Traveling with Pets
The holiday season is fast approaching, which means that you may be planning a road trip or flight with your dog. Traveling with pets can be difficult and stressful for you and your dog. But, with the proper preparation, you can safely travel with your dogs and have an enjoyable trip.
Step 1: Prepare, prepare, prepare
Whether you are traveling by plane or car, preparation is key. If you are taking a road trip, make sure to know which restaurants and rest stops are pet friendly. I recommend downloading the Bring Fido app, which will tell you all of the pet-friendly rest stops, restaurants, shelters, and hotels near you.
If you are traveling by plane, make sure to read the pet policy before the trip. If your pet is a service animal, learn the rules and what documentation you need to bring with you. You may also need to call the airline ahead of time to see what documentation you will need to bring for your dog to be on the plane. If your pet will be riding under the plane, look at reviews of the airline and talk to other pet parents who routinely fly with pets to know which airlines will be respectful of your furry friend.
Make a list of medications or paperwork that you might need should your pet become lost during your trip, and if your pet is microchipped, check that the information is up-to-date. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Make a list of items like food, water bowls, treats, and toys that you will need to take with you.
Step 2: Gather paperwork and medications
Traveling can be extremely stressful for pets. If you have a dog or cat who is normally anxious in the car, longer trips can seem like torture to them. If you have a high stress pet, CBD oil for dogs and catscan help them relax during the ride and experience less stress and anxiety.
One CBD Dog Health customer, Megan Aiken recently wrote in that when she took her small dog on a road trip from Florida to Missouri, using CBD Dog Health’s CALMoil helped her normally high-strung dog to relax and sleep through most of the trip.
If you are putting your pet on a plane where they will be separated from you, using CBD oil can be beneficial to ensure that they are relaxed and as stress-free as possible.
Step 3: Be prepared for different behavior
Your dog might normally be relaxed or calm at home, but traveling can present a whole new set of anxieties. Once you reach your destination, there will likely be a lot of new people that your dog has not met before, new smells that your dog has not experienced, and even new dogs or cats that your dog is unfamiliar with. Be prepared and patient for your dog to be more shy, aggressive, or not themselves. While CBD oil will help them stay calm and relaxed, if your dog is being met with too many new experiences, it can be overwhelming.
Try to find a quiet place — be it a separate room or a place where you and your dog can take a walk alone– where you can calm down and unwind. Spending time together can reassure your dog that you are not going to leave them in the new place and can help them de-stress from the trip. Remember to be patient, because dogs can sense human emotionsand will likely feed off of your stress. Time alone with your pup can also help lower your stress, so it is a win-win for you and your dog.
For more holistic pet tips, visit www.angelaardolino.comor www.cbddoghealth.com.
About Angela Ardolino:
With over 25 years of experience caring for animals, Angela Ardolino is the founder and CEO of CBD Dog Health and House of Alchemy, LLC, a company dedicated to cultivating and processing the purest medical cannabis products, with the lowest environmental impact, for humans and pets. Ardolino is active in Women Grow and United for Care, and she holds a professional certification in Medical Cannabis for therapeutic use from the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Ardolino is the co-owner of Beautify the Beast, a grooming salon in the Tampa Bay Area. Ardolino is also the mother of three dogs, Nina, Odie, and Jolene, as well as 23 ducks, 19 chickens, 9 geese, 1 bunny and a pig at her rescue farm, Fire Flake Farm. For more information, visit www.angelaardolino.com/.