Travelling Without Your Dog
Oh No. No Dogs Allowed.
Let’s face it, we all need a vacay or that getaway and with so many restrictions and considerations, traveling with your dog is not often allowed, let alone easy. It’s downright difficult. And inadvertently, you have to leave your baby back home. And there’s no reason to feel guilty about leaving your dog behind, by the way. Many people travel without their pet for many reasons:
Not wanting to subject your dog to flying as cargo.
Concerns about behavior on the airplane and in the airport.
Extra safety precautions and frequent potty stops on air travel or car trips.
Pet fees and other restrictions at pet-friendly hotels.
Complicated international travel requirements for pets.
1. Where Will Your Dog Stay?
A) Have Your Dog Stay Home
If it is possible, have your dog’s caretaker or sitter, stay at your home with your dog. This minimizes the changes to your dog’s environment, allowing them to feel, well, right at home! Here, your dog will have access to all its favorite things - bed, toys, etc. It’s also easier since everything is right there. So not only do you get a dog sitter, you have a house sitter as well. Make things comfortable for your dog sitter as well by ensuring your fridge is well stocked, they know all the good food in your area and that how to navigate your home from the bed to the toilet and the kitchen. It is important to share your wifi access and how to work the TV and other gadgets in the house. If your dog sitter is comfortable, your dog will be too. Don’t forget to share with them how to prepare your dog’s meals, and the walking route, if you can’t do it in a map, then maybe take pics/vids along the key route to guide them along or maybe even take them on a route beforehand. Also refer to the list in point 2.
B) At Your Dog Sitter’s Home
This means less orientation and prep work. They know their home best. But you need to provide your dog sitter an idea on how long your dog needs to walk, frequency and any quirks they may not know of if they have never lived with your dog. Kuro will scratch the main door when she wants to go out to pee/poo and how furiously she does it suggests her urgency. But she lies sometimes. Then you have to transport everything to their home. Here’s a quick check list of the things you’ll need to make them feel comfortable in a different home.
Your Dogs Favorite Things
• Pet bowls - you want to make sure they eat off the same bowls to avoid any large environmental shifts that would make them feel uncomfortable.
• Pet food - Do make sure you provide everything your dog needs, be it their kibbles or the raw food they need cooked, the more meal prep you do, the easier and better it is for both your sitter and your dog. Don’t forget their Kuro Snacks!
• Pet beds - Make sure they have their bed with them, if you are using a crate setup for their bed time, then you need to replicate that set up at your dog sitter’s home.
• Pet toys - They will have their favorites, ensure you bring some over so they can let off a bit of stress every now and then.
• Other pet essentials - If your dog uses pet blankets, pet pillows, or pet shoes, do make sure you prepare at least some of them make them feel comfortable at home.
• You - Well, not literally you, but make sure you also provide a t-shirt you’ve worn before you left for at least the day or a couple of hours (without much dirt or perspiration preferably) that’s still rather clean but has your scent. This will help put your dog at east as well.
C) Kennel or VET
Kennels are the most fuss-free and non emotional way to accommodate your dog when you’re away. Quite often, if your dog is absolutely fuss-free, gets along with anyone and any other pet, this is a truly blessed option. However, in Singapore, this can be a really expensive method as well! Depending on the size of your dog and the space it requires for its room, it can start to rake up a hefty bill based on a high daily fee. Often, most kennels these days also do not provide food as part of their fee, that’s an extra charge if they buy, prep and cook for you. But some may want you to do the meal prep and provide that to them. So if your dog is on a cooked food diet and not kibbles, this may require a little extra effort. If your dog is not fuss free, this can be a very painful experience for them, they are in an unfamiliar place with tons of strangers and they no longer feel like they are in control. Also, they all have varying facilities and all these can drive up the cost even more.
2. Your Dog 101
Only you know your dog best. Even your best friend may not know all the ins and outs with your dog. It’s important to provide them this list of essentials:
• A folder with your dog’s vaccination, medical history, vet and pet insurance information.
• How much you feed your dog and when
• How often you want water freshened
• How often you walk them
• How many treats and what type to offer
• Favorite games and toys
• Medication schedule and amount
• Triggers or reactions and what to do
• Groomers information
• Nearest emergency vet
• And any other specific quirks
3. Meet & Greet or Trial
For us humans, it’s easier for us to communicate with one another, even if it’s with a stranger in a foreign place. Well, it’s probably one of the reasons why we travel in the first place. For our dogs, recognize that they did not choose for us to travel and leave them in the care of someone else. What would be great to do, is to organise meet and greets with your dog sitter or even run a trial with the sitter or kennel when you’re not actually traveling. This not only allows your dog to get a bit of experience with their caretakers while you’re away, it also sets your mind at ease that whilst you’re away, things will work out. Both your dog and you get the peace of mind while you satisfy your wanderlust.
At the end of the day, it’s all good if you plan your vacays well. Sure there might be some last minute things or changes you can’t control, but if you do your best, that’s all anyone can ask of you.
Don’t forget your travel insurance! Trust Bank has a promotion with income. You can get an additional 8% off Travel Insurance Standard Plans on top of any discounts they have if you pay using your Trust card. What’s more you can get an extra 5% off pet insurance, Enhanced Home Insurance, that covers your pet as well in addition to Home Ultimate Protect, and so many more.
Trust Bank
So with Trust Bank, what we really like is the ability to save more with the FairPrice Group. This helps us with our daily necessities, which not only feeds us, but Kuro as well.
Here are the Core Benefits for Trust Bank:
Earn up to 2.5% Interest Per Annum on the first $125,000 deposit (to get up to 2.5% you need to be an NTUC Member).
On top of that, get to enjoy savings of up to 21% on groceries and food with the FairPrice Group with the credit card.
And enjoy up to 20% off fuel savings with Caltex as well!
And so many other rewards.
Please note that this is not affiliated or sponsored in any way, so we would appreciate that if you do want to sign up with Trust Bank, use our referral code J39KW4FZ when you sign up, so that you get started with a free S$10 FairPrice E-Voucher. and we will get one as well (full transparency, we need to feed Kuro as well).
Also, make sure you feed your cat or dog the very best from Kuro Snacks:
