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Dear All,
Been a while since I’ve posted any content in team-bhp. Only thought it would be apt to ring in the Sunday with some style. Find in picture our sweet boy with a swag Dilli..always a poser.

Our Beagle puppy will soon be 9 weeks old. She is already trained to sleep in her own crate and willingly crashes inside with her favourite toy when sufficiently tired.

Couple of questions:

1. Getting her used to cars:
We are planning ~5 hour road trips soon, and I will slowly get her used to going out in cars. Any tips on how to achieve this?

2. Pet carrier:
Looking for a portable pet carrier to strap into the back seat for the highway portion + sleeping in hotel rooms or homestays. Amazon has some good ones on sale today albeit all non-returnable. Are these good and/or are there alternatives? Should I buy a small one now and then upgrade later or directly buy the adult one? What sizes do I buy in both cases?

https://www.amazon.in/AmazonBasics-P...mcd_asin_2_img
https://www.amazon.in/AmazonBasics-1...=AT95IG9ONZD7S

Sorry, lot of questions!

Good morning. I have a lockdown puppy who is now 6 months old. I will be travelling with her from my hometown in Uttarakhand to Delhi - in a few weeks.

She gets car sick pretty quickly even on slow, straight road drives. I will welcome advice on how to help her get used to road travel and get her all set for about a 5 hr drive to Delhi.



Picture below of Kaafal :)

Too young .. the ears aren't fully developed so the car's motion causes sickness. Even my pup would puke when 2 months old and after a few months of traveling would happily jump into the car for upto 2-3 hour rides.

Ask your vet for any puppy sickness + mild sleeping pill medications, feed her and let her poop well in advance (2-3 hours) of the ride. Have plenty of water for her. Stop frequently enen if the 5 hour trip takes 8 hours.

We are in the market for a car to travel within our pet in tow.

We are a family of 4 including (wife,kiddo,9yr old golden retriever,me).

The current sedan doesn't work well for all 4 of us, and as a result my doggo gets left at home.

I am exploring moving to a larger MUV/SUV styled car where we can have the boot largely freed up for my dog - with AC, with access to us, line of sight, plentiful space to lie down and stretch.

Any thoughts on how you have travelled in the past with your family and pets in tow?
Any car recommendations?

Thank you for your response. I learnt something today. I was not aware that their inner ears are still developing and that obviously impacts their balance.

Our local vet here is very good but not able to recommend anything beyond Advil. What have you used in the past?

A scorpio or a safari have excellent rear AC. If you want rather more comfort get a Hexa, and you can lay the 3rd row flat.

My dog loves the Scorpio, as do my wife and kids - though the dog loves sharing the back seat with my family, so I have to spread a thick towel on the seat.

Sorry for the back to back post, didn't see this one. Mods - please merge.

I didn't give the dog any pills. Just ensured she was kept hydrated, had pooped a bit before she travelled / hadn't eaten a few hours before, and drove maybe half an hour / forty minutes a time and gave her a quick run outside so she could pee. So the 5 hour drive from Uttarkhand to Delhi may actually take 8 hours. Try to drive with the windows down a bit in case the stuffiness in the car may also cause puking.

A big thanks to everyone who responded to my query on the thread and reached out to offer suggestions over PM as well.
Yesterday evening, we shortlisted two 40 day old female Beagle pups (sisters) of which we are still trying to decide which one to pick if not both! It seems almost criminal to my human brain to separate these sisters, and we are trying to see if someone in our close family would want to pick up one of them. Both are from registered parents and we'll be getting the papers and micro-chip. The first vaccination of both is being done today and then they will be under observation for 3 days, so hopefully Sunday evening is when we get either or both.
We also saw a Retriever pup that we loved a lot but remained wary due to the eventual size of this breed vis-a-vis our apartment.

Oh, please do get both. They look attached, and though they may get over the separation, why put them through that if you can take both.

Lucky you! Congratulation on the new pup(s) clap:

We've been looking for a Beagle/ Cocker Spaniel/ Golden pup in Bangalore from the past 3months but haven't even found a single one!:Frustrati

Better to wait till they are atleast 8 weeks old before they are separated from the mother.

And congrats on getting a Beagle. Your life is about to change. lol:

A lot (maybe 60-70%) of people I spoke with suggested to get both pups at once, but none of them had actually raised and kept two pups from the same litter, although most were speaking from the standpoint of having kept more than one pet concurrently (which apparently is an excellent idea).
So, the armchair warriors that we all are, I decided to do a bit of research and found out about the concept of "Littermate Syndrome", and why it was generally a bad idea to take two pups from the same litter, and especially so if both are females. I understood that it is feasible to circumvent or mitigate to an extent the impact of Littermate Syndrome, but it would take a lot more effort on our part to do that. Given that we are keeping pets for the very first time as a family I don't think we are prepared for this (yet).
Although I have linked to only one simple blog above, I must have read or watched over 50 such websites, blogs and vlogs today!
So, with a very heavy heart we have made the decision to take only one of these pups at around the 45 day mark. The pups have almost weaned off already given that they have developed teeth.

As I explained above we have decided now that we will be taking only one of the pups. If you wish to take up the other one, reach out to me over PM and I shall connect you directly to the powers that be. They do transport pups via air to other places.

That's very interesting. I'm not much experienced with dogssince leaving the family home nearly fifty years ago so that I could become a cat man ;) but it occurred to me that two pups would certainly entertain each other, at least while growing up, and that that could be very boisterous.

Ah I was about to post this yesterday but held back because they look adorable together. Honestly, I think its a problem only if you don't socialize them early with other dogs - either in the apartment complex, or the park, or wherever. Dogs are pack animals and as long as they know you are their pack mate, they'll be fine. But this is me a layman speaking.

If you can afford two, get two. Maybe a couple of years later when the first one is a tween. Two is not double the effort of one. But the rewards are much more than double.

Also, congratulations are in order! Wishing you and her a long and very happy life together! :)