Where did your dood travel from to get to you? Plane, Train... Automobile? Any story you want to share about his/her first trip?

[Tricia, Shiloh, Fenway & Tessie]

When we got Shiloh, he came from a breeder in San Antonio....and I live right outside of Austin....so we met in the middle in a town called New Braunfels....his ride was 30 minutes with her and then 30 minutes home with me....very quick and easy. Fenway was in a shelter in Lewisville Texas which was about 4.5 hours away....we drove up and drove home with him in the same day. He got carsick on the way home, poor little guy...but he was really neglected...smelly, full of worms...scared out of his mind. I wish I didn't have to put him straight in the car to come right back home....but I did. His first travel wasn't very fun....but he is a much better traveler now.

[Wendy]

I traveled 8 hours round trip to go get Motta. I played with the puppies at the breeders and talked to her for about an hour total. Motta did wonderfully in the car. He's such a good boy. I had a crate in the back of my minivan but he sat right on the passenger seat and never moved. I don't think I even let him out the whole 4 hour trip and he did fine.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My husband and I traveled 250 miles to get Ned (road trip!). The breeder told us to put a towel behind my seat and put him there. We stopped and bought a crate to put him in, however baby Ned was having nothing to do with wasting his first big trip into the world in a crate or on the floor! He sat in my lap calmly cuddling the entire trip home. We stopped a couple of times thinking he should pee -nope. When he did need to go he began squirming in my lap. We pulled off the freeway as soon as we could and found a grassy parkway. He held it until we could get him out and leashed. What a trooper. Why, oh why has he forgotten how to pee while leashed! By the way, he is an excellent traveler.

[Valerie Silvestri & Max]

We got Max from a breeder in Ohio and we live in New Jersey. We were originally going to have him flown in but it was too hot in July to do that so the breeder offered to meet us half way. We picked a spot in Pennsylvania that was 4 hours for us and 4 hours for them. We went the night before and stayed over (8 hours in the car with the kids and a new puppy was not even a consideration). WHen the breeder got there we met and spoke for a while then headed home. We tried holding Max but he couldn't get comfortable so we sat him on the back seat between the kids and he was fine the whole ride home. He's 4 now and he still likes the car but he won't cimb in, we have to pick him up and put him in. We can't put him in the cargo compartment of our SUV, back there he gets car sick.

[Susan, Zeke. Lily & Jasper]

Zeke at 12 weeks, flew to us from Orlando, FL to Chattanooga, TN. His arrval was already delayed a day bacause of high temperatures and on the day of his flight there were thunderstorms around Atlanta where there was orginally to be a 1 hour stopover and plane exchange. Our poor baby was delayed in Atlanta for 4 hours! He arrived in Chattanooga a very messy puppy but very happy to finally get out of that crate. I had taken clean-up supplies to the airport and got him suitable enough for the 30 minute ride home back in his crate. The first order of business when we got home was a real bath which he tolerated pretty well. You would have thought he would have been totally stressed out but he wandered around checking out his new home, played with DH, my mom and me for about 30 minutes then crashed for a very long nap.

We adopted Lily from Atlanta Pet rescue at the age of 7 months. On the day I picked her up I loaded our 1 big crate into my small SUV intending it for Lily since I didn't know how she would travel. Zeke went with me and I had planned for him to ride in the front seat with his travel harness on the return trip. During our interview it was mentioned that Lily's previous owner had stated that she got car sick so I was sure glad I'd brought the crate. When helping to load the dogs, the lady from the shelter asked where Zeke was to ride. When I told her the front seat she said no way as the air bag could kill him in an accident so she figured a way to secure him on a buckle next to Lily's crate. All went well until we stopped at a long red light after leaving the freeway. Sure enough Lily got sick all over the place. I felt this was de ja vu since the first thing upon arrival was a bath for Lily. She had been very nervous on the ride home but really seemed to be calmed by the warm water, soft talk and stroking motion to get her clean. I really think that bath was a bonding experience.

[Susan, Zeke. Lily & Jasper]

Zeke & I traveled over 600 miles one way to pick up Jasper. He comes from the same breeder as Zeke so after Zeke's bad experience flying I decided to take a long weekend to pick Jasper up. Besides, I wanted to meet Dianne Carter in person and meet all her other doodles and children.
Jasper spent the first night we were there with us in the hotel (on the 5th floor). He got along with Zeke pretty well but didn't care much for the crate. He whined and yipped for about 30 minutes then settled down for the rest of the night. Potty time was a nightmare because of our location but luckly our room had a laminate floor foyer and Jasper kindly used it, so clean up was not too much trouble. We divided our return trip in half so as not to be too stressful on all of us. The second night in our hotel was much better (grouund floor, next to an exit, lots of grass). The crate was tolerated much better this night. Both dogs did very well while on the road with Jasper in his crate and Zeke in a harness beside him. We usually stopped every 2-3 hours to potty, run around and water with both of them sleeping most of the way. Not a bad trip at all except for the distance, and it was great meeting Dianne!

[Azure & Muppet]

We drove 800 miles each way (over 1600 miles round trip) to pick up our puppy. It was about 12-14 hours each way (longer coming back with frequent potty breaks) but about 25-30 hours total driving time. I wanted to meet the breeder and the dog parents, as well as pick the one I wanted from the litter. I also wanted to avoid shipping the puppy on a plane during the fear period of it's developmental stage (between 8-10 weeks old). So our puppy's first trip was a very long drive, but he did very well. He didn't whine, cry, wimper, bark, or make any noises at all during the entire trip. He didn't have any accidents pooping or peeing, and he didn't get carsick or vomit. He slept most of the way, it was wonderful! We felt very lucky as it would be normal to expect all of that behavior from such a young puppy that isn't housetrained yet, for their first time riding in a car, and after being separated from their litter with strangers in such a different environment.

[Liz & Emma]

when we picked up Emma it was a 2 hour drive! The breeder had regularly taken the dogs in her truck (in their crate) along bumpy dirt roads to get them use to flying - which also meant getting them use to driving. buttt on the particular day we picked up Emma she HATED the car- pooped in her crate within the first 5 miles. Threw up within the next 30 minutes in her crate. We then took her out of her crate and put her on my boyfriends lap and then about 45 minutes later she threw up all over him! IT WAS AWFUL. Emma was my first dog EVER and i was almost in tears because we were completely unprepared- had to stop at a gas station to buy paper towels, jugs of water, etc. awful just awful

butttt just 3 weeks after that we took a trip from kansas city to chicago to see my boyfriends family and emma did great!! we left her out of the crate this time and no accidents- she pretty much slept and chewed on her bone the whole time (phew!)

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

I just joined the Travelin' Doodles Discussions and say this topic so thought I would add our story.  Hurley flew in from So. Carolina to Las Vegas where we live. He was supposed to be coming from La Verne, Ca but his mommy and owner were at the owner's parents Labradoodle breeding ranch in So Carolina.  Hurley's mommy delivered there so he traveled across the country into our arms when he was about 3 months old.  Picking a name for him was more challenging than naming our kids.  We wanted something Australian and so we ended up with 'Hurley'.  DH was reluctant to get a dog but he was so excited to go pick up Hurley he went to Sam's Club and bought a couple of T-shirts with Hurley across the front and wore one that night. Guess he thought Hurley would be able to read.   When we opened that kennel door Hurley was huddled in the back as far as he could go.  He and I had a connection right away and it has grown ever since.