exceptional dog who LOVES car rides. Honestly, I walk towards the front door and she starts bouncing and running in circles, and once I open it she runs circles around the Jeep until I open the door. Once we get back home I actually have to coax her out of the Jeep. She just sits there looking at me like "Hey, we're not done here!"

ljelgin wrote:

If you are driving you will need to make lots of stops and that will add alot of time to your trip.
 

We have taken ours on an 8 hour trip and it took us closer to 10 hours with the stops and such we stop and walked them for about 20 minutes in a park just to give them a break.  now when we come home we did stop as much because it was mostly at night.

We will have a lot of nighttime drive time. I'm hoping to cover a lot of ground that first night. While my husband is used to straight through long tips like this, I and my, pushing 200k mile, car are not so I fully expect to add a few extra hours onto that 20 hr estimate. The more I look at costs and wear and tear the more I think I should just stay home.

CavingSiberian wrote:

Shaqua has gone on a lot of long trips with me and she does just fine. I see you adopted her a few months ago- how old is she? I have taken Shaqua on many long drives (12+ hours) and she does just fine. I walk her every time I stop for gas and food, and I would stop periodically at rest stops. It honestly never took me all that much longer...
I always have a small bowl of water (heavy so it doesn't tip) that I would keep near her so she can drink when she wants. (In my Jeep I would just stuff my luggage on the floor board until it was level with the seat and lay a blanket across. It gives her more room to lay out). For the most part she just sleeps or sits up watching out the window but I do give her a busy bone to chew on if she wants. Usually she never bothers it.
This is just what I do, but I have an exceptional dog who LOVES car rides. Honestly, I walk towards the front door and she starts bouncing and running in circles, and once I open it she runs circles around the Jeep until I open the door. Once we get back home I actually have to coax her out of the Jeep. She just sits there looking at me like "Hey, we're not done here!"

Kenzi is estimated between 3 and 4. They couldn't really decide at the shelter. She loves to go too and hates to be left behind. She has some separation anxiety that we've been working on and is starting to get over now.

I think she would do fine. Be prepared to take extra time, make sure to make her as comfortable as she can be, and make sure she has water available. How many of you are traveling and what kind of vehicle? If she can get the whole backseat to herself and you can do what I do (put luggage or other items on floor boards to create a larger bench) I think it will help with her comfort a lot.

While I sometimes go out of town for conferences, we rarely travel with the entire family. However, we are getting ready to relocate to another state and have gone out of town twice to find housing for the new place. The first time we had a friend take Luci. While we were gone, we received several texts about Luci ate this or Luci chewed up that, and apparently Luci bit her while they were playing. Since then, this "friend" wants nothing to do with her, though on the bright side, Luci got to play with the other dog, and we discovered that she seems okay with cats (we can't have a cat because I am highly allergic, but it's still good to know). The second time we went out of town, hubby's cousin stayed at our house. I was worried, since this girl is about 5'1" and maybe 100 lbs, and she brought her asthmatic boyfriend with her. Luckily the only texts we got were things like "she is great!", "he only has to use his inhaler once", "she hasn't jumped on me at all" (I guess Luci saw no need, since this girl is to tiny. lol). As a bonus, Luci is really good at playing fetch now. I guess the moral of my story is that make sure the person has experience with huskies and knows how to keep a house picked up.
We are leaving Monday for Florida, and Luci will ride in her crate in the car. No way would I do it without the crate (for the same reasons I would never have my little humans out of their car seats) With little humans and unpredictable weather, the 8 hour trip will probably be about 10 hours. I'm a bit worried about rest stops... what if her leash breaks? what if another dog comes too close and picks a fight? things like that, but I'm not too worried about how she will do actually riding in the car, because she's used to her crate. It's like a little traveling house/place to feel secure for her (another reason I am a huge advocate for crate training). I've traveled long distances with dogs before to go to shows and never had any issues, but I've never traveled with one that fits the husky teenager stereotype to a T. Should be good times. lol

I'm totally paranoid about him getting away and running out on the highway, so I had his harness and a martingale collar both with leashes. Yeah... I'm THAT dog owner. In terms of other dogs at the rests stops, I hardly saw any and even those I saw were firmly leashed and just out to do their business. At the rest stops everyone else is in the same boat you are, so nobody really wants to socialize or let their dogs approach other dogs.

CavingSiberian wrote:

I think she would do fine. Be prepared to take extra time, make sure to make her as comfortable as she can be, and make sure she has water available. How many of you are traveling and what kind of vehicle? If she can get the whole backseat to herself and you can do what I do (put luggage or other items on floor boards to create a larger bench) I think it will help with her comfort a lot.

Just me and my husband. She would have the whole backseat of my Mustang. Not that that's a lot. We wanted to rent a more fuel efficient car but there's car fuel efficient enough to offset the costs of renting when they are going to charge you 30 cents a mile that we go past Oklahoma.

Eresh wrote:

...I'm a bit worried about rest stops... what if her leash breaks?

This is my number one fear anytime we go anywhere almost. If it breaks when she isn't going after something she will come back when I open the car door, but if she sees a cat and is after it it would be awful.

TwisterII wrote:

Eresh wrote:

...I'm a bit worried about rest stops... what if her leash breaks?

This is my number one fear anytime we go anywhere almost. If it breaks when she isn't going after something she will come back when I open the car door, but if she sees a cat and is after it it would be awful.

The best trick to get Shaqua to come back when she gets loose is opening the car door. Works like a charm.

Make sure you use a sturdy leash. I don't like the retractable ones because they seem to be more prone to breakage. I like the thick (at least 1.5" wide) nylon leashes with a metal snap and double stitching. They come in so many lengths.

20 hours is not that bad of a drive and my dogs easily travel long distances in the car just fine. Just bring a chew toy or something to keep her occupied and she'll probably sleep most of the time in the car anyway. You shouldn't need to make that many stops since she's an adult, she should be able to hold it just fine. My dogs easily go 6 hours between potty breaks on car trips and when we do let them out to potty it's just a quick 10 minutes to potty and drink and then we're back on the road (we don't do walks when we're making quick potty stops).

CavingSiberian wrote:

Make sure you use a sturdy leash. I don't like the retractable ones because they seem to be more prone to breakage. I like the thick (at least 1.5" wide) nylon leashes with a metal snap and double stitching. They come in so many lengths.

I have a weiss walkie which has served pretty tough and I don't have to worry about her slipping her collar with it if she tries to back out which is nice. I think I have more paranoia than is necessary is all.

Thank you all for the great tips and most of all some peace of mind when it comes to potentially taking her on this long trip. I started out worrying that it would be a little much for her. Now I can focus more on it being too much for my car. lol.

I was just thinking I'd be more worried about a ford with 200k miles. lol

wpskier222 wrote:

I was just thinking I'd be more worried about a ford with 200k miles. lol

You must be a Chevy person. Our other option is a Camaro with 50k miles on a rebuilt motor. The fact that we aren't even considering that car should say something. lol. After that it's an '89 mustang with 150k and no A/C or a '77 Mach 1 Mustang with again no A/C. My '98 is a champ and she would probably make the trip no problem. It's the tires that have 50k miles on them that really worries me the most. I don't want a flat in New Mexico.

Had a jeep first, has 250k and my dad has it now, and have a subaru now with 120k. I would take a ford over a chevy any day, but the heat worries me. I know my jeep wouldn't make it with 120 degree weather! My dad had a '98 cobra for a while, I LOVED that car!!!

My Fords have been way better in heat than any other car that I've run across. On 100 degree day my Fox wont go over 150 and we have a low thermostat in her. My 98 is set at 130 and it doesn't budge on hot days. My husbands camaro sits at 200 just driving to the supermarket.