Traveling With A Pet: Our Experience

Spencer Kayaking Down The Sacramento River (Redding, CA assignment)

Of course it’s possible, it can be difficult at times, but definitely possible. 

I’m talking about being a travel therapist with a pet

Our background

We graduated from Loma Linda University in 2016 with our DPT degree and had adopted Spencer about 1 year prior, when he was 4 years old. Currently he weighs in at a whopping 8 pounds and is 9 years old. We have been traveling with him since day 1.  

When we first started our travel career, Spencer was a 5 year old, semi well behaved, housebroken, high energy, guard-dog who was and still is fearless.   He has accompanied us on all our assignments and is working on being the most well traveled yorkie in the world, unofficially of course. 

Travel with Pets and Housing

I’ll be the first to tell you that having a pet complicates travel.  We are already at a slight disadvantage when it comes to finding work traveling as a pair. Once we finally find two jobs, we then have to find pet friendly housing. 

There have been times when we have missed out on some pretty good housing opportunities. Luckily, most places are negotiable and open to allowing pets when asked. We are fortunate because I can give the spiel “he’s an 8 pound yorkie, who is house broken, doesn’t shed, hypoallergenic, and we have a crate he can stay in if needed”.  All true! But if you’re the owner of a 90 pound German Shepard, it may be harder to negotiate for those non pet friendly houses. 

Dont’ let the fact that our dog is small fool you, we do have our difficulties, like just the other day when I was putting out some feelers for a possible place near San Francisco and I was met with a quick, but nice “no pets at this time, sorry”.  It happens. 

We suggest joining online Facebook housing groups for travelers, and scanning Airbnb/furnished finder. There always seems to be at least one pet friendly option at all our job locations. Remember though, always ask, even it says “not pet friendly”. More often than not we have been able to obtain housing, including our current location, that originally stated as not pet friendly.

Road trips with pets

Spencer Riding Shotgun as we arrive at Niagara Falls for the night. (Driving Mass to CA)

We drive across country for all our assignments (CA to Alaska, Alaska to Louisiana, Maine to CA…long drives) and every hotel and their 15-25$ nightly pet fee adds up when you stay at 6 or more on one trip.  Not to mention, it can be a challenge when trying to stop for lunch or pick up some groceries and a yorkie isn’t exactly safe in a car by himself.  That’s when that German Shepard would come in handy!  Sometimes, even if a restaurant or grocery store is in a good area, you still may not be able to leave your dog in the car if it is too hot, or in Spencer’s case in Alaska, too cold.

Typically hotels don’t like dogs staying by themselves in a room for any extended time, so he is always attached to our hip when traveling. We occasionally pick an airbnb for the night, which allows us to leave him unattended and we adventure out for food or to see the town (don’t forget that pet fee). 

Finding a place for your dog to stay also applies when on your travel assignments and you are planning a weekend trip. Say hiking Mt. Katahdin in Maine like we did last Summer.  Dogs weren’t allowed in the park, besides Spencer wasn’t ready for the 10 mile hike.  So we passed on all the cheap hotels and chose a small cabin and made sure he would be safe for our 14 hour day of hiking.

While it can add to the planning process, and sometimes be an inconvenience having a pup traveling at all times, we wouldn’t have it any other way.  

Day adventures with your dog

What about a day adventure? You are enjoying a beautiful hike, and then decide “I’m hungry!’.  Well, is it cool enough outside for your dog to stay in the car?  Is the location pet friendly with outdoor seating?  If not, plans may need to be adjusted.  Also did you realize, some national parks don’t allow dogs on many of their trails? Frustrating!

What about the positives? Oh there are so many!

Despite having some difficult aspects of traveling with a pet, let me tell you some positives through our own adventure stories.

In Alaska, after putting 3 sweaters on Spencer so he could brave the 15 degree temperatures, I dug him a path through 2 feet of snow and he would run real fast between our apartment and the trees in the backyard. All this effort so he could venture outside and enjoy trying to hunt and dig.  He even helped catch a mouse one night that snuck into our house. He was definitely bread to hunt!

In Louisiana, he kayaked down a river with us right on the front of my kayak and was an excellent co-pilot. He barked at the turtles below.  Spencer even tailgated an LSU game (luckily someone let us keep him in their motor home doing the game with their yorkie)

On Cape Cod, because we had to find pet friendly housing an no other options were even remotely within our price range, we stayed with an amazing couple who knew and rented their yatch to the Kennedy’s. Talk about amazing dinner stories. Spencer had a blast too and was able to spend his days hanging out with their 6 cats and a labradoodle and poodle.  The owners of the rental even offered to care for him during a thunderstorm while we were at work and babysat while we went to New York for the weekend.  If it wasn’t for Spencer we would have never met those amazing people.

In Texas he came to watch the cattle drive at Stock Yard Station, and again was babysat by our Bed and Breakfast rental owner and her giant Scooby doo dog (great dane) while we went out for the evening to the rodeo.

While in Maine, he learned to ride on a stand up paddle board every single weekend that summer.  He was so good at balancing and running around on that thing that he only fell off once, but had a life jacket.  Like I said, Adventure Yorkie. 

He is staring at me right now wondering why I’m not playing with him and it reminds me, he is like that little piece of home that you can bring with you on every assignment.

Spencer Paddle Boarding on Long Pond in Maine….without his life jacket!!! (made for a good photo, then it went back on)

Travel Pets and Vet bills

So far, I’m already re-convinved myself that traveling with a pet is awesome, but can impact some of your adventures and lifestyle. There is one aspect that makes us happy to have an emergency fund. VET BILLS!

We literally rarely use our health insurance, and don’t need to go to the doctor that often. Most of the time, our coverage we purchase as travelers goes to my glasses and regular dental check-ups. But Spencer, I swear he meets a vet in every state. I want to add him to my health plan as a dependent.

Let me break it down by state for you.

Alaska: Routine check up for Rabies as well as a health screen to cross back over the border into Canada. He needed his papers! This was so we could drive the Alaska Highway, but he also needed a teeth cleaning and flea/tick meds.

Louisiana: He was trying to attack a frog in our yard and was bitten on the face by a copperhead snake.  As Spencer started to wheeze and struggle to breath, we rushed him to an emergency vet that was literally no more than 15 minutes away. Thankfully it was close or it would have been fatal. He received anti-venom immediately and spent 3 days in the vet ICU. $1300 and one long weekend, Spencer came home with a scar and don’t mess with snakes attitude. That weekend was our planned vacation to see Jon Pardi in concert. Didn’t go.

California: New flea medicine led to an allergic reaction (hives) and a general vet bill for a check up and new flea medicine was needed.

Massachusetts: Driving from California to Massachusetts, Spencer began vomiting on day two of our road trip and didn’t stop even after we arrived in Mass. A vet appointment within our first week of arrival and we learn that he was likely suffering from anxiety from travel and was ordered a diet of boiled chicken and white rice for the week. He loved that vet’s recommendations. We also had a return visit after encountering the craziness that is east coast tick population. He was checked for Lyme disease, came back negative and sent on his way. 

Texas:  Since we never have time to take Spencer to his primary vet at our tax home, we again needed more flea/tick medication and had a vet check up and labs done in Texas as he is becoming a “senior dog”. He was given a clean bill of health. 

Maine: We knew as a small dog he was prone to dental disease.  Well it all hit while living in Maine and he wasn’t playing with his toys the same and something was wrong. He had terrible breath and his teeth looked horrible.  We took him to a dental specialist. He needed 7 teeth pulled including 1 canine.  $1500 later, 2 week healing time where he was eating soggy dog food, and BAM! He is back with a vengeance feeling like his younger self. 

Photo op at Jackson Hole, WY.

What to do while at work

This is probably the one of the more challenging aspects for us as Spencer has a little separation anxiety, or at minimum gives us the sad eyes when we leave for work. 

Since both Kari and I work full 8 hour days, plus drive time, that can mean Spencer is home alone for up to 10 hours daily.  

So what do we do?

It really depends on the location we are living and how close to work. We have some locations where commute to work has been 45 minutes in opposite directions for both of us and Spencer is left to fend for himself.  He has become quite good at using pee pads and when placed consistently, he uses them. 

We do have one of those fence style pens that can be move/shaped and we typically blocked off areas of the house we don’t want him in.  Usually if there is any carpet, just in case. For example our current set-up, he has a 15 foot/10 foot section with a large window looking out on the driveway and he watches us pull in every night with a toy ready to play!

Some locations we have been able to make trips home at lunch to let him outside and play for a few minutes.  These are rarer assignments though.  

Ultimately, he has become pretty independent during the day and has gotten used to having to spend days by himself.  He has broken down his pen several times (like… a lot) and I like to think he is basically working out all day devising a plan to tear down his pen and stays busy.  

One other option, pending weather, he is very good at sleeping in our car, and if our job location is safe, he sometimes spend the day in the car and we can play at lunch, take walks, and he even can come into the clinic to visit other therapists.  He recently joined for our taco lunch party.

Spencer looking sharp in his life jacket. That’s his don’t mess with me attitude.

In summary

Life wife Spencer has been great.  Even as a traveling pair, adding that extra companion makes us feel like a little family and he joins in all our adventures making them more memorable.  

If you are considering getting a pet to travel with make sure to consider the pros and cons we outlined above. It will likely change some of your typical routine and shouldn’t be a quick decision, but it hasn’t kept us from exploring, adventuring, and enjoying travel therapy. If anything, he has added to the fun and we couldn’t image travel without Spencer.

Feel free to leave us a comment below with any questions or find us on instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.

You can also check out the Road Tripping PT Podcast: A Tale of Two Travelers where we interview strangers turned friends on our travel adventures. Happy travels!

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