Are You Ready to Plan Your Awesome PawCation?
Fantastic! We have LOTS of Tips to Help you Prepare!
Step 1: Where Would You like to Go? Brainstorm your Dog Friendly Travel Wish List Ideas and Write Them Down
After you’ve created a nice list of places you’d live to visit, check the distance and weather to see what the best months are to take your dog. We recommend avoiding “extremes” so you and your pup can enjoy daytime outings and PawVentures safely.
Step 2: Google “Dog Friendly (area you want to vacation)”
Do this for every destination and see what pops up and save them in your map app and write them down.
Step 3: Call and Look up the Websites for the Visitor Center for each Destination
(They have the BEST kept secrets)! Ask for recommendations on the best time to visit with your dog!
Step 4: Check Alltrails.com and Bringfido.com
Guess What??? Scooby is featured in Bring Fido’s Lakefront Vacations with Fido blog when he was Pawcationing at Tamarack Lodge in Mammoth! We’re so proud! Use Alltrails and Bring Fido to Research the Variety of Highly Rated Walks, Hikes and Dog-Friendly Venues and…you guessed it…add them to your Wish List!
Step 5: Ask Your Accommodations for Best Dog Friendly Ideas!
Be sure to ask them for the best times to visit with your dog as well! They know the trends – when it’s crowded, too hot, etc. Add those ideas to your wish list!
Final Step: You’ve Created Your Master Dog Friendly Travel Wish List! WooHoo!
You’ve collected some super fun and useful information to help you create a Master Dog Travel Wish List for your Location! Bonus: Map your route and check for super cool things along the way! There are typically some super cool attractions and historical sites and makers to add to the fun!
Review all of your notes to see what makes sense for the month you want to travel. Often your favorite destinations will divide themselves apart based on time of year, weather, crowds, etc. Tip: We typically pawcation during “shoulder” seasons to avoid crowds and noise!
Keep your Master Dog Friendly Travel Wish List so you can add / delete information to plan future and annual dog friendly vacations around the best times to visit with your pups!
Before you Go…Is there Internet at Your Destination?
Once you’ve determined your vacation destination, check out the internet situation. If internet access is limited or completely unavailable, do the majority of your PawVenture & PawCation planning way ahead of time so you can focus on fun and relaxing! Even if internet should be readily available, it’s always best to have an overall list of things you want to see or do so you’re not surfin’ the web on PawCation. This way you can spend your evenings in the moment…cooking, reading a book, watching your Steve McQueen DVD’s (it’s our ritual), star gazing and being present in your vacation locale. Once you get settled you can add and delete to your vacation list as you go but an overall list will keep you organized.
Once You Arrive: Ask for Best Dog-Friendly Recommendations Again AND Ask the Locals!
You will usually learn about something super special not on any list specific your vacation tiiming!
Prepare for Your Destination Specifics in Advance
For Instance, Are You Going into High Elevation?
If so, plan no / little activities on your arrival day and probably on Day 2. Relax, hydrate and take in the scenery and sounds! Keep salt for water or your electrolyte drink of choic handy an have some Tylenol or Advil handy. The first couple of days in high altitude are taxing on your breathing & lungs (and your pup’s) so, ease your way into it.
Scooby always had altitude sickness as soon as he arrived to every mountain location. Barf City within the first 30 minutes of arrival. Yes, pup’s get altitude sickness, heart racing, etc. too. Mom gets a major headache for the first couple of days. So, keep an eye on your people and pups to see how they are doing and plan low key activities accordingly (scenic drives fishing, reading, taking scenic pics, grocery shopping, star gazing, etc) .
Will there be other destination-specific concerns or things you should be aware of? Ask your accomodations if there is anything you may experience and do a little extra research and plan accordingly.
How Do I Pack Dog Food for Vacation?
Research before you leave if there are grocery stores, pet stores or (open) restaurants near your destination. If so, you can do extra food shopping once you arrive. Regardless of the food situation, Mom prefers to shop the day before we leave and load all our food in our iceless car cooler the night before and just before we leave. This way we can relax the first couple of days of Pawcation with our Favowite foods and everything we need! (Sometimes as a bonus there may be a famous” people diner, etc., on our route so check for that before you leave)! Mom usually stops to pick up some special “local” treats to have handy on vacation!
Be sure to take dog food to cover EVERY Day of Vacation PLUS a couple of extra days – so you have backup. It’s always fun to make some bonus dog friendly roasted or steamed veggies, eggs, fish and maybe some rice as a dog food topper to make it REALLY seem like Pawcation. If you are not use to these doggy yummies check with your vet first AND eat them at home well in advance of your vacation to test it out so you don’t have any potty surprises on PawCation!
Quick Links to Our Top Amazon Recommendations
Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links which means we earn a little commission if you make a purchase using our links – at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products that we really WUV and hope you will too! THANK YOOOO for supporting our blog!
One of Mom’s Favowite purchases an Igloo Iceless Cooler. She says it’s AMAZING! You pre-chill it 3 hours at home (or the night before) via an outlet, pack cold food in it then plug it into a cigarette lighter in your car and BAM! No more iced or soggy food (or wet car) when we arrive to vacation!
Summer Trippin’
Prepare for heat, scorching sun, hot (or cold) nights, wind and mosquitos! Mom likes non-toxic sunscreen and bug repellant for people and doggies. Dogs need different products than people so be careful! SPF on Dog Noses is an important consideration if you’re going to be outdoors for several hours.
Also, make sure your people pack hats, bandanas to block the sun, layers, hiking boots, hiking sandals and Multi-level (zip off leg) hiking pants with lots of pockets so you have a short / pant options. Mom takes hiking boots AND hiking Tevas and opts for the Tevas most often during the day. If you think you will be walking or hiking through streams or puddles, hiking sandals are the ticket! No wet socks, boots – or blisters! Doggy hiking boots would be a great option if you have paw pad concerns. Please let us know if you have a dog boots / shoe that stays on that pups like! Tip: Wear your human shoes and dog boots at home so you don’t have any unexpected painful surprises.
Don’t Forget These People and Dog Travel Essentials!
- Favorite Dog Bed(s) and Toys
- Camera Gear! (Camera, Lenses, Batteries, Battery Charger, Memory Cards, Tripod and Timer remote) See our Favowites in Amazon
- Bear Spray, Pepper Gel or Mace (Big 5 carries them too ). We haven’t had to use it but the extra security is nice.
- Flashlights! (Take 2)!
- Dry shampoo – Mom says this is so much easier and faster than washing your hair daily!
- If it’s HOT – For ladies, Cargo Skorts! Skorts with lots of pockets are perfect for Summer and Athleta skorts (get ones with zippered pockets if possible) dry extra fast.
- Books! Typically the internet and cell reception (if you get it at all) is spotty and all that extra blue light is the opposite for relaxing. Books are perfect for relaxing in a chair by a stream or lake or before bedtime. Check out our favorites!
- DVD’s (if you have a laptop with a DVD player – or portalable DVD). Scooby and Mom started a tradition of watching Steve McQueen movies on their pawcations in the Eastern Sierra and we WUV it! If you don’t have a DVD player / laptop, you may want to buy / download some cool movies to playback without the internet if possible.
- Dog Treats for YOUR DOG and to share with other pups! It’s always fun to share treats with new FWIENDS if their Pawrents are ok with it…I mean, it is PAWCATION afterall!
- Layers for your Pup – Blankets, T-shirts, Coats and maybe even socks! If it gets cold at night you and your pups can wrap up like a burritos in your fav clothes and blankies!
Need a Place to Keep All of Your Dog Friendly Vacation Notes?
We got you covered! We WUV Planning Pawcation so much that Mom created our own Scoobylife by PawVentures® Printable Dog Travel Checklists and Vacation Journals.
If you WUV Books, Mom and Scooby created our Scoobylife by PawVentures® Travel Journals. Our Travel Planners and Vacation Journals are small enough to fit in your backpack or bag so you can jot down your most memorable activities, places, people and pups while on the go!