Travel

The last week of March, we went on a family vacation. I have taken ages to write this, because I have mostly abandoned this blog. However, I needed to write down all that happened. Particularly because of the following reasons

1. i was very happy with our vacation
2. i wanted to share the experience with the meagre readers of this blog
3. wanted to share some do's and dont's about traveling with a pet because that is still a rarity in India

We made plans to go to Goa. The reasons were many. Firstly, the humans wanted to go there. Secondly, it is one of the most pet friendly places in India.

The only point of worry was the fact that goa would be like a furnace in the end of March. But we countered that by picking an air conditioned resort which was bang on the beach and meant we would have nice sea breeze the whole day.

I mentioned on the pet sitter’s forum, that a friendly dog was half the battle won while traveling. I said this because of a few reasons. One being that a friendly dog is welcome almost anywhere. If I would have collected 10 bucks everytime someone stopped to pet you or called you cute, we could have stayed an extra night! Let me add well behaved to the list. We ensured right from the time you were a puppy, that people didn’t pet you till you were calmly seated. So despite meeting several strangers everyday, you know that no matter how excited you are, you have to sit still till they can pet you. No one wants to make friends with a dog that is over excited or aggressive. When people realise you are friendly and harmless, they lighten up and allow you into places like shopping arcades too where an ill behaved pet would hardly be welcome.

While we haven’t taught you any tricks like bring and fetch, roll over or even the basic handshake, you know to sit and stay still when you are in public. It has held you and us in good stead and ensured we can travel with you and not be embarrassed or inconvenienced.

On our way back to Hyderabad, we decided to stop over at Bijapur. This is a small town and had hardly any hotels to speak of, leave alone a pet friendly one. We called a place, one day ahead of our journey to get accommodation, clearly mentioning we had a dog. We were assured we could bring you, but Murphy’s law was at work and when we did land up, after a tiring hot day in the car, with a tired and hungry you, they suddenly refused to give us a room. It was past 8 p.m and we had few options. After K spoke with them (politely) and said we had only made the drive because of their reassurance, also promising that you were a well behaved dog, they relented and let us stay. All the while during the discussion, you patiently waited on the leash with me outside the reception, but within sight of the manager. I doubt he would have allowed us to stay if you were acting like a crazy dog.

Most highway dhabas allow people to bring their pets. Except places like kamat and stuff. What we do in that case is, request for the food to be carried outside and eat near the car/ in the garden if they have one/ ask them to set up a table for us outside. They have the right to property and only a polite request has some chance of being obliged to. At a dhaba too, we ensure you are leashed and sit at our feet, not running around mad.

The most important thing while traveling with a pet is to know if he/ she can travel. You were car sick from the time you were a puppy. All my dreams of vacationing with you crashed at that point. Even a trip to the vet would make you empty your intestines on the floor or seat of my car. For a full year, on the advice of your vet, we continued to take you around on short drives, in the city. To friends homes, the in laws place, to the market, etc. the first thing was to make this a routine, to make you comfortable with getting in and sitting in the car so that at some point you would be ready to go a longer distance. It is much more difficult to travel with a pet which has travel anxiety and has never sat in a vehicle.

Pet parents wanting to travel, try lounging with your pet in the car while it is parked for a few days, gradually take them on really short drives, increasing time and distance slowly. If your pet cannot adjust, it is better for everyone to leave him/ her at home or with someone instead of ruining everyone’s holiday.

Some pointers to other pet parents who would like to consider travelling with their pets. 

Pick a pet friendly destination / place to stay. Do your research, make enough calls, speak to the people and tell them if you have special needs for the pet. It should have enough space to exercise your pet and should not be very complicated to approach or navigate. So no heavily decorated place, no place that is above the 5^th floor, no place that does not have a yard/ garden or atleast easy access to the road outside so we can walk you.

Pick a mode of transport that the pet is used to and comfortable with. We took you by road (hired an Innova) and gave you the middle seat. We also broke the roughly 700 km journey into two days. Covering about 600 kms the first day and the rest on the second. We ideally like to complete about 70-75% of the distance on day one and do the rest on the second day after a good night's rest. 

Carry enough towels and bed sheets (to line the seats and floor of the car, incase your pet gets sick), newspaper.

Carry food, bowls, water, glucose powder and stop every 3-4 hours for a vanilla icecream treat as well as loo breaks. We don’t feed you till we stop for the night because you have terrible motion sickness. That has not stopped us from doing road trips with you. We have figured out a way to combat it. Firstly, we start early in the morning, lets say by 5 a.m and stop about 5-6 pm in the evening. You do not feel hungry till about 10 a.m which means we would have already covered 5 hours of driving by then. We give you an anti vomit tablet an hour before we begin to help you. Stop for loo breaks, keep you hydrated with water and give you glucose powder every 30 minutes or so. Every 3-4 hours, we give you a small cup of vanilla icecream. This is sufficient nourishment for you till we reach. After the first hour, you figure out the routine, slump off on the seat and sleep.

The goa drive was a bit hard on you (as compared to Bangalore – coorg last year). You vomitted a few times, mostly bile. But once cleaned up, you were fine and good to go.

A word to pet parents, this is the stuff that works for us. We have been doing this after speaking to our veterinarian. Infact the glucose and ice-cream thing is based on her advice. Please check with your own vet before you travel anywhere.

Once we reach our destination for the day, we wash you with a wet towel so you feel fresh, give you lots of water and feed you the amount you would eat for one meal. We do not try to over feed you because we starved you through the day. We ensure we sleep early so you too can catch up on your sleep and recover.

At the destination:

We keep you leashed till;

You get familiar with the place (usually one day)

People / staff of the place get familiar with you

There are other guests and if we are in public places like restaurants and shopping areas.

At the hotel / place we are staying, I spread my own double bedsheet on the bed over the hotel provided linen to prevent / minimize damage.

While most hotels specifically mention that the pets are not to be allowed on the furniture and beds, we all know how much you love to leap onto said bed and furniture. While you do not sleep on the bed, you like to climb on for some cuddling or play time. Most hotel linen is white and its best to carry some thick heavy duty stuff which will prevent damage and embarrassment.

Carry emergency medication for basic stuff and be in touch with your vet incase you need anything.

I continue with your regular daily routine even when on holiday. So while I crib about waking up before sunrise on a holiday, it keeps you sane that you still have your walk / meals / playtime as usual even though the location and people have changed.

At meal times, check if you can be taken into the restaurant and sit in an area where you will be comfortable. For instance, in Goa, we sat in places which were not bang in the middle of the restaurant, but on the side, so you had enough space to sprawl on the floor and didn’t come in the way of other guests.

Politeness and smiles go a long way in opening doors to people traveling with pets. We always called ahead at restaurants to check if we could take you and kept you leashed till they said it was ok to let you off.

Carry food, water, bowls and paper towels everywhere, preferably in a bag. So when you embarrassingly pooped in the sand in middle of a shack, I just cleaned up and walked on. We asked for ice cubes to cool the water for you and gave you your own food to prevent you from begging at the table (failing miserably, you are a sorry little beggar)

If people stop by to make friends with / pet you, we always make sure you are siting and calm before they can do that. We also tell them specifically where they can touch you for the first time (usually the back or your ears) so you are not startled. We also repeat the key word “friend so you know they are friends.

Some don’ts while traveling with a pet

Do not overfeed or drug your pet with tranquilisers or sedatives. If your pet is car sick he will repeatedly vomit if he has undigested food in the tummy. This is just a very unpleasant experience for everyone involved. Many people told me they give sedatives and mild tranquilisers to their pets. I discussed this with the vet who cautioned us against doping you (thank god!). I much prefer to talk to you, make you comfortable, and stroke your body while you sleep.

Do not force your pet onto people anywhere. Most people are generally wary of an animal they don’t know and will be scared. This is natural. Do not take offense.

Do not leave your pet unattended no matter how friendly he/she is. You are one of the friendliest dogs around. You love it when people stop to pet/ talk to you. Yet I or K constantly have an eye on you. We do not allow people however friendly to lead you away from us and never ever leave you unattended especially when there are kids around. The problem is, they are new to you, and there is no telling how you may react. There could be a tone of voice or a gesture or a sudden movement which annoys you. Or they could do something to tease you. Or may just have a juicy piece of food on their plate that looks appealing. Its better to be a little cautious than have unexpected behaviour from anyone. In case there is a misbehaviour, the pet always takes the blame and that can be avoided if the human is somewhere around.

Do not feed your pet strange food or something he / she is not used to eating. For the simple reason that you don’t want to make them sick and ruin your holiday.

Do not exert your pet unnecessarily. We ensured you stayed in the airconditioned room for the hottest part of the day and got your regular siesta. Walks on the beach were always early morning and evening after sundown. If we were going to a restaurant close by, we would walk, else we took the car everywhere we thought we couldn’t walk comfortably.