18hr drive with two goldens

[Deleted]

Both are under 2 yrs old, one we had since a puppy and the other we will have only for 2 weeks before the big move (This is assuming she adapts well, we and the dog have met and played with her before and are picking her up next week).

We are planning on splitting the drive into 2 days. Our current dog's longest drive was 3 hrs. Has anyone done this before? Any lessons you learned that might be useful? I need advise on what I should be ready for. Treats, Food, Toys....

Thanks!!!

[mschanandlerbong]

We did something similar with our lab when he was around 2. 12 hour drive, 2 days. He had been on a couple 6 hour car trips before, so we knew he was a good traveler. He mostly just slept. The best advice I can give is to tire them out in the morning before you leave. Take them on a long walk, play fetch, run around, do a training session, let them have a few days at doggie day care before your trip. Anything to make them tired.

We stopped every 3 hours or so to let him out for a break. The 2nd day, he was much more restless than the first, so we stopped halfway and ran him around in a field next to a gas station for half an hour so he would sleep.

Bones, kongs stuffed with treats may be helpful if they're getting restless. Good luck!!

[jdbyogi]

I've done road trips with my goldens before. Heidi was only about 5 months old and Lauren a little more than a year and a half when we drove from LA to SF, which is 400 miles. We drove at night, which helped a little, and we stopped more than we normally would, so the trip ended up being about 8 hours, 2 days on vacation, then 8 hours back. They have since done it a few times and were totally fine. I have a done a ton of 4 hour trips (2 each way) to visit family for the day.

The biggest thing for them was that Heidi, especially, did not want to pee. We had to walk and walk and walk at rest stops, and once we got to the hotel, offering water frequently, before she would go. Mine do not play with toys in the car at all, the mostly sleep. I have them harnessed and sitting on the car seats. I did not feed them except at regular meal times, or a treat to get them to sit nicely in the hotel lobby. I would not give a lot of new foods, because you do not want to deal with tummy trouble in the car and on the go. I bring their blankets for them to sleep on, but they still had a hard time settling down in the hotel room the first night, wanting to explore and jump up on the bed, window seats, etc. If they are crate trained, bring their crates into the hotel. I talk to them, which seems to calm them and make them relax and nuzzle, but maybe I'm the crazy dog lady

Good luck and have fun!

[frauschmindy]

We did 45 hours with a dog and two cats. Nobody died but I did contemplate suicide. I had the cats.

The dog did really well.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone! I did not think about daycare...I think I will put them for a full day the day before the drive. Our current dog has some mild car anxiety so we may give him melatonin for the drive. I am not sure what to do yet about the driving set-up. Our current dog rides with a harness but the new dog is used to being in a crate in the car. We will try and get her used to a harness a few days before that. I think she is used to driving more than our current dog. She used to be a show dog.

Can I ask the reasoning behind the night feeding only??

[troopersmom]

Melatonin is ok for dogs but I would give it before one evening before you leave to make sure no weird reactions. Also depending how your dogs does you could do a small meal in the morning and the rest at night.

Also I responded to you over on pets.

[VeryViolet]

I take my dog for a 10 hour drive every summer and he does fine. He gets car sick so we feed him a small breakfast and I give him water often but only let him have a small amount at a time. The one thing we do is actually not stop and let him out often. For him it seems to just wind him up and freak him out. We usually stop once for gas and for him to go potty and that is it. The first time we did it we stopped 3 or 4 times and it just didn't work so on the way home we didn't and he slept and was fine. My dog does love the car though.

[Deleted]

We are also factoring in that I will be about 10 weeks pregnant by then and will probably need to stretch and pee every 2 hrs or less

He has taken melatonin twice before and i really calms him down a lot. And I we are hoping that the other dog will help him feel better being in the car.

[TrickyBob]

Our dog had horrible anxiety about car rides, so I made her a big squishy pillow and that helped her a ton! All the bumping and unstableness made it hard for her to tolerate long car rides but once she had something stable underneath her, she was fine.

I think the longest car ride we took her on was a 7 hour car ride. We'd stop here and there to get her something to drink/let her go to the bathroom.

I agree with PP about wearing her out during the day. But I would give them something to curl up on and claim as their space.