Long drive home with puppy.

We are getting our puppy in about 11 days. We will have to drive nearly 6 hours home with him, obviously requiring us to stop.

I've read to avoid rest stops because of potential for parvo or other canine illness. I was also thinking fast food type places might be a place many other dogs frequent.

Would a puppy likely potty on asphalt if we just pull into a strip mall parking lot or something? Should I bring wipes to wipe his feet after? Will that help?

Any suggestions?

Also how often would you think we'd need to stop? Every 2 hours or more often? If he's sleeping I'm guessing we can just keep going, but I guess the sleeping could end up just being wishful thinking.

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Permalink Reply by Jenny and Cooper on October 11, 2016 at 4:40pm

We also stayed overnight near the breeder and picked up Cooper the very next morning. :) Don't forget to take pictures of ALL the puppies there. It's nice to look back at all the siblings later on. :)

Permalink Reply by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on October 11, 2016 at 5:30pm

I'd stop at business parkways (grass area by street or sidewalk) because they have the least chance of other dogs having been there.By businesses, I mean warehouse type buildings. Businesses like furniture stores, clothing stores - places most people would not have their dogs with them. When we travel, we stop at rest stops, fast food areas, gas stations, strip malls most often, so those are areas YOU want to avoid. My guys won't go on concrete, and never did. We traveled about 3.5 hours with Ned and only needed to stop once. He got very squirmy - our clue. He carried on so much in the crate that we put a towel behind the passenger seat and he snuggled down there most of the time and I held him some of the time. I made sure to have a towel in my lap in case of accidents. You might want a change of clothing, just in case.

Permalink Reply by Mary ann & Lincoln on October 12, 2016 at 6:48am

We drove 6 hours to pick up Lincoln. We did go the day before and stayed over. We visited the breeder to see him. We gave her a soft toy to place with his Mom so it had her scent and the litters. It was his fav toy until he was almost a year old and then he chewed it up. We picked him up the next day and drove home. He slept and whined some, but we just talked to him and then he would fall back to sleep. We did stop 2X. He really didn't pee though. I think he went in the crate. We didn;t feed him until we got home too, so he would not get car sick.

Permalink Reply by Missy on October 12, 2016 at 7:17am

So much excitement!! yeah for your family on the new addition. You will be in love immediately.

Pack a puppy travel bag. You won't know what kind of messes you will get yourself into. We had a motion sick pup. So thankful I had a puppy bag ready for the mess!

Rubber gloves, paper towels, baby wipes (I buy the unscented kind), lots of towels, grocery bags to gather spoiled things in. small portable dog bowl, so pup can drink water. We waited to feed pup until we got home, yet he still got sick. Breeder says nerves can make a pup sick too.

I get you want to hold your pup, but I would throw a small carrier in the car just in case you need it for containment. You may not want to hold a pup that is covered in 'mess'.

As others have stated: look for places that are not convenient for people to stop. If one stop you can feed family and potty dog, someone else has probably done that too!

savor the moments!! take lots of pictures. They literally grow every day!!

Permalink Reply by Haley, Yeti, and Phin on October 12, 2016 at 7:41am

We drove 15 hours home with yeti! It was actually so much easier than we anticipated. We brought a lot of piddle pads and set one up in the back seat of the car. He was piddle pad trained so he knew to go on them! We brought trash bags with so if he went potty we would throw one it in the trash bag and just dispose of it when we stopped for gas.
We brought so many toys and fun stuff but honestly yeti just cuddled us and slept most of the time. We brought Tupperware containers for water and food (you shouldn't have to feed him /her if your only going 6 hours)!

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