I hope they enjoy riding in a car :) Look for pet-friendly hotels ahead of time. My dogs would love a road trip.

Thanks Loretta and SaltiDawg.

They are both crate trained however, I don't think 2 large crates will fit in the back of my small SUV. ( They are 50 and 65lb dogs) We do have seat belts for each of them and have done a few runs with them with the seatbelts for trips that take about 45 minutes - one of us has to sit in the back though so that they don't get tangled. Any suggestions or tricks there?

Another question - we don't do the flea/tick meds but I tend to flea comb them if we have gone to the park or such, do you think that would be sufficient to avoid any hotel hitchhikers?

One of our dogs has some history of a degree of car sickness- I have been putting peppermint essential oils in my car before we go to our vet acupuncturist and it so far the last few visits no throwing up has occured. Any other tips there? I would like to avoid medicating if possible, but want to make sure I have a plan B should the need arise.

I traveled FREQUENTLY throughout the country with 2 rotts, dane, m. dach, glad, and now a black mouth cur.

1. 2 forms of I'D. Chip and tags-if lost not all scanners read all brands of chips. I'D tag should always include your vet name number for history. Vet name/number listed under 'Comments' on microchip site. Also that you are traveling from/to. If your dog's seat tethers are so long they get tangled they need to get better riding manners/shorter tethers. Tether is to keep dog from flying around back seat, not enough room to get tangled. Take some practice all day rides.

2.Rabies tag and file of rabies papers with YOU. Extra collar/leash. Toilet your dog as far as possible away from others to help not picking up diseases. Pick up.

3. Crates are not needed to travel. You cannot leave your dog in a motel even for just a few minutes. (Because other dogs barked/and/or/destroyed room. Plan ahead that one of you will be with dogs at all times. (Sorry- motel personnel have keys to your room- at my last motel stay another guest had laptop stolen from room. If someone came in dog could get out.) Make certain your dog's are 'motel civilized'. Dogs may not be in same room where breakfast is served. Health regulations. Not motel/employees fault. Some motels are a little more lienent than others- all dogs were trained to not break sit/stay even with other people or dogs. In several places they were allowed to sit/stay outside the breakfast room. Other places, the dog could not be in sight/in that part of building at all. If possible I would put them in a sit/stay in the courtyard if in view.

5. Foodpeople/dog. Take water, drinks, snacks, yogurt, friut, things to make dinner in a cooler. You can eat in your room. Put things in frig. One person can run to a grocery store in evening to restock. Plan on some junk food-yuck!

6. Plan on one extra day or two- you are traveling a long distance. Dogs get bored. Stopping for some hours at a state/national site that allows dogs is wonderful!!

7. If you think the trip might be RUFF (sorry), rent a small motor home from UHaul or other so you do not have the nightly/morning unpack/repack which is tedious and time consuming.8!!! BEST HINT!! I had a 'Deal' with my dogs- any and all of them traveled for hours at end. We only stopped if I needed gas/restroom (they got to per first). Many times I did the 'Potty dance' while I waited my turn! Deal... One full hour walk in am before we left. One full hour walk at night right after we checked in and put suitcase in room. (People got to use toilet, dogs got a drink). Before I even had my hands washed they were standing at door ready to walk. This DEAL confirmed a quiet, restful night for me- no restless dog. They all knew the DEAL, and were civilized. We went all over the country. New dog is a large rescue and is leaning about the DEAL.!!

Unless rules have changed-

Hilton- no pets

Holiday Inn- no pets

Comfort Inn- yes. $10 pet charge. There are 4 brands associated with Comfort Inn. They all accepted pets.

Good luck, safe driving.

We've taken our small dog and stayed at nice hotels in several resort areas of So. CA and in Las Vegas. Many of the hotels have a size/weight limit for dogs and require the dogs to be crated if you will be out of the room. Houskeeping will come in to clean, but the dog must be crated. As long as the dog doesn't bark/howl the hotels had no problem with the dogs being left alone crated in the rooms while the humans went out to eat or for a bit of sightseeing.

You need to start planning ASAP. You might want to search for off leash dog parks that might be on your route as that would be a great way to spend an hour with the dogs. If they aren't good off leash, you can also look for outdoor tennis courts that are usually completely fenced in and a good safe place to have them chase a ball.

We do a yearly road trip from NYC to the Florida Keys with two bulldogs.

What we do is, make very frequent stops, about every 2.5 - 3 hours, and take them out to stretch their legs.

Take an ice chest and lots of bottled water. One of mine got sick one time when I gave him local water on a road trip, so these days I always carry bottled.

Hotels- plan ahead to make sure they allow dogs.

La Quinta Inns & Suites is known as dog friendly.

Generally, Howard Johnsons also allows dogs. In fact, there's a ton of road side motels these days that do. Just check ahead of time to make sure.

We don't leave our dogs alone in the room on road trips. I'm not comfortable, and my guys are a little neurotic. If they started barking, no idea what the motel would so we don't chance it. But our road trips are generally to get from point A to point B, we don't stop and tour the local sites. If we need to go do some shopping, one goes, the other stays with the dogs.

Oh, and if you want a pet friendly place in the keys, White Gate Court in Islamorada is awesome. My guys adore it. That's the reason we drive down (and visit some family along the way..lol)

Thanks so much for some great tips! Saltidawg- I will definitely take your advise on getting additional meds from the vet for the car sickness as a back up.

We are starting to get a game plan together- one of the realizations we had was that we are most likely going to each take a dog in our respective cars and caravan. We will plan on stopping every 2-3 hours for everyone to get water ( thanks EllieRK for the tip on bottled), potty and stretch our legs. My sweet hubby has back problems so all the more reason we will need to stop often.

Ed- thanks for such a thorough check list- good stuff to remember!

I don't think we would be comfortable leaving to dogs alone in the hotel room since this is their first major road trip so we will plan on taking turns leaving if we need to once there for the evening.

Chispa - thanks for the reminder about the tennis courts!! I forgot I used to do that for one of my dogs I had in college when I lived in apartments - there were no dog parks back then and it was a great way to get the zoomies out when walkies were not quite enough. We have a 2 year old lab mix with a love for running. Neither of our dogs have done the dog park scene and we don't feel like a cross country trip would be a good place to explore that, so one more reason this would be a fun possible option.

And thank your EllieRK for the referral for the hotel in Islamadora!! We are hoping once we are settled in we can start doing some fun weekend road trips that include the dogs.

We absolutely can't wait for them to see the beach for the first time. While neither of them are water dogs, I think they will love it - haha except maybe for the more baths part. They will definitely love digging in the sand.

You are gonna have a great road trip!