Not a Cavalier mom yet, but soon!!!

[Sweetcavalier]

I want to ask sth. If u have to carry your cavalier with you would u choose a soft carrier or a plastic one? And in a travel with ship for four hours what should I do and because she's going to be a puppy what should I have with me and where she would pee(the ship doesn't have soil) and should I have it out of her carrier and and... Ouff so anxious. Do you have any similar experience or any advice? Thank you very much

[Lani]

On a ship, will she be under your seat? or just sitting near you? Can she come out and sit on your lap part of the time or in the carrier the whole time?

I would think of future travel you may do with her. Will you be taking public transit or in your own car? If you would be taking buses or subways or possibly flying with her under the seat, then a soft sided carrier. For car trips, I'd consider a plastic carrier or a metal crate. I have a metal crate for my guys at home and they love to go in there to get some quiet! I had a nice fabric cover made for it. And I also have crates for long car rides. (we use seat belt restraints for short car rides)

[Sweetcavalier]

In the ship will be in a place like living room so the space will be big. Because cavalier is a small breed they are allowed inside the ship also i can take her in the ships deck.but is somebody requests putting her back I'll have to do it. Also, in sea travels because of her age she will have to pee, what should I do in that case?and also what plastic size carrier would be the best and should i have things in it like toys and dog diapers?P. S i don't drive because I'm 15 but our transports will be with car and thank you for answering

[MomObvious]

Alright, they me see if I understand this clearly. You will have your puppy when you travel to your summer house, which is a 2 hour car trip then a 4 hour boat ride?

You should go with a hard plastic travel crate because of the heat I would try to get one that has the most holes for air flow (they do make them with doors on both sides which would be great for air flow) I would buy the biggest size you can travel with, after all your puppy will grow up and you will need to use this travel crate all the time. Then lay out an old towel then a puppy pad on the bottom of the trave for travel. Puppy pads are better I think for travel because they are disposible if she pees on one just replace it as soon a possible. You are going to need to travel with several puppy pads, a few old towels, her water, food, toys, harness and leash. Remember don't ever put a dog inside any kind of crate with a collar/harness on. Traveling with a puppy id just like traveling with a baby, they need their own "diaper bag" and they require you to bring a lot of things just in case. If you have time between the car and boat I would get her out and walk her around some, hopefully she will pee and poop then. Remember water, water, water if its hot outside. Puppies sleep a lot so I bet yours will sleep most of the trip anyway.

My cavalier travels very well. I have taken him everywhere with me since the day I got him. He gets VERY excited when I put out his travel crate and hops right in.

[Sweetcavalier]

You understood it very well . And there will be about 40-1 hour waiting for the ship to come and in the port it has cafeterias and huge space to walk her . The boat travel is the one that concerns me :/. Also, when should I feed her ? Because she will be a puppy I can hug her during the travel but not in the whole

[MomObvious]

I would try to feed her on her regular feeding schedule as best a possible (just like you would a human baby) You should check to rule on the ship about pets. In the US a pet would HAVE to remain in the travel crate the whole time. But I have found cavalier puppy's are so cute sometimes people don't care if you break the rules sometimes You have chosen a great breed for travel. We have taken Fletcher camping and even kayaking, he is happy anywhere as long as he's with us.

[Sweetcavalier]

In the specific ship puppies-small dogs-ill dogs-guide dogs are allowed inside the ship and can be outside their crate. Big dogs, agreesive ones have to be in the ships deck the whole time. Also thats one of the reasons we chose it ! That we can take it I everywhere

[cpell009]

I travelled with Lady by airplane when she was about six months old. I bought the Sleepypod soft carrying bag, it has mesh over the top and sides so it breathes very well, it also has a couple different straps which makes it really easy and comfortable to carry. I also like that the sides clip back at different spots so you can have it semi-open or fully open. They have some different models too since you dont need to meet airline restrictions. http://sleepypod.com/air . Its a quality product that uses very strong fabrics on the outside, and a soft plush padding on the inside. Another good thing about this bag is they sell pee pads that fit right pefectly the bag, they're very thick and will easily absorb any accidents she has. At six months Lady didnt end up having any accidents, she was in the bag maybe for a total of 3-4 hours but I took her out when we were in the terminal.

There are pros and cons to hard-sided versus soft sided. I just like the soft-sided since its more portable and can be used for all sorts of travel. The hard ones are more durable though and are more easily disinfected. Another con to the soft-sided is that if you end up with a bigger cav he/she may not fit in the soft-sided once they are full grown.

When you get your puppy you could start training her with training pads. I did that with Lady when I first got her and she got used to using them so when we travelled she could go on those if there wasnt grass around. Once the puppy gets older and can hold it longer you wont need them anymore.

Also you might want to be carefull about feeding your dog right before a car trip. Gracie gets carsick quite easily so I dont feed her if we are going to be in the car for more than about 20 minutes. If car-sickness or boatsickness is something that happens to your puppy though you can discuss with you vet and get a dosage for baby gravol.

[Sweetcavalier]

Also because cavaliers tend to be obese what treats should I use in training? And because she won't have all her puppy shots how am I going to socialize her? Thank you very much

[cpell009]

You could actually just use kibble for training as well, but I use Zuke's Super greens or Zuke's mini-training treats. They're made with quality ingredients and are small for training. You could even cut up some celery or carrot, or other fruit or veggie for something with less calories.

To socialize a puppy without shots, personally I just had Lady around dogs I knew, and knew they were vaccinated. Some people say to not even bring the dog outside until the third round of vaccinations, which I think is a bit of overkill. Dont bring the puppy to any dog parks and if you're on a walk dont let a stranger's dog interact with yours. Once all the vaccinations are complete you can put the puppy in an obedience class which will really help with training and socializing, and in general you can just be less careful about the puppy interacting with other dogs. Depending on what age your breeder lets the puppies go home, you might not even have all that long to wait.