As some of you may know from my Facebook posts, I am currently on a road trip with Memphis. We have travelled 1350km over the past 3 days and have arrived at our final destination on the Sunshine Coast.
Memphis has met a lot of different dogs and people at home where he is comfortable. He has always had at least one other dog with him when we travel so I wanted him to spend some alone time with me, and build his confidence away from the other family dogs. My aim was to expose him to new places and new dogs in a controlled environment i.e. with dogs that belong to fellow trainers and family. This is very important to me. If dogs have a traumatic event that is really traumatic for them, it can impact them for a long time - if not forever. This is called Single Event Learning. My aim is to avoid this from happening to any of my dogs where possible.
I have family on the Sunshine Coast who have Cav's (who originated from one of my friends). One is actually Dakoda's daughter. Fortunately, I also have wonderful trainer friends in both Morpeth and Byron Bay who offered accommodation. This gave us the opportunity for a few breaks on our trek.
All meet and greets with new dogs are completed carefully with opportunities to sniff and parallel walk (rather than just being thrown in together)
Before travelling, I needed to ensure Memphis had treatment for both Paralysis Tick and Heartworm. I packed bathing and grooming equipment as we will be doing beach runs as well as leash free runs in grass areas. Lightweight towels for quick drying after bathing also help.
I packed a couple of dog beds for Memphis and extra bedding for me for when we stay at friends' homes. Memphis sleeps on the bed with me so try to be mindful of the comfort of others when we are visiting.
I dehydrated Lyka for meals and added some dog chews and training treats. Also added my training pouch and different length leads, food and water bowls and lots of water. Lickimats and snuffle mats for enrichment.
Memphis usually travels in the crate in the rear of my CRV but was very unsettled being in there on his own when we started out. I relocated him to the back seat where he could see out of the window. He could also see me as well. He seemed far more comfortable there.
We stopped about every 1.5 hours when travelling, a bit sooner if he started to fidget. I found locations away from main roads and highways and popped him on a long line so he could wander and sniff safely. I noticed he headed for grass to chew when we stopped so his tummy must have been a bit unsettled for the first leg of our trip. (Dogs are soooo good at self medicating)
I will be posting some of our adventures for anyone who follows me on Facebook or Instagram. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to prompt you all to be proactive when travelling with your dogs. Not that I know personally but I guess it's like travelling with children (?)...
I hope you are all staying warm!
Signing off from the Sunny Coast ☀️
Cheers, Debi🧍♀️and Memphis 🐾
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