Bulldog on Board: Top Travel Tips - Ep 11

Whether heading to a dog show, going on a holiday, or just taking a short trip, ensuring your canine companion is secure and comfortable is crucial. Tune in to learn about the legal requirements, best travel practices, and essential items to keep on hand for a smooth journey. 

• Legal Requirement: Ensure you know the legal requirements for transporting a dog safely as a driver.
• Best Travel Options: Learn the options to travel your Bulldogs and how some may soothe anxious or carsick-prone Bulldogs.
• Canine Emergency Kit: Why you should have one and what essential items should include.

For show notes, community forum access, and episode extras, visit BulldogBroadcast.com. Let's start and make every journey with your Bulldog safe and enjoyable! 

📝 Click to read Show Notes

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Did you know it's a legal requirement to restrain your dog in the car? Failing to do so can lead to a £5,000 fine and a dangerous distraction. Today, we'll cover the best travel options like crash-tested crates, seatbelt harnesses, and dog guards. We'll also discuss essential items for your canine emergency kit and tips for managing anxiety or car sickness at the end of the episode. I've added the audio of the Traumatising seatbelt advert I referred to. I'll pop a link in the show notes, warning it might be considered triggering for some. Welcome to the Bulldog Broadcast, the Pure Talk Pedigree podcast. Join me Sara Lamont as we delve beyond the pedigree, propaganda and misinformation surrounding the beloved Bulldog breed. Together, we'll uncover the real-life realities of Bulldogs, sharing insights with admirers, owners and breeders worldwide. Hello and welcome to this week's podcast episode, where we're going to delve into travelling with Bulldogs. So I cover this subject because if you're if you plan to show a dog, then they need to be able to travel safely to all the show venues. But also, I know during summer months people might be going on holidays and taking the dog with them. There's a lot of dog friendly locations nowadays, and so we want to be able to travel the dogs safely. But also there'll be odd instances when you just need to take the dog in the car. I think we should look at some of the points.

[00:01:38] As an owner, you need to consider for your dogs to travel safely and calmly. First of all, to be aware it's a legal requirement. So it's in the Highway Code that a dog must be restrained in the car. I know of people that will just put a dog in a footwell, and technically you're breaking the law by doing that. If they're not actually tethered to something to make the dog safe, there's up to a £5,000 fine, though I've never heard of anyone being fined for it. So just because there's a fine, who would be watching to see whether your dog is suitably restrained or not? Unless, I guess that dog caused an incident in one way shape or another. But the problem is, if you don't have a dog travelling safely in the car they can distract you so that you then have an accident. Or should you have an accident, be involved in an accident. They can then become a serious weight that's going to get manoeuvred around the car. That could actually well, obviously it's not safe for them, but cause you more injury. So I don't know. Do you remember years ago there used to be like, make sure you put your seatbelt on in the car. And the advert, which obviously must have scarred me for life, where the passenger in the back seat didn't put put their seatbelt on, they have an accident and he gets thrown forward and basically crushes the driver or the person in the front passenger seat.

[00:03:04] And it was like to the effect of after he killed her, he just sat back down. That was obviously very dramatic. And I am a seat belt type of person. Anyone that isn't nowadays is crazy. I want my dogs to be safe. So all my dogs travel crated and I recommend anyone that travels their dogs should crate them. However, nowadays there are other alternatives. You can buy these seatbelt harnesses, put them in the front seat or back seat I suppose. I don't know. Obviously with kids nowadays it's all crazy strict with booster seats and where they sit and where they can't sit in the car and all that kind of stuff. And I'm not up to date with all of that. I mean, I think it would be safer that the dog was sat in the back with a seat belt harness or crated suitably, because I think with the crate is actually better because they can lean up against it. So it gives them a nice, secure environment for them to become accustomed to, where if they're just sat in a car on a back seat, they could potentially roll around quite a lot, couldn't they? When it comes to cages, they're not all made equal. You can just put a normal dog crate in your car and travel it that way. There are road tested cages, so should you have an accident then? They don't crash and this, that and whatever.

[00:04:22] Because obviously if you just put a normal crate into a car and it has an accident, then there's going to be pressure points. And yeah, it doesn't mean it's not. It's not going to withstand that pressure basically. So it could still just crumple up and not necessarily be protective. Some of the really high tech designed crates nowadays are actually like crash tested and safety tested that they don't just crumple up. It's also worth looking around. There are companies that are more for travelling a dog in a crate, but they do rattle like mad. And if you're on a long journey that could drive you to insanity on its own, you can buy brands that are non rattle. My preference would be if you were to travel dog in a crate, that it has two doors on it, and some will sell them as like an escape hatch and the normal door. Because obviously you've got a problem of if you've only got one door and that's impacted, how do you get the dog out of the crate? I always say, don't ever have a collar on a dog that's crated. However, when I travel, I generally leave collars on and sometimes I've been known to put on. You could buy like these really short. They're basically a lead handle. It's just the handle bit that clips on. So it's like really short. So if you were needing to grab the dog really quickly, you've got something to grab them by.

[00:05:37] If you've got a dog that's a bit of a div and sort of rests up against the crate a lot, or you can't see the dog while you're travelling, that kind of stuff, then you might want to take the collar off. And then you've also got dog guards, which I think were like first choice for most people, depending on the breed. Now, I'm not a massive fan of a dog guard because again, it's still they've just got a lot of space to be rolling around in and I don't know why. In my head, I've just got this feeling if someone was to go into the back of me. A dog guard doesn't protect that dog in any way, shape or form. But also if it then ended up that the boot popped open, then the dogs can just run off and do go wherever they need to go. So I'm not a massive fan of dog guards. My preference is always to crate them and then I'd rather a seatbelt harness, I think, rather than a dog guard, but that's just some options for you to consider. Now it is worth you having, especially for long travel, like a canine emergency kit that I would keep in the glove box just so it's easy to get hold of. I would put your tow hook in the glove box. So I had an instance at a dog show where.

[00:06:43] It just rains so much that the fields were all really boggy and muddy, and it basically everybody had to get towed out. Everybody just got stuck in the mud at this, at this dog show. Now the problem I had is we were all queuing up. Then eventually it got to my turn. He said, oh, where's your tow hook? You know, it was a one that was disconnected. So I was like, all right, where is where is my tow hook? Anyway, typically it was in the bu under the dogs in the spare wheel that I had. So I had to quickly, like, literally unload everybody. The dogs, the crate, pull up all the boarding, get to the kit, take the tow hook out, put the tow tow hook on, put everything back. So, so obviously I didn't put that tow hook back where it was. I thought, you know what the easiest place for you to live is in a glove box. Because imagine ever breaking down roadside. I don't want to be taking the dogs, getting them out of the vehicle if I don't have to. So I would strongly recommend if you've got a detachable tow hook, make sure it's in the glove box. I also think everybody should just have a slip lead. And so I've talked about these in another episode. They're basically a long, strong bit of corded material generally that loops in on itself. That just forms a really basic collar and lead.

[00:07:55] This is really good. For instance, you had an accident and you know, I know stuff's gone flying around. You just quickly need to catch a dog or get them out the car. It's just a really easy way of just securing a dog safely and restraining them. I have actually used them out and about when I've just been driving somewhere and thinking, oh, that dog looks like it's running around loose, or it's got out of its garden and managed to because you can make them adjustable to any size, they're quite easy to sort of like throw like lasso a dog and secure them that way. So personally, I've just found that's just really good thing to have in your glove box. Then obviously the obvious bowl, a dog bowl and water, because you should never travel anywhere without having water with you. Poo bags. Another obvious thing to have with you for obvious reasons and generally sometimes if you've got a carsick dog, it's more used for that. So kitchen roll probably would be another one, or at least a pack of tissues or something to clean up if you've got a travel sick dog. One of the ways to not have a travel sick dog is that part of that puppy socialisation. You should have been taking it out like every week in the car. For people that show their dogs in a ten ring craft. I think that's how the dog travel really well is that every week you're going to ring craft.

[00:09:12] So they're going in the car and they're going on a little journey and they get used to it really quickly. And there's nothing worse than not having a dog that doesn't travel very well. Part of your socialisation for your dog. Just make sure once a week it doesn't have to be far, literally just a little round the block and back again and just build up the time and build up the distance. And you're just have a rock solid travel dog that pretty much gets in the car, lays down and snoozes all the way until you get to where you need to be. Now, my last thing that I think is a good item in the emergency, well, I say the canine emergency kit, but I think this is just good to have is that you save the Highway Agency number in your phone. If I'm going to a show at 3:00 in the morning and I see something and I've seen all sorts of random bumper in the middle of a motorway, cars on fire accidents, and I generally think I'm not stopping because I'm by myself. And I don't know who these people are, but equally, I don't want to be a complete and utter arsehole and not help somebody that needs some, some help. So generally what I've always just saved down the Highway Agency number and if I see anything weird, suspicious, unsafe, I ring it through to them.

[00:10:20] And obviously it's good to know that you got the little markers at the side of the road that they're asking you for, or a junction. I just think that's a nice thing to have and also help someone out without impacting where you need to get to yourself, because you're obviously doing the long journey for a reason. And so let's cover how to keep your Bulldog calls. Obviously in the winter it's it's not too much to worry about unless they are an anxious dog because they aren't used to travelling, because travel hasn't been part of their socialisation. And so for anxious dogs, there are natural remedies that you can buy. I'm not going to particularly name any because I think there's quite a lot out there, a natural base, karma generally, that you need to build it up. So it needs to be, you know, three days before you're due to travel, you would start them on it. So it's just in their system and go from there. Alternatively, if you have a dog that's really stressy and the natural remedies aren't working, then there are medications that basically your vet would be able to prescribe you. Obviously they're not going to do that all the time, and it's not there for long distances for whatever reason. Yeah. It's not it wouldn't be a regular thing that you'd be doing, but that is an option for you.

[00:11:31] And so. If they're used to travelling, hopefully they're not going to get all hot and bothered unless it is hot and bothering weather. So in the winter generally it's not too too much of a thing to worry about. But in the summer you just need to have a bit of foresight in regards to. I personally would never travel a dog that doesn't have any air conditioning, and then even if it does have air conditioning, make sure the car has good ventilation. So it's all well and you being nice and chilled at the front, but is that air actually travelling to the back? If I'm travelling with my dogs, I always drop a back seat so the air flow can go all the way through and so I can see the dog basically as well. So just make sure your ventilation is really good throughout the whole car. It's also worth thinking about sunshades so you could be driving in a particular direction. And then that means the dog's actually sat in the sun. So a sunshade is a really good way of. And there's loads like you can get like UV reflectors, but nowadays you can actually get ones that have it's like a mesh material, so it still has airflow through it. And obviously it's reflecting the sun at the same time. So they're really good. But then obviously you've got the old school, you know, like you'd put up if you're parking your car up for whatever reason, I don't know, go to services or whatever you might want to make sure you park it in the shade and stick up a sunshade just so the car doesn't heat up while you're not in it.

[00:12:53] Obviously, I'm not saying leave the dog in the car, I'm saying take the dog with you, but it just helps keep the car as cool as possible. It's all well and good having your aircon. Think about the bedding. So a hot car, your aircon is going to kick and cool the air. But if your bedding that the dog is sitting on could still be really warm. So that's going to actually heat the dog up. So I think cool mats are also really good item for travelling dogs. So actually in the bottom of their crate you put a cool mat rather than a hot, fluffy, sweaty bedding that's going to make them all warm and clammy when they don't want to be. You've also got talking about ventilation. You've also got mobile fans. There's units called Transcool units. I'll stick that in the show notes where you actually put a bit of water in them, plug them into a cigarette lighter, and I think they've got mains adaptor as well. If you was like in a hotel room or something, it's not an air conditioning unit, but what it does, I think actually you put ice in them thinking about it, it will force air, warm air over the cold ice and hopefully cool the air down.

[00:13:56] Basically, the fact that it's blowing in the dog's direction, that there's constantly moving air so they're not getting hot and bothered. But also you can buy mobile fans, you can actually buy ones that plug into your cigarette lighter, and they sort of clip on anywhere in the car. So you literally could clip it onto the cage. Or nowadays you can buy, you know, like these rechargeable tools. They sort of come with one battery and it plugs into a thousand different tools. You can buy those batteries that will plug into a really high powered fan. So if you're going a long journey, buying a couple of batteries and having that fan might be a good idea as well. Obviously, taking the charger with you so you can charge it up at the opposite end. It's also worth thinking about planning your trip. So what time of day are you travelling for a dog show? You're getting up and going like ridiculously early sometimes like 4:00 in the morning, so the sun's definitely not out. Then, even if it's going to be a nice day, you're travelling in the cooler part of the day, but also you're less likely to hit traffic, which means you're not stationary, which means your aircon is really effective and the car's not going to overheat. So when you're travelling, you kind of need to think of worst case scenario like what if the air con went bust and was stuck in a load of traffic? How do we still keep the dog cool? Because if you can deal with that situation, then you can deal with any situation.

[00:15:14] And then the final one is just monitoring your dog. So just being aware of just knowing if the dog is getting too hot and bothered, too distressed, do you need to stop? Do you need to cool the dog down? There's nothing wrong with wetting a towel and having the dog lay on the wet towel to keep them cool, so you just need to be a bit creative with the ideas of if you have got a dog that's getting hot and bothered, what you need to do to stop the problem escalating. So I think that's it for travelling with your dogs. I'm sure there's loads of stuff I've probably missed. And again, you can come and join the community and add your two pence worth or five pence worth or ten pence worth. That's fine. But I think if you consider all of those points fighty puppies, I think if you consider all those points, you'll be in good stead to travel safely with your dog should you need to. So that's it. I'm signing off and I'll speak to you next week. Before you leave, make sure to visit BulldogBroadcast.com For immediate access to the show notes, community forum recommendations and episode extras.