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
- i was
very happy with our vacation
- i
wanted to share the experience with the meagre readers of this blog
- 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
5th 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.
