[DogNDamsel12]

I hated car rides when I was smoll. The first day mum boogied me up in a towel and put me on the front seat, she did not have any clue what she was bringing home and how she will manage to travel. The moment the car started to vroom, I jumped onto her lap and she had to stop dead. Mom was alone, I was barely a 4-month-old and she was trying to figure out how to carry a puppy home without scaring him. So, she put me on the floor in the backseat on a towel. The car went vroom again. I wanted to go under the seat and get to her feet. But even though I was smoll, I could not reach her. So, all I could do was sniffle-snaffle at her shoes (I am still in love with her shoes). I got familiar with my “moving home” sooner than I knew my real home.

The next ride I remember was a hot summer’s day. Mum put a bowl of water and put me in the back seat. My tongue fell out from my head. It was on the splish-splash day when hoomans was throwing water at each other, I was very sick. Mommy had to take me to the needle-man for a needle-sting on my bottom. On the way back, she knew I could die of the heat, so she put me on the shotgun, tied me to the door on my side so that I did not jump onto her lap. I was okay with the ride that day for the first time – but I was also snoooooozy. Here is a recording of forty winks doing me an embarrass -

https://youtu.be/vGNj543Dy9I

(fineprints from Mom: definitely do not try this recording trick while on “moving homes”, performed by experts only).

Mom tries to take me everywhere – from getting the groceries to new, far away places where I can meet strange hoomans. Sometimes, she gives up on her travel plans if they do not include me – makes funny excuses to friends and families. She ditches flights for the car, if possible. That's how we did the Delhi-Kolkata stretch together and she got kisses from me on the way for that. Grandpa thinks I keep her safe on long trips and night drives – but the truth is when people see me wagging my tongue out of the window or run amok at filling stations, I take all the attention off her on to me – my being cute serves us so grandpa may be right anyway!

I am not so easy though. When she gets out of the car, I do try to get cute with her by yelling a bit to draw her attention (psst.. to bribe me with the treatos). But once she is out of sight, I am happy sitting in the car for hours because I know she will always return to me, and that means more yum snacks to chomp on. The glasses are rolled down, but Captain Nemo guards the gates.

https://youtu.be/n3nYGiablK4

I have also gotten used to staying in hotel rooms. Usually, the houses where we stay are friendly to me – they give me the pets and treats too! As soon as mom enters a room with her suitcase, I know that this is where I will be sleeping in the night and I immediately jump onto the bed and sniffle snaffle it in circles to ensure that no one has any doubt my territory.

In the car, she always carries the following for me:

1. Drinking water
2. Special snacks that I don’t get at home (no moral policing about the bribes allowed in case you wondered)
3. Wet tissues, coz whenever she feels it is safe to let me out of the she allows me to run wild and I hit the puddles the first thing.
4. A towel to dry me up – This one time she let me out I ran straight into a river and went for a roll in the sand afterwards even before she could react. So, towels are for the unforeseen!
5. She also always has my name tag with her phone number on it

For longer drives, she additionally carries -

1. My basic medicines for fever, allergies, stomach boo-hoos, and skin scratchies!
2. Extra food – but I don’t get much to eat on long drives and I hate that! But the treatos keep coming so it ain’t so bad
3. A spare leash and harness – I have broken quite a few, or chomped on them if I have free time on my paws
4. My toys and chew bones - in case she has to leave me alone in the room. But I try to yelp my protest enough so that I can be left in my moving home instead of a strange room. Works like a charm!

The car, mum and I have had some of our best times together. Not that I started out as loving my drives, but I got used to it one hour and one trip at a time. She accustomed me to it by taking me to the park every morning – so I always thought that by the end of each trip there was something rather nice experience waiting for me once the car stopped, and I slowly became very happy with my rides. Eventually, the duration of the trips increased and I became a pawsome goob-boi who loves the roads more than the house!

(Mom’s note: Nemo is a little miffed now in Kolkata because he does not have enough dog parks where I can take him out every morning. Therefore, he is getting uncomfortable travelling too. Give us a shout if you're travelling too and share your travel experiences as well as travelling in higher altitudes etc with your doggo.)

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

[pdma]

Very nice to see travel logs with canine partners, this was a very good read :-).
Keep travelling and keep sharing.

Sharing one of our many trips here,

https://youtu.be/EvvsY0nRgdY

Cheers,
Pradeep.

[vigsom]

What a lovely report by Nemo, @DogNDamsel12. We had four Lhasa Apsos and one GS, all one after the other. Only one of them, Bingo, had the pleasure of travelling along. Those days, we used to take Bingo along in the Guard cabin in trains, and check on him at every station. The GS would enjoy the car ride to the vet. What I have seen,though, is that they are very sad to let Mom, Dad and siblings go away leaving them in town. In the same vein, extremely excited to get into a car and enjoy the wind-in-the-face feeling.

[skyocean]

A very good read indeed. Thanks a ton. I'm sure we have many bhpians who tour around the country with their pets. It would be really nice to have more information on the do and don'ts.

Now coming to the post, Dogs are the best of companions for every walk of life. Its really surprising to know how well they adapt to travel, you can expect even a small pup to behave inside a car.

I want to ask if anyone has taken their dog to Ladakh, I'm all ears to hear their story. I'm looking forward to such a trip in the near future.

Our bowbow also used to love drives, sometimes he used to go and bark at the car door
to go for a drive.

[anivy]

Originally Posted by skyocean

It would be really nice to have more information on the do and don'ts.

The following threads have more details related to traveling with pets:

Travelling with Pets in India
Transporting Pets within India or internationally
My experience: Travelling 1000 km with a cat

[soumiksett]

A true friend indeed. Nemo is very sweet.

[hari_snair]

Very nice read !! Nemo is so sweet and wish many many more miles

[Axe77]

I LOVED this whole post from the dog's POV. Although we don't have pets ourselves we frequently do short holidays with friends with pets and its really awesome for the kids (ours included) to have a doggie around when we're on holiday.

One small point to be mindful of if you don't mind. It seems in the first video that the front passenger door is actually unlocked. I'm sure the dog is buckled in but could still be dangerous.

[yesyeswe]

I loved reading from the point of view of a dog, lovely pictures and videos too, he looks super fun and playful, give him some scratches from my side too.

As someone who lost his dog just a month ago it made me miss my dog even more, travelling together, him looking out and barking at animals, trying to get on the front seat to be near me, and coincidentally i have a volkswagen polo too.

He had just turned 10 and was healthy, he passed away in his sleep without showing symptoms of any major illness, life is very unpredictable and the lives of dogs are very short, give Nemo lots of love.

That's my Ron, keeping me company while I was polishing the car last year.

[vox_alienus]

Lovvv it! Dogs seem to like me. Total strangers (canione) have often greeted me by standing up on two legs and licking me. On my recent road trip, one even forced me to scratch her belly for half-an-hour! She actually asked for it. Lay down on her back and pulled my hand with her front paws. Got tired after a while, but couldn't stop. Because, the moment I stopped, she would pull my hand with her front paws. If that didn't work, she took my hand lightly between her teeth and pulled.

However, having a dog at home is a big decision one shouldn't lightly. Especially someone like me, who lives alone. Because, for one thing, as a dog behaviorist has told me, there should be at least two people in the household other than the "parent", who are sufficiently familiar with the dog, and vice versa, to take care of him/her if the parent is incapacitated. No less important is my itinerant lifestyle. On my last road trip, a forest ranger asked me, why didn't I travel with a dog if I loved dogs so much? I asked him, would he let me let me stay in the rest house under his care if I had a dog? He said "No" a little sheepishly.

[batladanny]

Wooof!! Loved this post a lot! I too have a pet, albeit a cat and it's been an experience traveling with her. I have only done strictly necessary long-distance journeys with her — when I have been relocating cities for good. So reading your report of shorter in-city travels and pleasure trips is fascinating. Hopefully, one day I manage to train my cat enough so that she isn't absolutely terrified of travel.

Originally Posted by DogNDamsel12

Sometimes, she gives up on her travel plans if they do not include me – makes funny excuses to friends and families.

This resonates soooo much with me.

I have written about one of my trips here (My experience: Travelling 1000 km with a cat)

[Samba]

What a lovely narration! Enjoyed reading it to the core.
Nemo is such a cute dog. Expected to meet him in the last Kolkata Team-Bhp meet, but Nemo skipped the meet! Else would have loved to here Nemo's take on Kolkata Bhpians!

[Chetan_Rao]

This Nemo needs no finding!

What a wonderful doggo; eager companion and a well-narrated tale.

[jkrishnakj]

I like reading this. Thank you.

The family isn’t a pet friendly one and somehow never reconciled to keeping one at home. However, the videos show the canines exhibiting unrestricted love.

A few quick questions.

1. How do you pet owners take care of the cars? Do you get scratches outside or do you get special treatment to be taken care for seats?

2. Is there a chance the pets can somehow not control their bio-break? Or are there specific signals they give out when they feel like relieving themselves?

3. I have seen some breeds of dogs that have a lot of hair. How do you take care of the hair falls inside the cabin of the car?

4. Humans have specific smells and different cars smell differently when we enter ( take for example a heavily used Uber or Ola - I most times struggle to breathe, given how some of the cabins stink). Does the pets also exhibit such traits and if so, how do you manage that?

4. What temperatures inside the car? Do the dogs love a chilled car? If not, how does one know that the temperature setting needs adjustment?

Sorry, curious and therefore questions, more from a point of view of getting myself educated.