What to Do with Your Dog When You Travel

So you’re traveling on business or going away for vacation. You can leave Dogalini home with a sitter, board her at someone else’s home, or board her at her regular day care or a dedicated boarding kennel. Oh, and there’s a local vet who offers boarding, too. Which do you choose?

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Option #1: The Vet’s Office (Not the Best Choice)

Let’s knock out one easy target first: boarding at the vet’s office. This might be a reasonable option for an animal who has a chronic illness that needs careful monitoring. Or conceivably you live in a region where real estate is cheap, and your vet’s offices include a separate day care/kennel area where animals can be boarded in comfort. But your healthy dog does not need to spend a weekend or a week in a hospital-size cage hearing the cries of animals in distress and potentially exposed to infectious diseases. Neither does your healthy cat.

Having someone stay at your home isn’t cheap, but may be well priced if you have multiple animals to care for.

Option #2: Pet Sitter at Your Home

My own preference is to have someone stay with my animals in my house. There are obvious concerns: cost, security, and privacy. Because we have cats as well as a dog, pet care is going to be expensive regardless; the total cost of having someone stay with our animals isn’t much higher than kenneling + a cat sitter would be. But it has to be admitted that an in-home sitter is not the bargain route to animal care.

As for privacy and security concerns, choose someone whose reliability and honesty are already demonstrated; our dog sitter is also our longtime dog walker, whose family is close to that of a dear friend of ours. If you need to hire a sitter who’s not personally known to you, get references! And many good sitters belong to the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters, which also offers a certification program.  

Despite the cost, an in-home sitter may be best for your dog, especially if the sitter is someone who knows her well. Any stress caused by your absence may be lessened by staying in a familiar place with a familiar person and keeping something like a familiar routine. Also, if your dog is fearful of new experiences or has other behavior problems, the more stable you can keep her environment the better.  Or kenneling may simply not be an option.  My dog, Juniper, is socially maladroit with other dogs, to say the least; he’d be miserable in a kennel, and the other dogs wouldn’t enjoy his company, either.

Option #3: Boarding at the Pet Sitter’s Home

I am also a fan of boarding at the pet sitter’s home. Again, a domestic environment with a routine like the one at your own home is most comfortable for many dogs. Once your sitter and your dog have established a relationship, you may find your dog perfectly happy to go on his own little vacation while you have yours. Our late dog Muggsy adored his sitter; if we walked him on her block, he would pull so hard toward her house that leash manners went out the window.

Again, take behavior issues into account: Will other dogs be present? Cats? Birds? Remember that even if your Zippy is friendly, any resident dogs or other boarders have to get along well with other dogs too. Or suppose your dog is afraid of, say, men with beards, will any bearded male visitors to the sitter’s home behave appropriately, so as not to increase Zippy’s anxiety or, worse yet, elicit aggression?

Option #4: Kennels and Doggy Spas

With respect to kennels and doggy spas, I have to admit to some prejudice. Years ago, before my dog Muggsy’s behavior problems had been more or less resolved, I was exploring the possibility of boarding him. I’ll never forget the macho, smug tone of the kennel representative who told me, “Oh, we know how to deal with aggressive dogs.” Needless to say, that gentleman was not getting near any dog of mine. (This, by the way, is a powerful example of how one strong aversive can taint a whole experience even long term. Remember it when you’re interacting with your dog.)

That having been said, the degree of care described on many kennels’ websites is truly impressive, with the dogs getting regular exercise walks, comfortable beds, and food-dispensing puzzle toys. In an earlier article, I explained how to choose a dog daycare; you can apply the same rules to any overnight boarding facility. A pretty website is nice, but visit to be sure the premises are clean and comfortable. You don’t want to smell either stale urine or enough bleach to make your throat sting.

How many daily toilet breaks are given? One place with an otherwise attractive website offers three daily outings as its standard – in my opinion, at least one too few for comfort.

If the facility allows dogs to mingle, be sure they’re screened for aggressive behavior toward other dogs. Outdoor play areas must be well fenced. Check the demeanor of the caretaking staff – are they gentle and soft-spoken, or could you mistake the place for the Parris Island boot camp with your eyes shut? Finally, while you can’t ask that every person on staff be a behavior professional, anyone who’s taking money to care for dogs should be up to speed on canine body language and should know better than to use pain, fear, or startle in handling dogs.

Option #5: Bring Your Dog on Your Trip

Of course, there’s always the dog care option of “bring with.” A confident, mannerly, crate-trained dog can make your outdoorsy vacation that much more fun. You and your Dogalini may even enjoy a city trip, if the place is sufficiently animal-friendly. For more, see my articles on car safety and plane travel with dogs. (For the record, I’m not a fan of the latter.)

Whether your dog comes with you or not, make sure he’s wearing his ID tags and his microchip is up to date. Give the sitter or boarding facility emergency contact information and clear instructions for his care, including guidance about how to make medical decisions for him if you can’t be reached. To cover costs, we give our sitter our credit card information, and we let our card issuer and our vet know in advance that any such charges are authorized. We have a long and trusting relationship with our sitter, of course. Otherwise, we might give the information to a nearby relative or close friend. Bon voyage!

You can follow me on Twitter, where I’m Dogalini. I’m The Dog Trainer on Facebook, and you can also write to me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com. I welcome your comments and suggestions, and though I can’t reply individually, I may use them as the basis for future articles. Thanks for reading.

Image of dog on vacation from Shutterstock