Is your doodle a good traveler?

[Tricia, Shiloh, Fenway & Tessie]

Shiloh hears keys jingle and he is READY to go....always wants to be in the car, take him somewhere, anywhere....just as long as he gets to come along! I take him to pick the kids up from school just about everyday....he LOVES it! Fenway could take it or leave it and sometimes he gets carsick so I have to be more careful with him.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Now this is a group I MAY have something to share with from personal experience. My retired husband and I have been full-time RV'ers for the past 16 months. We just adopted our puppy this feb. at 8 weeks. He flew to Az without any problem, then went traveling with us inside the RV. It;s a 40' type you drive. He was crated for the first couple of months as we were potty training. We would stop every 2 hours or when he whined after waking up. Soon enough though he was going to the door to let us know. We did find out however, that a puppy doesn't understand the concept of going to the door when his home is moving 70 MPH. ha.

We do tether him during our driving for his safety as well as ours as we don't want him "visiting" daddy while he's driving this 30 ton bus. In his young life he has been to Phoenix and Sedona Arizona, Las Cruces, New Mexico, Moab, Utah and across all the southern states on our way to Florida where we are now. He travels very well, has never known only one "potty spot" so goes on command anywhere we stop and has gone from 30 degrees weather to 90 degrees without a hiccup!!! He'll take off and romp in snow one day and jump into the sand and ocean the next.

Consequently, he was and is very well socialized by all this travel, as everyone wants to pet him and ask about him and he has met so many dogs along the way that he never would have if we stayed in one place. I don;t know if he is this way because it's really all he's known from a young age of that like the breeder said "As long as he is with you two, he's happy." So I don't think it matters to him weather he's in a car, RV, boat, plane, tent, jeep....he goes with the flow as I bet all our doodles will.
I find it a good time to do some training also, as he is a captive audience during our travel days. Started my clicker training during our drive from Az to Utah in April.

[Adina P]

Rosco is a WONDERFUL traveler... I went away (5 hour drive) for training a month or two ago and took him with me. He relaxes quickly in the car. And during my meetings he is relaxed and can chill in the back of the car (I took our Volvo station wagon so he had room and a bed and water and it was cool weather). But he's kind of uneasy...paces in new locations (hotels, other people's homes) and has difficulty settling down at night.

Thule is a more anxious traveler... excited and has to sneak her head as close to the driver as possible...has a hard time relaxing from sheer excitement. But settles very easily into new places--energetic, but can chill come night time.

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

When Whopper was 11 weeks old we drove with her from NJ to SC...she did amazingly well. Now she absolutely loves the car. Whenever we're outside and she hears our keys or we say the word "car" she runs to the door and sits. Yesterday I had to take her for a ride around the neighborhood because I opened the door to get something out and she jumped in and wouldn't get back out. Once home I convinced her to get out but when she realized I was asking her to come inside she just sat by the car door and looked at me with those disappointed puppy eyes. A ride around the neighborhood just wasn't enough!

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha has been going to work with me everyday since she was 11 weeks old. We drove with her to and from NJ to Miami Beach. She loves the car but HATES the wind blowing her hair. I don't open the back windows or the sun roof because of her. When we go out in DH convertible, she hangs her head off the seat to the floor. This picture was taken on a ride in the convertible where DD, Suzanne, wrapped her in a towel to keep her hair from blowing. It was too funny to watch.

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

She doesn't want to mess her hairdo!

[Susan, Zeke. Lily & Jasper]

We have started spelling walk and go for a ride because the dogs get so excited we can hardley get leashes on them. They both love to "go" at every opportuniity. Zeke especially loves to travel. He sits up looking out the window and now recognizes familar places. Lily is not as curious about where she is going but will not be left out.

[The Berry Oaks Doodle Ranch]

This sounds like a nice group!!! Guinness is much better at traveling now, when he was real small he would get car sick. So it was not much fun for him. But, he has out grown that now and loves to go. We are also RVer's and Guinness has found he enjoys' it as well. We travel back and forth from MD. to GA. and keep our RV in storage. At the present time we are trying to sell our house in MD.(won't even talk on that subject). We have property in Sav.GA. and that's why we travel back & forth, we are actually planning our winter trip within the next week.

[Karen & Lucy]

When Lucy was small she got sick in the car as well, I think just from anxiety. I tried everything, but it seems she has grown out of it now. She is now my DH's copilot in the motorhome. She thinks it belongs to her ;-)