Taking the dogs on holiday :)

thunderstruck

Hey all,

I'm going on holiday in about 2 months with my hubby, border collie pup, mum, siblings, and mum's dog.

My puppy is doing really well with her training etc, but I'm worried that as she's in an unfamiliar environment she may start chewing. We've coated out house with anti chew spray which works, but I'm not about to spray some poor lady's house with a load of toxins!

Obviously she would be supervised all day, and have busy days on the beach, shopping, walking, so hopefully will just sleep all night, which is the only time she would be unsupervised (as we'd all be asleep too!)

I've considered investing in a fabric travel crate to sleep her in at night, my only concern being that she will chew through it. My mums dog will be left loose in the house as she's used to new places, and there's not really room for a solid cage unless it's collapsable.

Can anyone offer any advice on the best way to ensure she doesn't chew?

She's a border collie x huntaway, and will be 6 months old when we take her.

Thanks.

Raksha

Give her things she CAN chew?

elsien

Solid crates are foldable/collapsible to transport them, but you couldn't really put pup in a crate if she's not used one before. Can you borrow/get one off freegle to do some trial runs beforehand?

thunderstruck

Raksha, she has plenty of things she can chew, we give her lots of toys, chews, nylabones.. She has a wobbler and a treat ball that she gets most of her food from so she has lots of stuff, but if unsupervised she does sometimes snaffle things (the most annoying one being my handmade honeymoon album - but that was completely my bad for leaving it within reach!)

elsien, we borrowed a small crate when she was a puppy but she's really outgrown that now, I guess we could invest in another for while we're there. Thunderpuppy used to sleep in the crate but we didn't shut her in - we've given her run of the lounge basically here.

I know crating is almost definitely the option, I just wanted to check I wasn't missing something really obvious before looking to buy. Is there anywhere in particular people would recommend for buying a crate? We've ordered bits and bobs from zooplus for pup and our cat, is there anywhere else we should be looking?

krlyr

I find eBay or Gumtree pretty reasonable to get crates from. As long as the dog wants to be in the crate, I don't think it matters if it's a slightly cheaper crate (I've never had one collapse, but if you want to be sure you could use wire ties to be on the safe side) - and I'd never leave a dog that was distressed in a crate shut up in one anyway.

As an alternative to a crate, you could go for a playpen - these fold up too, and mean you can section off an irregular shaped area if a crate won't quite fit. Downside being no roof, so a taller dog may hop over the top. They do taller pens, but it depends on the dog.

If she was in a crate as a pup, I'd just use the next two months to really shape her to be happy going in the crate and being left for periods of time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusNb_iAtjw may be worth a watch, as may this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGxhcb-itO4

I'm holidaying with mine at the end of next week too, so have a similar plan! I'm taking chews and Kongs to amuse them when they do need to settle on their own - Zooplus is fab for natural chews that should last a little longer. Frozen Kongs also last a bit longer, if pup hasn't had them before then now is a good time to introduce a Kong and slowly increase the difficulty - I wouldn't just fill a whole Kong and freeze it, as pup may get frustrated or bored if it's too difficult, but slowly building up to a tightly stuffed Kong and then part freezing it will help you build up the difficulty.

One thing I would say is be careful with the exercise. At 6 months, she should still be on restricted exercise - about 30 minute lead walks. Off-lead you can get away with a little more, if you're pottering about so she has a chance to rest or go slow, but I'd say be a little careful on the beach as it's harder work than you'd think running on sand (less traction means more work for the joints to get anywhere)

One thing I've done for our holiday is get contact details for some local kennels and local petsitters. I was a bit more limited, as my two aren't good with strange dogs, but I've found a kennel nearby I may use when we want to make a daytrip somewhere we can't take them, and some pet sitters who can either drop in to our holiday cottage to let them out, or one who's willing to take them for a few hours and keep them in a seperate part of her house. I'd maybe suggest looking for similar, if you've got a particularly busy day planned or want an evening meal out somewhere, at least you'd know she had company

thunderstruck

Thanks for such a detailed response krlyr!

She has a kong, I definitely started to hard by freezing it, but recently I've backed up and she seems to enjoy having hard things (treats, kibble and carrot mainly) that the can knock out of it, so we're sticking with that for a while.

At the moment she has a 30 minute walk every morning and evening, but I amble along so it's not really exhaustive. If I throw a ball for her, her standard response is to chase the ball, wait for me to catch up then pick it up and bring it . My mum's coming and she'll be either slow walking or in a wheelchair so hopefully, although it'll be busier days than normal, the slow pace will mean pooch will be OK.

I'll check out gumtree and see if there's any doggie daycare facilities around the area too.

elsien

I got my crate off eBay much cheaper than the pets at home and wilkinsons ones and its been fine. Personally I prefer the metal bases to the plastic ones but I do have a power chewer.
Then again, I never take Gitdog on holiday with me - I like to be able to go out without having to think how long I'm out for, where am I going to leave him when we have lunch, who is he going to eat, that sort of thing,

hmc

We are taking our 2 with us to the beach for the 1st time. I'm hoping it will be ok. Just going for 3 nights. We don't crate but have one in the car and it came from eBay for £10
Really good tip krylr about pet walkers I hadn't thought about that!
Our youngster hasn't chewed furniture for over 6 months now so fingers crossed. I'm hoping after a few hrs on beach for morning walks we can leave them while we go out for a bit
Will be a new experience for both of us!
Stag bars are really good too, cheaper from active hound than pets at home

krlyr

One of mine has suffered separation anxiety in the past, so I really didn't want to risk leaving her home alone in a strange place (that belongs to my boss - so it's not even just like I could replace any chewed items and forget about it, never to see the holiday home owner again!). But, as much as I'll enjoy having the dogs with me and knowing they're not stuck in kennels all week just so I can have a holiday, we are going to get a bit of a break ourself - we're really looking forward to a couple of trips out, so the dogs will have to make do with being in someone else's care for a while (thankfully they're great with people, even if it doesn't extend to other dogs!)

hmc

Mine do. 4 hrs on their own during the day so that is my max time . They have each other so I think they will b ok in a strange house, fingers crossed, bit of an experiment this taking dogs with us lol

sheramber

hmc wrote: »

Mine do. 4 hrs on their own during the day so that is my max time . They have each other so I think they will b ok in a strange house, fingers crossed, bit of an experiment this taking dogs with us lol

Have you checked that you can leave the dogs in the house.

Many holiday house owners state that you mst not leave them alone in the premoses.