We will be getting a Springerdoodle pup in August and want to start to take him in the van as soon as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to keep him (and us!) safe while travelling. The van has a rear u-shaped lounge, no dinette and no rear seatbelts so not sure how we could secure a crate or use a harness. He should be small enough to sleep in the passenger footwell but I don't think that's ideal. Any ideas?
I would recommend a crate, we got our labradoodle in July last year and took her away for the 1st time in August for two weeks to Cornwall. I initially did not like the idea of a crate but our doodle loved hers and got used to very quickly.
try a dog travel harness and clip to something else. If needed could you get someone to attach D rings to any rear chairs. With luck your puppy will sleep when travelling anyway.
We have a crate for our 2 dogs, on our first trip ( we bought our first motorhome last October) we put our disabled dog in a crate and our 18month puppy on the back seat with a seat belt attachment and harness, but she didn't like it and now travels happily in the crate with her "brother", and consequently sleeps for the whole journey, so would definately recommend a crate. Our crate fits snugly behind the front passenger seat.
We have a german short haired pointer and we recently purchased a Clix car safe harness which seems very good, it simply plugs into a rear seat belt socket, providing you have them if not I'm sure it could be secured to something else maybe.
Thanks for the replies. We are getting a crate to use in the house and so will try that, just need to find a way to secure it as we just have a central isle down the middle of the van. I'm also a bit concerned that he won't be able to see out and that could make him travel sick. I also like the harness idea but would need to look at ways to fasten it as we have no rear seat belts. We'll try the crate first and see how we go, first trip with him planned for when he'll be about 14wks old.
If you do get a crate, introduce your puppy slowly, leave the door open for about a few days till the puppy gets used to his new home, i fed my puppy in it to, so he saw it as a positive experience. enjoy your new puppy.
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Topic: Travelling with a puppy
