Chloe Rue, my now nearly FOUR YEAR OLD doggo, was an extraordinary puppy. Though I distinctly remember my sister calling me when I was enroute to pick her up from my family to tell me that she was a “monster”; she was amazing once she settled into the traveling life.
If you travel for work and are considering the wild and wonderful addition of a puppy to your adventure tails; this post is for you!
1. Pupternity-Leave
When you’re a traveling healthcare professional, you have the wonderful privilege of not having to commit to a job long term. I highly recommend using that perk, especially when it comes to puppy time! Pupternity-leaves are extremely helpful for building a bond with your dog. Chloe was a rescue and had this horrible fear of water and some narly separation anxiety. We built an amazing bond during my pupternity leave. Read about her first week here!
2. Hire Assistance
Daycare, dog walkers, and trainers are all extremely helpful to have around when you’re traveling with a dog. Chloe loves going to daycare on my longer days! We also were working with a trainer weekly prior to COVID to work up to her therapy-dog certification. The mental, physical and social exercise are very important for Chloe, as they would be for your puppy too.
You can find daycare options with:
- Rover App
- Wag App
- Local Facebook searches
- Google search
- Read more details in the post I wrote here!
If you’re wanting to find a trainer, check out my “traveling toto” series here.
3. Flexible Work
Let me just drop a shameless plug for the home health setting! If you’re a traveling physical, occupational, speech therapist or a registered nurse who has experience in home health; this is a prime setting for raising a traveling puppy! When you control your schedule, you can have light days when your dog is with you, lunch breaks, and pack in patients when your dog is at daycare!
In other settings you might be allowed to bring your dog with you (some nursing homes with offices), or be sure to live close to work so you can run home on your lunch break.
When you’re a traveler with a puppy, a flexible work setting is extremely helpful!
4. Pet Health Insurance
Let’s talk about the time Chloe ate a broken glass jar of peanut butter and required emergency surgery… Five thousand dollars would have come out of my “puppy budget” if it weren’t for Embrace Pet Health Insurance. I just did Embrace because it was discounted with my car insurance, but any pet health insurance can be very helpful! Her surgery ended up costing just 250$. That was the price of the x-rays alone!
I love my dog and I love her health! 40$ a month is definitely worth it, especially when traveling on the road!
I also recommend downloading the Red Cross Pet First Aid app! If you’re on the road and your dog begins to show symptoms, the app can help you decide if an ER is necessary and will provide a list of animal hospitals nearby.
Last, some people prefer to keep their home-town tax home veterinarian and make the trip yearly for a check up. This is what Chloe and I do! Others prefer to have their “home” vet in an animal hospital chain like Banfield or VCA; so records are retrievable all over the United States. Whichever path you prefer; just make sure you do wellness check ups for that puppy every year! I also recommend having neuter/spay done per your vet’s advice.
5. Positively Training your Puppy
Just like children, puppies need education every day! Positive reinforcement training (using treats!) Builds an incredible bond between yourself and your new puppy; and teaches your dog the skills he or she needs to be the best adventure dog!
Puppies can have a hard time adapting to a new home every few months, so exposure to a variety of homes immediately is a great way to prepare them! Help your puppy know that your presence is their safe place. Crate training also helps build a safe spot for your pup!
My biggest piece of advice is to make sure you remember you have committed to be the dog mom or dog dad to your pup for the next 15 years! Think about where you will be in 15 years; consider your budget over the next few years and remember that your pup becomes a prioritiy the moment they pop into your life! Many people underestimate how much work a new puppy is: they are just like babies, in many ways. I would also encourage all travelers to consider rescuing a pup! Chloe was rescued from a river and though she had her moments of anxiety; now she has traveled all over the United States (37 states!) And loves every moment of her traveling dog life. ♡
So what do you think- are you going to become a dog parent while traveling? Did I miss any important tips you’ve learned? I hope you all have many happy trails and happy tails!
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