Thursday, September 23, 2010

Travelling With an Old Dog - Arthritis Care for Dogs Travel

Tips for Travelling With an Older Dog

As our dogs age they need extra care, older dogs suffer with joint pain, many dogs suffer with arthritis and older dogs need extra comfort when travelling. Consider a soft bed for arthritic dogs, and add hot and cold pads for dogs to help with swollen and sore joints too.

Our dog Brodie had terrible arthritis and we wanted to help him with his pain, he was mentally alert and a happy dog who loved to greet us and follow us around as a faithful dog does. But we could notice the change as our beautiful Samoyed Husky dog aged. Dogs hide their illness well, it is their natural course of survival; weak dogs and any animals in nature become prey if they show weakness and even though our pet dogs are domesticated, dogs will do the same.

So be aware if you dogs begins to withdraw and take your dog to the veterinary for check ups more often as they age and cconsider an extra comfortable ortho dog bed and take the weight off your pets joints.

Brodie was given arthritis medication but we wanted to do whatever we could to make him as comfortable as possible, bought a heated dog bed large  Dolce Vita Traveler Heated Back Bench Seat Cover for Pets, pads, a natural remedy joint support mix for arthritis and lots of hugs and treats as any dog deserves the best.

Water Gear for Dogs - Life Jackets for Dogs- Large-Medium - Small Dogs

Dogs Love Water - Swimming and Boating with a Dog

As much as dogs like to swim just like people many dogs are not good swimmers. We have a beautiful Leonberg dog, Leonbergs are trained for water rescue,to jump out of helicopters and rescue people in the roughest of seas, but if they have not been swimmers from a pup it doesn't mean they will be natural swimmers over night.

If you plan on taking a dog swimming or especially if you plan to go boating with a dog a life jacket flotation device for your dog is a must. A life jacket makes sense for you and your children so why not a dog safety life jacket for your dog; your pet can be knocked unconscious and potentially drown so a dog flotation vest device can save your pets life.

Follow the Amazon guidelines to measuring a pet for a flotation jacket, and for extra safety for a dog look at the reflective flotation neon orange pet jacket.

Check out the pet flotation devices from Amazon, many dog life jackets are on sale and a must for the travelling pet safety kit.

Camping With Your Dog - Travel Accessories for Your Dog

How to Keep Your Dog Safe - Camping Tips for Dogs

Don't leave Fido at home, your dog will love a camping trip. Taking your pet camping is a fun experience but be prepared for special preparation for your pets camping needs. Remember this will be a new environment for your dogs and you will need to make extra precautions to keep your  pet safe.

Here are tips to help prepare for camping with dogs.

Safe Pet Metal Pen - Buy a safe travel pen, this will stop your pet from wandering where he should not go and getting lost, a dog should never be left to wander anywhere, there is potential for a pet to get lost, poisoned or even worse get run over by an unsuspecting driver.

Identification for Pets - Your pets needs identification dog tags with your address clearly marked with the tag attached to the dogs collar.

In Case Your Pet Gets Lost - Have a picture if your dogs and even a few laminated posters made up with a picture of your dog with your contact information in case your dog should wander off by accident. Don't forget the sticky tape or even a stronger packing tape to attach posters to walls and posts.

Prepare a list with important telephone numbers should your pet wander off; local pet shelters, pounds, city animal control and veterinaries.

Make sure your dog is vaccinated and all shots are up to date. When you are camping the likelihood of wild animals being in the area is high and many wild animals carry disease harmful to your dog.

Prepare for an Emergency - We never want an animal emergency but we need to be prepared for a quick response should a pet accident occur. Prepare a list of the local veterinaries near the camp area in case of a pet emergency. Dogs are tempted by all kinds of yummy things, a dog can get into foods scraps left by campers which can be toxic to a dog or dogs may get sick from eating remains of another animal found in the wilderness. If you use a fold up travel pet pen you can save yourself heartache and keep your dog from harm if you use am affordable pet travel pen.

Keep your dog hydrated - with a travel bowl or a water drip attached to the pet pen. It is easy for a pet to get dehydrated in the sun or even from the extra panting dogs do when excited or under stress. Yes dogs stress too, they are in new surroundings and as we are used to our beds so are dogs, they love to travel with you but reassure your dog that he is safe and be patient with your dog if he is fussy and takes time to settle.

Keep your dog out of extreme temperature, in the sun provide a dog shade and in a cooler temperature take a lightweight portable dog house to protect your dog from the cold.

Have fun and travel with your pet often.