Help! Need advice on how to make a hotel experience enjoyable!

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

First a little background: Winnie turned one year old in February and has always been a fairly quiet dog overall. She never whines or barks when she meets other people or dogs. I think she is in a stage of being a little more protective of us, though, and has recently started to do more "alert barking." I've been working with her on "Quiet" and she's catching on quickly. She'll let out a low "woof" to let us know she hears something, and then stops when I tell her "Thank you! Now, quiet."

So, I was not expecting the near disaster that we had at a hotel Friday night! We rolled in after dark, and basically went straight to bed. I now realize that was my first mistake- she had no idea where she was, and didn't get a chance to get accustomed to the sounds. She barked and barked at every sound that she heard! Sometimes just a low "woof" but several strings of out right "Danger" barking. Fearing we were disrupting everyone, I was just about to go sleep in the car with her when I got the bright idea of cranking on the AC. (Duh! Why didn't I think about that earlier?!). That was enough to drown out sounds, and we all slept the rest of the night. In the morning she was OK, but when I walked her, she was still "on edge." Her tail was down and she was nervously looking around- not her usual happy-go-luck self.

In July we are taking her with us on a 9 day trip to Colorado. 5 of those nights will be in the same hotel- which doesn't have it's own AC unit, by the way. My gut feeling is that she will adapt and get used to the sounds, but the fearful side of me worries that it will be a disaster! She will never be left in the room by herself- I'm just worried about sleeping...

So, I need your help! Here is what I've thought of so far: taking her for a walk around the neighborhood and walking her up and down the halls whenever we stop for the night, doing some training in the room so that we establish our leadership, and getting some "white noise" we can play on our smart phones if needed. We've also talked about taking another overnight trip between now and July. What else? Please give me ALL ideas you can think of! 

 

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Actually, I was going to bring a sound machine, but I didn't want to lug around another electronic. The Website Mynoise.net  is AWESOME- we played the Cavewater on my laptop every night.    

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

I'm just wondering if the reason why many of you don't leave your dog in your hotel room when traveling is because of safety or noise. If your dog is not anxious when left alone, why do you choose to stay with him or her instead of going out for meals?

[Becka]

At all the hotels Sadie and I have stayed, dogs are not allowed to stay in the room alone.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

At the resort we recently stayed at, they did allow dogs to stay in the room alone. They actually had a really nice system- at CheckIn I filled out an information sheet about her- what kind of dog she was, what her name was and a cell phone number I could be reached at if she was barking. And, they had a little tag to put on the door to let people know that she was in the room. We called the front desk when she was out of the room so that housekeeping could go in. They also had "Yappy Hour" late afternoon where dogs were welcome to join their owners  on the patio for a beverage. VERY pet friendly! :-)

Even though Winnie was pretty settled in, I didn't want to risk her possibly barking and disturbing people, so we never left her alone. Plus, there is always the unforeseen factor- a fire alarm pulled, etc. that could freak her out and make her scared of hotels in the future. I wanted to keep the experience as positive as possible.

[Gail and Bailey]

I know it sounds paranoid but....I am always afraid someone could steal my dog.  Even if we could leave her in the room I would never do it!  However...it has never been an option,  as all the places we have stayed have said dogs must not be left alone.