Top Lesson from a Year of Road Trips with 2 Dogs

Having spent the past year traveling full-time with our two amazing and slightly crazy dogs, we've learned A LOT.

The early trips had some bumps but overtime we have learned how to ensuring everyone's happiness during those lengthy drives. Preparation and having the right supplies have emerged as our greatest allies in this adventure. Through trial and error and buying the right supplies we've managed to resolve most challenges. Now most of our trips are super smooth with both dogs relaxing even during our longest travel days.

Our approach involves ensuring our dogs get plenty of exercise, are equipped with toys and bones to keep them engaged, and giving each their own space on the trip.

Allocating Space for Each Dog in the Car

Our dogs were pretty accustomed to riding in the car before we started on this year long adventure and we didn’t anticipate many problems. However, we quickly learned that driving around town doesn’t totally prepare your dogs for long days in the car.

Our initial setup included a dog hammock for the backseat and dog toys/bones for entertainment. While this was a good enough set up for short trips it was causing issues on longer days, especially multiple long days. Cedar our larger Great Pyrenees mix was starting to growl and Ivy our Springer Spaniel. This was unusual as Cedar is generally VERY patient with her.

As we watched their interactions more we learned that Ivy is a bed hog and really likes being next to Cedar. She would stretch her entire body out along the backseat leaving Cedar just enough room to sit propped against the door. Cedar is a more independent dog and seemed to want her own space to lay down without Ivy’s feet digging into her.

Our first solution was to provide more space in the backseat. We did this by getting a backseat extender for dogs, this is like a hammock but with hard panels on the bottom. It covers the gap between the backseat and the front seat creating more room for the dogs. With the extra space we were able to fit two dog beds that have raised edges to encourage each to stay in their own bed.

This worked amazing. Ivy would still sneak over to Cedar’s side and try to cuddle her but Cedar now had room to move around and get into the other bed when she needed some space.

As we continued on our journeys and learned more about car safety we incorporated harnesses and seatbelts. This has made car rides even more enjoyable. Each dog gets their own bed, toys, and bones. They have enough seatbelt to sit, lay down, turn around, and even cuddle with each other a bit. But now they both have a designated space and they are safer if anything bad were to happen.

What tips or tricks have you learned on your travels with your dogs?