If your like me, it’s at this time of year you start planning your dog friendly holidays, we tend to go on these holidays in September & October because we know that most of the beaches are now dog friendly/accessible.

So with dog travel and holidays in mind here’s a few Travel tips that I find useful 

1. Schedule a visit to the vets before your holiday to ensure the overall health of your dog and also that all his/her vaccinations are up to date.
2. Check that your dog’s Pet ID is up to date with all the relevant contact details.
3. Make sure your holiday destination is dog friendly, this one should already have been part of planning your holiday destination.
4. Remember this is your dog’s holiday as well, so remember to pack the essentials for the journey, bed, leash, food, water, toys & snacks.
5. Prepare a First Aid kit to take with you, just in case, these can either be bought  or you can create your own (here’s a website detailing how to Build a First Aid Kit for your Dog)
6. If your dog suffers from car sickness try feeding him/here several hours before departure, as this can help to prevent car sickness.
7. Exercise your dog ahead of time and take breaks during the journey, remember it’s not just you who might want to stretch your legs and have a food and toilet break.
8. Remember to clean up after your dog when travelling, I’m sure that you wouldn’t want to step in anyone else’s mess when taking travel breaks.
9. Whenever travelling please always ensure that your dog is secure in the car, this can be either with the use of a crate or a dog safety harness, its not just you who needs to wear a safety belt.
10. Don’t allow your dog to ride with it’s head outside of the car window, people may think its cute, but just think about all the dirt and debris that’s thrown up from the road, this could cause infection or injury to your dog.
11. Carry a current photo of your dog, this can help in the event that he/she gets lost or spooked and runs away, you can use it to make Lost Posters or when asking if anyone has seen him/her.
12. The most important thing to remember is just enjoy your holiday with your dog, your best mates after all

Hope these tips have been helpful to you and your doggy friends & if you can think of anything we might have missed off, or anything you do to ensure your dog travels are safe & enjoyable please feel free to post in the comments below.

Now go enjoy that holiday…