HuskyResources.com

Safe Travel with Your Husky

This page looks at ways to keep your dog happy while traveling in a van or a car. Travel can be stressful for dogs, and although huskies and sled dogs are generally good travellers, they may be nervous initially, or get Travel Sick.

The most important things to remember in order to make your journeys as safe and comfortable as possible are to:

MAKE SURE YOUR DOG IS SECURE

It is important that your dog is secure within the vehicle. If they are not, they may climb all over you, or even out of the window. This is obviously a dangerous situation - In order to avoid endangering your dog, or allow your dog to cause you distraction while driving, you should make sure the dog is either in a DOG BOX or CRATE, or secure behind a DOG GUARD. Car Crates are more suitable for some cars than standard crates. Dog Guards are a good option, but be aware that, unlike crates, they do not contain the dog when the trunk is open.

KEEP CALM

Driving can be stressful at the best of times. If our dogs are being noisy or or acting up, we can all get more stressed out. Dogs will pick up on this added stress and react to it, which exacerbates the situation. Obviously, if your dog is distressed or needs attention, find the nearest SAFE place to stop. Until it is possible to do so, keep as calm as you can.

BE PREPARED

It is very important to have some idea of how you would deal with a road emergency if you are travelling with dogs.

• How will you keep the dog secure if you need to take him/her out of the car?
• Who will you call if you break down? - Does your recovery service offer transport for dogs?

Transporting Dogs

It is vital to make sure that your dog is secure inside your vehicle, preferably in a crate or secured behind a dog-guard. Seat-Belts are available for dogs, although we've never used them so can't recommend them personally (one concern would be that a sled dog might well chew through any fabric restraints).
Keeping your dog secure in this way is not only safer for the dog, but also for you and other road users. A dog that is free to jump around the car may cause you to become distracted, and a danger to yourself and others. We have also heard of unrestrained huskies suddenly jumping out of open car windows when stopped at traffic lights - keeping your dog safely contained should avert the risk of this happening.

Do remember before you set out with your dog that it may well get wet and muddy, in which case you will want a couple of old towels with you in your vehicle.

Travel Sickness

Dogs, and especially puppies, often get travel sick until such times as they have become accustomed to car journeys. In fact, every puppy we've ever had has spent the journey back to our home drooling and throwing up all over us! Don't be too alarmed by this happening - it's pretty standard. Do prepare for this to happen - when you pick up your new puppy or dog, take along lots of kitchen towel, plastic bags, wet-wipes and a couple of old bath towels or blankets. Ask the breeder or previous owner NOT to feed the puppy or dog for a couple of hours before you pick it up. It will probably be sick anyway, but maybe a bit less-so if not recently fed.

Preparing For Emergencies

Whenever we are out in a vehicle with our dogs, we always make sure to have a stakeout pin and chains that can safely hold all the dogs we have with us. We make sure of this in case we are in a road accident. If you are travelling with dogs, it's really important to prepare for situations where you may need to evacuate them quickly from your car or van. A crash on the highway may seem unlikely, but if it happens the key priorities are obviously to make sure any passengers and dogs are safe, which may mean moving them away from the vehicle. Even in the event of a breakdown, you may need to take your dogs out of your car or van, and having some way to keep them safe and secure is invaluable in such a situation. We ensure to have metal chains with us, as in an emergency situation the dogs may be stressed and attempt to chew though fabric leads or ropes.

We would highly recommend that all owners carry a First Aid Kit in their vehicle. More information on First Aid Kits can be found on our First Aid Page and our page on Preparing for Emergencies.