Trouble-Free Road Trips with Pets

In this exciting episode, Amy Castro invites pet travel expert Amy Burkert, founder of GoPetFriendly.com, to share invaluable tips for hitting the road with your furry companions. Whether you're dreaming of a pet-friendly road trip or seeking practical advice for traveling with your pets, this conversation has you covered. From preparing your pets for car travel to packing essentials and finding pet-friendly accommodations, Amy and Amy offer expert insights to ensure a smooth and enjoyable journey. Don't miss out on this ultimate guide to pet-friendly travel!

Shoutout: Check out GoPetFriendly.com for travel destinations, advice, and helpful information about living your best life while traveling with your pets!

Transcript

Trouble-Free Road Trips with Pets

[00:00:00] Announcer: Welcome to the Starlight Pet Talk Podcast, where we'll talk about and explore ways to help pet parents and future pet parents. Learn everything they need to know. Do you have a happy and healthy relationship with their pet? So sit up and stay for Starlight Pet Talk Rescue Adoption and pet parenting done right.

[00:00:25] Amy Castro: If you're a fan of Starlight Pet Talk, you'll love our new line of merchandise. We have t-shirts, hoodies, and more, all featuring your favorite podcast, logos and Designs. Plus, we're offering a limited number of Starlight outreach and rescue items where a portion of the proceeds go directly to Animal Rescue.

[00:00:41] Amy Castro: Our merchandise is the perfect way to show your support for your favorite pet, podcast, and animal rescue at the same time. So what are you waiting for? Just visit our website at www.starlightpettalk.com to order your merchandise today. Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk. I'm your host, Amy Castro, and one of the struggles many people have, especially when it comes to coming into the summer travel season, is what do I do with my pets?

[00:01:08] Announcer: Traditionally, that question has sent many of us scrambling to find kennels or pet sitters that we trust, and then worrying the whole time that we're gone about what's happening to our pets. But what if we could take our pets with us on vacations or visits to family? So my guest today is Amy Bier. And in 2009, Amy launched Go Pet-Friendly, which is a website that inspires people to do more with their pets and provides resources they need to make that happen.

[00:01:35] Announcer: With more than 65,000 pet-friendly listings across the US and Canada, go pet-friendly. Makes it easy to find pet-friendly places to stay and things to do once you get there. After launching, go Pet-Friendly. Amy and her husband Rod traveled full-time in their Winnebago, kind of a dream of mine with their dogs for more than 12 years.

[00:01:56] Announcer: So she really knows what to do when it comes to traveling with pets with 200,000 miles behind her. Amy shares pet-friendly destination advice and practical pet travel tips on the Go Pet friendly blog. So Amy, thank you so much for being here with us today to share your information about traveling with our pets.

[00:02:15] Amy Burkert: Absolutely my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Awesome. 

[00:02:19] Amy Castro: So obviously you spent 12 years living in a Winnebago with your pets, but what made you kind of start traveling with your dogs as opposed to doing what we all kind of traditionally have done, which is to leave 'em behind. 

[00:02:31] Amy Burkert: For us, we had dogs that were not easy to leave behind.

[00:02:34] Amy Burkert: So we had dogs with medical conditions, some behavioral issues. One of our dogs was afraid of strangers, so it was very difficult to find comfortable boarding situations for him. And we just decided that, uh, when, and then like you said in the intro, like when we were gone, if we did find someplace that we could board him and we felt comfortable with it, even then, we were still worried the whole time that we were gone.

[00:02:56] Amy Burkert: About what might be happening or how he would be adjusting to the situation. And so we just decided that it really was more stressful going on vacation without the dogs than if we, than if we took them with us. So yeah, that's why we decided to start traveling with him. Yeah. 

[00:03:13] Amy Castro: Yeah. It kind kind of defeats the purpose to set up a vacation and then be stressed out the whole time that you're gone.

[00:03:19] Amy Burkert: Yeah, it really didn't make any sense. So worked out a lot better to just take 'em with us and what we found over time was that we really had a lot more fun with them as well. We did things that we probably wouldn't have done if we didn't have the dogs with us, like we were more active on our trips. We got to see more things because where we might have just decided to hang by the pool for the day.

[00:03:41] Amy Burkert: If it had been just Rod and I. That wasn't gonna work with the dogs, so we needed to find hiking trails or find scenic train rides, or rent a canoe and go paddle around a lake for an afternoon because those were the kinds of things that the dogs enjoyed doing and, and that we were all gonna be happier for at the end of the vacation.

[00:04:01] Amy Burkert: Right? We got to see a lot more and do a lot more because we have them with us. 

[00:04:05] Amy Castro: Yeah, you know, I wouldn't have thought about it that way and maybe I'm just not as active a person. But I guess the few times that I've traveled with our dogs, it was more a matter of worrying about where, worrying about leaving them in the rv.

[00:04:18] Amy Castro: And we're not gonna talk obviously only about RV travel, but that's, you know, that's kind of been my. Lone experience of, of traveling with pets has been with the rv and a lot of times it was almost out of necessity, like, we're going to visit family and it's, and we're gonna take the RV anyway, so let's bring the pets.

[00:04:36] Amy Castro: But the dogs kind of got left behind. So I hadn't really thought about, you know, thinking about it from the standpoint of doing more things versus fewer things when it comes to bringing our pets along. So that kind of brings up a good question. So if a person was going to travel with their pets, is it choosing the destination and then figuring out whether the pets are gonna fit with the destination?

[00:04:58] Amy Castro: Or do you find people are looking more and more to choose a pet friendly destination first and then plan their trip around that? 

[00:05:06] Amy Burkert: That's really what we find. I mean, sometimes people have a general idea in mind, like they're interested in going to the beach, so they're gonna look for a pet friendly beach.

[00:05:14] Amy Burkert: Or they're interested in seeing some of the national parks, for example, they wanna take a road trip and hit a few national parks. Well, there are some national parks that are a lot more pet friendly than others. So if you are making that kind of decision is they kind of have like an idea of what they want, but you can tailor it in a way that makes it.

[00:05:35] Amy Burkert: More enjoyable with your pets if you choose destinations that are pet friendly. That's not to say that there's not pet friendly thing to do any place you'd wanna go. If you do, you just have to do a little bit more research, obviously. But you can always find something pet friendly to do. But yeah, I mean, it is easier.

[00:05:50] Amy Burkert: Like for example, let's take Yellowstones for example. Mm-hmm. Right? Yellow, none of the trails at Yellowstone are pet friendly. That's hugely, hugely popular. Rod and I spent a lot of time around Yellowstone looking at the areas outside of the National Park so that we could identify, okay, maybe you did one day in the park and then you did the next day outside of the park and here are all the pet friendly things to do on the west side of Yellowstone.

[00:06:14] Amy Burkert: And then you did the next day in Yellowstone and maybe then you did the next day, the following day on the north side of Yellowstone. And so here's all of the pet friendly things that you can find to do on on that day. No matter where you wanna go. You can always find a balance of things. To do, but I think it can be easier if you sort of start with a destination that has more pet-friendly options available.

[00:06:34] Amy Castro: Yeah, that, that totally makes sense. Do you feel like there are certain dogs that are more suited to this? Like you said, you, you've had concerns about leaving your dogs behind because you know, medical issues or anxiety issues, or the one that wasn't good with strangers or new people. Is that something that a person should take into consideration when they're deciding whether to bring their pet with them when they travel?

[00:06:54] Amy Castro: Absolutely. 

[00:06:55] Amy Burkert: I think it's important always to think about your pet's limitations and abilities. And what they're comfortable with, what they're most comfortable with. Generally, our pets are most comfortable being with us regardless of the situation. They're generally most comfortable being with us. There are some pets who would prefer not to travel, even if it would mean that they're not gonna be with us.

[00:07:16] Amy Burkert: Like there's a small handful of pets that would rather just stay home, even if you're not gonna be there. If you've decided, okay, my pet would rather be with me than not, so we're gonna take him on vacation. Mm-hmm. Then you can start to think through, okay. Is New York City a good 

[00:07:30] Amy Castro: idea for my pet? That's exactly what I was thinking about.

[00:07:33] Amy Castro: Cities. Yeah. 

[00:07:34] Amy Burkert: In the Rocky Mountains. A better idea for my pet based on his abilities and limitations. Right. And what's he gonna enjoy more. But, but the thing is too, I wanna, I wanna say that our dogs that we traveled, we started traveling with, we traveled the first 10 years with Ty and Buster of our adventure.

[00:07:52] Amy Burkert: So, um, they were not easy dogs. Neither one of them. Buster was leak reactive. Ty was afraid of strangers. It was they, you know, they were not easy dog to travel with. And you don't have to have a perfectly behaved dog to be able to travel with them. And I think that it's important to understand that traveling itself is a learning experience for you both.

[00:08:14] Amy Burkert: It's an opportunity to build your dog's confidence. It's an opportunity to. To extend their training. It's an opportunity to bond and work on overcoming some of the challenges that they have. Over the years, Buster got much, much better with his LE activity. If I had waited to start traveling with Buster until he was completely not leash reactive, we never would've gone anywhere.

[00:08:35] Amy Burkert: Mm, that's a good point. But, but we, we, we thought ahead, we planned ahead. We managed the situations as best we could. We did our very best. Now, I'm not gonna say we were always successful, but we did the very best that we could. And over time, both dogs improved with their behavioral challenges. So I just don't want people to think that they have to have the perfectly behaved dog before they go anywhere.

[00:09:00] Amy Burkert: There's always a way. To manage a situation to make it so that your dog can be successful. So I just answered an email this morning from a woman who's having trouble with her dog barking when they go out to eat, and I'm like, okay, so start with a picnic. Start with picnics. Find a picnic table in a park, something.

[00:09:18] Amy Burkert: You know, open space where if your dog barks, it's not gonna be irritating. You know everybody who's paying to sit on this patio at this restaurant, right? You know, your nerves are calmer. So go to a park, make it as much like the restaurant experience as possible, and start training there. Take what your dog can do and work with that and build on it over time so that you can all be happy and successful.

[00:09:42] Amy Castro: Yeah, that's excellent advice cuz I think people, they make a decision and they kind of jump into the, the pot of boiling water, so to speak, and then it turns out poorly and then they say, I'm never gonna do that again. You know, and I know that's something I've struggled with with my bulldog is that she's very excitable and, and she's been like that since I, since I got her.

[00:10:00] Amy Castro: And it takes her in any kind of a new situation or with new people, it just takes her. Forever, seemingly forever to just calm down and not be, and of course, a bulldog, it's like the noise and the slobber and the chaos, and it kind of makes you hesitant to bring her out, but. At the same time you, you know, you're absolutely right, is that if I don't ever bring her out, she's never gonna get over that.

[00:10:23] Amy Castro: But, so bringing her out in kind of in stages, you know, taking baby steps is probably the way to go as opposed to, you know, launching right into a fine dining patio experience in Paris or something like that would not be a good choice. So that's very good advice. Like I 

[00:10:39] Amy Burkert: said, you kind of grab takeout food or you, you pack a picnic for the day and then once they're good doing that, then you move up to a coffee shop in the in off hours.

[00:10:48] Amy Burkert: Right. It's the next small step. Now you're in a more formal setting, not in a park, a more formal setting, but it's also easy. You've already paid at the counter. If the dog starts misbehaving, it's real easy to stand up and walk away, right? You're not waiting for your food to arrive like you would be at a sit down restaurant, right?

[00:11:04] Amy Burkert: So there are different steps that you can take, and I think that that's the important thing for people to understand is that taking your pet on a trip is gonna require some accommodations on your part. There's going to be some sacrifices that you're going to make. You're not going to the Guggenheim.

[00:11:20] Amy Burkert: You know, you're not, you're not, you're not unless you're gonna get a pet sitter for the day you're, there are going to be some sacrifices that you're gonna make, but the benefit of taking your pet with you, there is nothing like seeing the Grand Canyon with your pet. The memories that you make. Our dogs and pets are with us for such a short period of time.

[00:11:39] Amy Burkert: You know, we have them for such a short period of time, but the memories that you make together last forever. So taking your dog and experiencing. Grand Canyon together. Yeah. Like that changes the whole experience for me. It's so rewarding to do those things, to take 'em on a, on a canoe trip down the Buffalo National River.

[00:12:01] Amy Burkert: To do those things together makes the experience so much richer that the things that we sa ended up sacrificing and amusing air quotes here, the things that we ended up sacrificing didn't really seem to matter. Right. You know, those were things that were kind of irrelevant when, when compared to the things that we got to do and see with our dogs while they were with us.

[00:12:20] Amy Castro: Right. That's an excellent point. I, I'm picturing my trip to the Grand Canyon and yeah, it would be a, a very enriched experience to be able to have your, to have your pets with you. So let's get practical for just a second. So I know you can't give us necessarily an exhaustive list, and I would bet there's probably a blog post or some resources on your website related to this, but what, what would be some.

[00:12:40] Amy Castro: Basics that people would need to keep in mind when it comes to packing for a trip. And I know it might be different depending upon where you're gonna stay and whether you're traveling in an rv. Obviously that's a very different situation than just traveling with a car. But what would be some advice there of things to pack for the pet or for you as your pet's handler, for lack of a better term?

[00:13:00] Amy Burkert: Right. Well, you know, it's important always to pack things that help your pet be comfortable, right? You want 'em to be comfortable, you want 'em to be safe. So the first thing is make sure that they're buckled up in the vehicle. Rv, car, dog, cat, hamster, bunny, whatever you're traveling with, and in whatever vehicle you're traveling, it's important to have your pet secured in either in a crash tested carrier or in a safety harness that's been crash tested.

[00:13:24] Amy Burkert: Um, that's number one, because the most important, important thing when you're traveling with your pet is to make sure that you come home together safely. Right? Right. So the second thing is I always recommend that people pack, um, that you scan your pet's most important medical information to a USB drive and you throw that in their.

[00:13:43] Amy Burkert: Travel gear because if you would have an illness or an injury while you're out traveling and you would need to see an emergency veterinarian, they're gonna need to know when their vaccinations were and what's the name of their doctor, so that you kind of have all of that information at your fingertips.

[00:13:58] Amy Burkert: Because in an emergency situation, it's kind of hard to recall all of that. Right. So it's easy if you can just hand somebody a U S D drive and say, everything that I think that you'll need is on here and I'm gonna sit with my pet. Well, we're in the waiting area and here's all the information that I think you should need.

[00:14:12] Amy Castro: Yeah, that's a great idea. 

[00:14:14] Amy Burkert: And then the other things are just, you know, you wanna take something that keeps them comfy. So if they sleep on a blanket at home, then a blanket for them there. If your pets used to being on furniture, Then bring something that you can cover the furniture with. Just try to be a respectful guest, right?

[00:14:27] Amy Burkert: Whether you're staying in a hotel or an Airbnb or whatever it is, try to be a respectful guest and not leave behind a bunch of fur, because we want people to keep welcoming pets into their facilities, into their lodging, so being respectful that way really helps. And then just kind of things to keep, keep 'em entertained, keep 'em safe.

[00:14:45] Amy Burkert: An extra leash. Always important, right? Grab an extra leash if your pets used to being off leash a lot. Maybe like, uh, if you've got a backyard where they hang out all the time, I don't happen to have that. But we lived in the RV for so long. Our dogs thought that being on leash was like the normal way you went outside.

[00:15:02] Amy Burkert: So, yeah. Um, but if your dog doesn't, isn't used to that, then grabbing a long line. Right? Grabbing like a, a 20 foot leash or 25 foot. Even just a piece of rope with a clip on the end so that they can have some room to explore, but not be off leash unless they're in an enclosed area. Especially when you're traveling.

[00:15:20] Amy Burkert: It's really easy for a dog to get spooked by something that they don't normally see. Or, you know, be attracted by something that they don't normally see. Wildlife, deer, squirrels, whatever it could be. And, um, when you're traveling, it's really important that they don't get lost, right? Because them finding their way home is a lot less likely.

[00:15:38] Amy Burkert: So always keeping a long leash in the car, something like that is handy because you can love, let them explore and give them some freedom. But still have the safety of being able to recover them in case you would 

[00:15:50] Amy Castro: need to. Yeah, definitely. And I think that's what's so important about securing them in the car too.

[00:15:55] Amy Castro: And even just traveling locally, when I'm transporting animals for the animal rescue, it's like everybody's always secured in the car, obviously for their safety. But also all it takes is a dog, whatever the animal is, opening the car door, opening the hatch in the back and out they hop and out there gone.

[00:16:11] Amy Castro: So it's, it's always. Scary to me when I see people that are, have their animals just kind of free roaming inside the vehicle without any kind of, uh, any kind of security like that. Agreed. It 

[00:16:21] Amy Burkert: terrifies me as well. 

[00:16:23] Amy Castro: Yeah. Yeah. No, and I, I think the idea of the having it, because I first, I was thinking, oh, you could have all those documents on your phone, but having it on that jump drive or that SB drive is, is an awesome idea to just be able to hand that over to that emergency vet, cuz of course, inevitably if you need a vet, It's gonna be after hours when your vet was CLO is closed, or you can't get ahold of them.

[00:16:42] Amy Castro: They're not answering the phone, they're on lunch breaks. So carrying that with you is a great idea. No, it's 

[00:16:47] Amy Burkert: gonna be a weekend. They dogs never need to go to the emergency vet during regular office hours. They only ever, 

[00:16:52] Amy Castro: no, it's, it's always Friday evening on the weekend. Yeah, exactly. Exactly, exactly. So on that note of your pet's health while you're traveling, what are some of the travel issues like?

[00:17:02] Amy Castro: So you mentioned the lady that had asked you for help regarding the pet barking. What about illness issues or behavior issues when it comes to traveling? Like the first thing that comes to mind for me is the dogs that get cars sick. I know we've had some here at the rescue that. You're not even five minutes down the road and they've already thrown up in the car.

[00:17:20] Amy Castro: You know that that might, that might deter somebody a little bit. 

[00:17:23] Amy Burkert: Absolutely. And that's definitely one of the things to think about when you're deciding whether to take your pet along. So if you have a, a pet that does get car sick, the first thing I would do is talk to the vet. We have a blog post about motion sickness.

[00:17:34] Amy Burkert: Some ways that you can help prevent motion sickness. Covering the windows can help putting them inside a carrier if they're small enough. That can really help with keeping them from seeing so much of the motion that might be causing the motion sickness, but for bigger animals. Like if you're traveling with a dog and you would have to have a great big crate in the car and then there's no room for your luggage or whatever, you know, and so that's really not an option.

[00:18:00] Amy Burkert: Then I would talk to the vet because there are some medications that will help with motion sickness, but it's something to consider seriously before you would plan a long road trip with your pet, right? Is if they do get motion sickness, Is a staycation a better idea? Do you wanna maybe reduce the distance that you're traveling?

[00:18:19] Amy Burkert: Maybe you go a couple of hours from home and you stay there for a week as your vacation option, rather than trying to do a cross country road trip for your vacation option? Right, right. That's part of what I mean when I say considering your dogs, what their limitations are. Motion sickness is something that we've Rod and I dealt with with a dog that we had years and years ago, and it's no fun for anybody.

[00:18:43] Amy Burkert: Yeah. When your dog is motion sick. When your pet's motion sick in the car. And cats can also have issues with, um, being in the car. Right? Not necessarily that they get sick, but they just don't wanna be in there and they cry the whole time. So, something that we highly recommend is when you're starting to think about traveling with a, with a dog or a cat, you start with very short trips.

[00:19:05] Amy Burkert: You just pop 'em in the car and you go someplace fun. Please don't have the vet be the only place that ever, 

[00:19:11] Amy Castro: I was just thinking about that. You 

[00:19:12] Amy Burkert: get in the car for a vacation, like if that's where they think that they're going every time, that is not, that's not the response that you're gonna want. Nobody, nobody wants that.

[00:19:21] Amy Burkert: So, right. Um, so if you start by going places that are fun, you know, plan a play date. If your pet likes, if your dog likes the dog park, head to the dog park. Even just pop 'em in the car. And if there's a place in your town where they have like a dog friendly ice cream, little ice cream treat at the, at the ice cream stand, pop 'em in the car and go do that a few times so that they, first of all, you can understand how they're feeling in the car physically, but also that they start to build up a positive association with being in the car so that way you can, you know, work on then longer trips, and longer trips and longer trips.

[00:19:55] Amy Burkert: For a lot of dogs, it's really obvious the first time you take 'em out and they're, they're excited and they're happy and, you know, being in the car is not gonna be a problem, but, right. But for those, for those where it isn't more of a challenge, then we just recommend, again, taking baby steps, just trying to build up their confidence, build up their security, build positive associations, and that this is gonna be a fun thing.

[00:20:16] Amy Burkert: And that usually is the 

[00:20:17] best 

[00:20:18] Amy Castro: solution. Yeah, that's, that's such a great idea because I think you're so right. Is that too many times, Our pets never get into the car except when they're going to the vet. So it's always a negative association. And you know, with cats, I think too, even if, uh, there's not probably too, too many places except.

[00:20:35] Amy Castro: You know, if you have maybe your cat on leash, which I do have friends that have their cats trained to be on leash to go, and there are people that travel with, with cats, um, on, on a leash as well. But just getting them used to being in the vehicle and at least e even if it's not having a, a fun experience, but it's at least not having a negative experience.

[00:20:53] Amy Castro: So maybe we just drive around the block a couple of times and then bring them back in and then do something fun. So it's not, I'm not associated always with going to the vet. That's a, that's a good point. 

[00:21:04] Amy Burkert: Well to even. Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. And people are doing more and more with their cats. Yeah.

[00:21:08] Amy Burkert: Like people are paddle boarding, people are canoeing, people are hiking, people are camping, people are so, cats are getting out there and doing things too that we really didn't see cats doing even like five years ago, 10 years ago. Certainly. So, yeah. But also then even taking it a step back and saying, Allow your dog, your dog or cat, if they're gonna be in a carrier or they're gonna be in a harness, or they're going to be on a leash, allow them to get used to that at home.

[00:21:34] Amy Burkert: Set the ca, set the carrier up in a place where they're gonna walk by it 30 or 40 times a day. Throw a treat in it every once in a while. Start building that positive association with the carrier. Then start building the positive asso association with the carrier in the car. Then, you know, and it's kinda like it all has to, you have to take it back to the very, very basic, basic thinking and then build on it one step at a time based on how comfortable your pet is at any situation along the way.

[00:22:03] Amy Castro: That's another great point. I know that we, at least around here, we've done a good job with that, with the crate. We do crate our dogs and they see those as their houses, so there's no struggle to get them in the crate. We just yell houses and everybody goes and, and they get in wherever they're supposed to go because they do a, so, you know, that's where their bed is.

[00:22:22] Amy Castro: Uh, probably 80% of the time that's where they're getting fed. But that's a good point with the cats, you know, it's when you're, when your cat. Scatters. As soon as they see that carrier come out of the dusty closet or out of the attic or whatever it is, maybe we need to leave those things out, you know, leave them out, like you said, feed them in there, put a treat in there, let them associate that.

[00:22:43] Amy Castro: Then there wouldn't be so much anxiety of being. Chased around the house and rounded up, stuffed in a plastic box, thrown in a moving vehicle. And no wonder you're puking and pooping everywhere. Um, and you haven't even gotten down the road. So you're brilliant. I I'm gonna start working on that a little bit more.

[00:22:58] Amy Castro: That's a good point. I mean, 

[00:23:01] Amy Burkert: think about that from your own perspective. I know, right? That's no way to start a fun vacation. That, 

[00:23:08] Amy Castro: exactly. 

[00:23:09] Amy Burkert: That is not gonna turn out well when you, when that's how it starts. There's no happy ending to that. 

[00:23:14] Amy Castro: That's right. That's right. That's a good point. So what about travel issues along the way?

[00:23:19] Amy Castro: One of the first things I thought about for somebody that's traveling in the car versus in an RV is what happens when you have to stop? You know, what happens if I'm, I mean, obviously if I'm traveling with another person, then we can kind of take turns running into the. The Bucky's restroom, which is, is it's the place where you wanna stop.

[00:23:38] Amy Castro: If you're traveling in Texas, and I know they're expanding across the country, but you know, obviously you can't bring your, your pet into the convenience store or into the Bucky's or into the place that you're stopping if you don't have somebody else with you. How do you manage that? 

[00:23:52] Amy Burkert: Well, one of the things that we do is we, um, have a listing of places where you can bring your pet inside.

[00:23:58] Amy Burkert: So you might wanna check for a PetSmart or a pet cup in the neighborhood, right? You might wanna check for a place that allows pets inside where you could potentially use a restroom, right? And stop separately because it also gives your pet a chance to get out of the vehicle and move around a little bit, which is good for them too.

[00:24:15] Amy Burkert: And if you're, you're talking about like using rest areas or something like that, then naturally, you know, you're only gonna be in the restroom for just a couple of minutes. So leaving them in the vehicle while you're doing that is probably okay. You know, and, and then letting them out and letting them.

[00:24:32] Amy Burkert: Relieve themselves and stretch and walk around a little bit and explore a little bit is, um, is handy as well. But also making sure that you've got them, um, buckled up before you open the car doors because at rest areas is one of the most common places where pets go missing when they're traveling. 

[00:24:49] Amy Castro: Yep.

[00:24:50] Amy Castro: And people think their pet's not gonna hop out. And you'd be shocked sometimes how quickly it happens. For sure. I've actually caught and how fast move. Yeah. Yeah. I've actually caught one mid-air leaping over my shoulder at one point trying to get the hatch up and it's like they, luckily he was secured, but.

[00:25:06] Amy Castro: Still, you know, if he hadn't been, it would've been, it would've been a nightmare. Um, and that's, I wanna make a point about the stopping at the, at those pet friendly places like a PetSmart or a Pet Co or, uh, pet Supplies Plus that allow you to go in and, and you can agree or disagree. Tell me what you think about this, Amy.

[00:25:23] Amy Castro: But I feel like if I'm gonna go in and use somebody's restroom, I need to make a purchase. So don't be that person that goes in, uses somebody's restroom, lets your dog lift their leg on the, uh, display, and then walks out without, I mean, buy something while you're in there. Do you agree or. Absolutely. What do you think?

[00:25:40] Amy Castro: Absolutely agree. Yeah. 

[00:25:41] Amy Burkert: Great. Yeah, there's always something when you're, when you have a pet, there's always something that you need. You know, even if you don't know you need it, until you get in there, they will find something that's right. That they need. You know? So, um, yeah. Absolutely. That's something that you would wanna do.

[00:25:54] Amy Burkert: I mean, that's, to me, that's just kind of being a good citizen, right? That you would reciprocate. They're, they're allowing you to use their facilities and you need to reciprocate, so, yeah. Agreed. 

[00:26:05] Amy Castro: Yeah. Okay. Great. Great. All right, so let's talk accommodations cuz I know there's a. A tremendous amount of information on your website, uh, related to accommodations, but I know that when we used to travel with our Doberman pincher, we were, and even though we were traveling in an rv, we were very limited as to where we could go because of breed restrictions.

[00:26:27] Amy Castro: What's the best way to go about I, I guess, planning for that? Is all of that information readily available on your website or on the websites of the places that we would travel, or is that sometimes hard to find? 

[00:26:39] Amy Burkert: On our website, we try to make it as easy as possible. So we have about 25,000 listings for hotels and about 1200 listings for rental properties.

[00:26:48] Amy Burkert: We've got about 4,000 listings for campgrounds on the website. And, and part of that listing detail is a, is a pet policy. So it says, okay if there's a weight restriction or a breed restriction or a, a limit on the number of pets or a limit on the size of the pets that are allowed to be there. It also talks about.

[00:27:07] Amy Burkert: Any additional fees that are charged, uh, regarding pets. So we've tried to make that information as easily accessible as possible. And we traveled with a German Shepherd, so we were kind of in the same situation as you were with your Doberman pitcher. Not as bad as the folks who are trying to travel with.

[00:27:23] Amy Burkert: With pits, right? They're, they're seeing more discrimination, at least at this point right now, than other breed owners are. So for those people, I really recommend, uh, focusing on places that are not privately owned. If you're getting frustrated in your search for, uh, accommodations, I recommend looking at campgrounds, for example, that are run by the state.

[00:27:49] Amy Burkert: Or the federal government. So state parks, national parks, army Corps of Engineer, campgrounds, um, those kinds of places because they don't tend to have the same sorts of restrictions that a private campground will have, for example. Right. The other thing I would say is I would look to a hotel chain like Kimpton.

[00:28:09] Amy Burkert: So Kimpton doesn't have any breed restrictions in their hotel chain. They don't restrict by breed at all. And that last thing for people who are traveling with restricted breeds, um, is that we do have some information on the website about that, how to travel with a restricted breed. One of our bloggers has two pitties and travels with them extensively.

[00:28:29] Amy Burkert: So she's, she has some really good practical information about how to approach that and, and questions to ask. And the thing I would say is I would avoid certain places. Uh, Miami has a breed restriction in, in the, you know, that area. Denver has had a breed restriction for years and has lessened it to some degree, and there's a blog post about it, about what is required now if you're gonna take a pit to Denver.

[00:28:55] Amy Burkert: Um, mm-hmm. But my feeling is like there are so many great places to go. You don't need to go to a place where, where your breed really isn't welcome. My recommendation is find some place where they're happy to have you there. All of you, your whole family, including whatever breed of of pet you have, because there's plenty of places to choose from.

[00:29:13] Amy Burkert: So you don't have to be limited by something like that. Right. 

[00:29:17] Amy Castro: You had mentioned that your dog doesn't have to be perfect. At the same time with my Doberman, just as an example, he was very well behaved and very well trained. When we took him into, let's say, into a public place or walking in a public park, he was a good representative of, of his breed.

[00:29:35] Amy Castro: And I think that that, you know, for people that have breeds that already maybe have a mark against them, the better behaved pet you have, the better off you're gonna be. 

[00:29:46] Amy Burkert: I totally agree. I think that being ambassadors for your breed and ambassadors for traveling pets in general, right? Yeah. Is always a good idea.

[00:29:54] Amy Burkert: We always encourage people, be sure that you pick up after your pets, be sure that you're following the rules. Keep 'em on leash where they're meant to be on leash. Don't assume that those rules don't apply to you. Even if your dog is super, super well behaved and doesn't need to be on a leash, just follow the rules.

[00:30:10] Amy Burkert: Just be a good ambassador. Right. I think it always, Plays better that way. So I, I definitely agree and I think that's another place where you can really start to think about, okay, how do I set my pet up to be as successful as possible? Right? Let's not put 'em in a situation, maybe a farmer's market that's packed with people in other dogs.

[00:30:31] Amy Burkert: A farmer's market was never the best place to take Buster. He was leisure reactive. He was in that small of a confined area. He was definitely gonna come nose to nose with another dog. And so that taking him into that situation, that was my responsibility to him, right, was to be aware of what his limitations were and to make sure I wasn't pushing him past what he was able to do.

[00:30:57] Amy Burkert: That's what being a responsible pet owner is about. That's a loving year. PET is really about right, is being considerate of what they're capable of doing and not pushing them farther than they can go. 

[00:31:10] Amy Castro: Yeah, definitely. And, you know, and, and realizing that other people have a right to occupy that, that space as well.

[00:31:16] Amy Castro: I think sometimes that, uh, you know, just because a place is pet friendly doesn't mean that everybody in that place wants to be jumped on by your dog or licked by your dog, or slobbered on by your dog. I mean, you still have to respect other people's personal space and people's property as well. Right. 

[00:31:36] Amy Burkert: I totally agree.

[00:31:37] Amy Burkert: Yeah, totally agree. Yeah. 

[00:31:39] Amy Castro: What about for people who are not RV traveling? I know that some state parks and you know, at least in Texas, sometimes you can find places that have cabins and things like that. Is that fairly universal, or should people be looking at, you know, V R B O or Airbnb, places like that from the pros and cons to any of those?

[00:32:01] Amy Burkert: Absolutely. First of all, it all depends on where you're gonna be most comfortable. So, um, not everybody wants to go camping. And I'm totally, I totally get it. But also, if you have a dog that's very reactive to noise that they don't recognize a hotel might not be the best option, right? Somebody's gonna be running the ice maker, the elevator's going to be going up and down, like mm-hmm.

[00:32:23] Amy Burkert: That's something that you have to kind of think about. Now you can maybe get a hotel where they've got more individual rooms, or you can maybe get a hotel that's not. Multiple floors or you know, you can try to work around some of those things, but maybe an Airbnb or A V R B O, some sort of vacation rental would work out better for a pet that's really sensitive to to noise that they don't.

[00:32:47] Amy Burkert: Normally here camping, I think is a great idea when you're traveling with a pet, whether you are actually in a tent or in a camper, or if you're looking at a cabin. Many, many campgrounds now are doing what Texas has done and built camping cabins, they call them, and many of them are pet friendly, and it's a lovely way to have a lot of outdoor space.

[00:33:07] Amy Burkert: Which you don't have typically in a hotel, then you're gonna be walking your pet on a sidewalk, probably to and from places where they can sniff around. So a campground can be fantastic because usually they, every cabin has a picnic table and every cabin has a camp. Fire pit and everybo, you know, like you've got space, uh, to spread out a little bit, which tends to be a little bit, uh, easier when you're traveling with pets, I think.

[00:33:32] Amy Burkert: So it just really comes down to preference. But yeah, I think that camping cabins are definitely a great way to go when you're traveling with pets. 

[00:33:41] Amy Castro: What about visiting family? Do you hear or do you get people writing in with questions or complaints about P You know, people traveling, because I've got a 30 year old daughter.

[00:33:52] Amy Castro: She actually lives here and runs the animal rescue with me. So we don't whatever pets she has live here anyway. But what about people traveling with pets to visit parents or other family members? Any guidelines that you would give for either party on either side of that issue to make that work? Better.

[00:34:10] Amy Burkert: Absolutely. We get a lot of questions and comments about this typically at around the holidays. 

[00:34:16] Amy Castro: Yeah, there you go. 

[00:34:18] Amy Burkert: Um, cause people I think, assume that their pet is gonna be able to act however they act at home in somebody else's home, and that's not a good assumption to make. So it's. Always best to remember that you're a guest.

[00:34:35] Amy Burkert: That your pet is a guest. First of all, make sure your pet's welcome because if there's going to be tension, it's sometimes just better to get your own space that where your pet is welcome, right? Because then. There's not the tension going on the whole time that you're there, right? Mm-hmm. Like you have a place where you can go and have your own space, and have your own rules, and have your own, but when you're in somebody's for, That's something that needs to be defined before you go in, in my opinion, like that's, those are conversations that should be had before you go visit somebody.

[00:35:12] Amy Burkert: First of all, make sure that your pet is welcome. Second of all, find out if any areas of the house are off limits. They might not want your pet on the furniture, they might not want your pet in the bed, right? They're gonna wanna make sure that you're picking up after your pet in the yard. These kinds of things should be talked about in advance so that everybody's on the same page.

[00:35:29] Amy Burkert: And then if you're not comfortable with the rules, then you know, okay, I'm just gonna get hotel, or I'm just gonna go get a vacation rental while I'm there and everybody 

[00:35:39] Amy Castro: will be happier. Right? Yeah. And I do see a lot of that tension and frustration because those conversations have not, Happened in advance.

[00:35:48] Amy Castro: And so you've got adult children coming home with spouses and pets and you know, I can think of one particular example where the resident cats are now traumatized and hiding upstairs under a bed somewhere because everybody's dogs are running rampant and nobody wants to be the bad guy and say anything.

[00:36:07] Amy Castro: But I mean, my feeling is the resident pets. Comfort should come first. Uh, BEC you know, that they sh they should be able to be comfortable in their own, own home and not traumatized and have to hide under a bed in their own home. And that, you know, visiting adult children should respect that. But maybe I'm wrong.

[00:36:24] Amy Burkert: No, no, you're absolutely right. My sister has cats and when we would stay with her, The dogs stayed outside during the day so that the cats had the house. And then when it was time to go to, like, we stayed outside too. I mean, we, we didn't just leave them like tied up outside. We were outside hanging out in the yard, out on the deck, whatever.

[00:36:41] Amy Burkert: But then, you know, in the evening when it was time to come in, the dogs were on the first, like they, the cats went. They did go upstairs. Not to hide necessarily, but just to be away from the, yeah. All of the activity. And then, and the dogs stayed on the first floor. And then we, when we went to our bedrooms, the dogs went into the bedroom with us.

[00:36:59] Amy Burkert: The door was shut, the cats had the rest of the house. They like to be active a lot at night. So, yeah, having the dogs put away and in our bedroom with us, with the door shut, like that was how we handled it because yeah, we didn't want my sister's cats to be traumatized either. And my dogs weren't used to cats, so they would've definitely, you know, traumatized the cats.

[00:37:20] Amy Castro: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think, like you said, having that conversation in advance, and I think not assuming that because somebody has pets, that it's now, now can be a pet free for all, because not everybody's pets are gonna be. Comfortable in those situations. So I think managing the space can go a long way towards keeping the peace and keeping everybody comfortable For sure.

[00:37:40] Amy Castro: Even if it's not maybe the way that you're used to living at home. So that's, uh, yeah, that's some good advice. Any other tips, you know, as far as traveling with other pets or any other advice that you wanna give to kind of wrap things up here today that we haven't hit on? Yeah. I think 

[00:37:57] Amy Burkert: it's just important for people to know that taking your pet on vacation doesn't mean you're going to sit in a room somewhere, a hotel room or a house someplace and order takeout, and that's gonna be the extent of your vacation unless that's what you want, right?

[00:38:12] Amy Burkert: Most of us, when we go to a new place, we wanna see what there is to see in that place, and I, I just want people to know that there's such a great variety of things that you can do with your pets when you're traveling, and we've got. Thousands of, of listings on the site for things to do in different areas.

[00:38:31] Amy Burkert: Attractions and parks and trails and all kinds of things like I was talking about before, scenic train rides and boat rentals and like all kinds of things that you can do. And we've done a lot of that research for you. So you don't always have to use all of your own imagination coming up with these ideas.

[00:38:51] Amy Burkert: We traveled for 12 years and wrote blog posts about the things that we did with our dogs in more than 300 places in the US and Canada. So people can also just go to the site for inspiration if they are feeling like they wanna take a trip, but they don't really know where they wanna go. But maybe they have some ideas about, well, we'd like to see the mountains, or we, you know, we wanna see a pet friendly beach.

[00:39:16] Amy Burkert: Those kinds of things. You know, we've kind of done a lot of the research so that it's easier for people to find the information that they're looking for and then start to imagine the things that might be, uh, available to them when they get there. 

[00:39:30] Amy Castro: Yeah, that's great. Um, you've basically, through sharing your experience on the website, have saved the rest of us.

[00:39:36] Amy Castro: Probably hundreds and thousands of hours of, of research, and what I would highly recommend to people is. You know, start doing that homework now. Start there. And, and I've, I started perusing the, the website and there's so many blog posts with so much helpful information. And just become, even before you're planning a trip, become an educated person on travel with pets.

[00:39:58] Amy Castro: And that way when you're ready, you know, it's, uh, we're recording this in early May. And so we've got the travel season coming up. You know when you're ready to go ahead and start planning that destination, you'll already have that knowledge on board. And then, you know, you can go to your, go to your website and, and start really doing the, the nitty gritty homework about finding destinations and locations.

[00:40:20] Amy Castro: Quick question, can people actually book reservations through your website or how does that work if I find some of those accommodations on your website? So 

[00:40:28] Amy Burkert: generally no, you can't book through. Go Pet Friendly. It's an information resource only. Also, the website is also completely free for everybody to use.

[00:40:36] Amy Burkert: I wanna make that clear. There is no fee involved in using Go Pet Friendly. So, uh, all the blog posts are available. All of the information. Related to the lodgings and the services and the activities and the restaurants, that's all completely a available for everybody to use for free. You can't book directly through Go Pet Friendly, but we have links on the site to send you to the booking site.

[00:40:59] Amy Burkert: Oh, perfect. So, um, yeah, so they would just be sent directly to whatever website it links to, and then they would make their reservations there. 

[00:41:07] Amy Castro: And that's probably the best way to do it anyway, because that way whatever information is, is the most current, cuz I would think that would be a bear to keep up with trying to keep their policies and procedures current for these hundreds of hundreds, thousands of places.

[00:41:22] Amy Burkert: It is a lot of work trying to keep everything current. So we do always encourage everybody to double check the pet policies before they make their reservations anywhere, uh, because it, they don't always notify us when they change their pet policies. So that's always important to just double check before you go ahead and make your reservations.

[00:41:41] Amy Castro: Okay, great. Great. Well, Amy, thank you so much for being here today, and thank you so much for starting the website. Go pet friendly. It's something that I, I would bet that a lot of, at least a lot of our listeners may not realize exists, but it's a tremendous resource for anybody who wants to basically live their best life with their pets.

[00:41:59] Amy Castro: And I think the point that you made early on is something that I wanna leave everybody with is that we are. Living with our pets for such a limited period of time. You know, there's never been anybody that I've ever met who said, oh, I wish I had less time with my pet. Their lives are so much shorter than ours.

[00:42:16] Amy Castro: Why would we wanna leave them home for two weeks when we have the opportunity to take them with us and experience these wonderful things that we get to experience, um, with them instead of without them? So thank you so much for, for being here today and for creating such an awesome resource for all of us.

[00:42:33] Amy Burkert: It is absolutely my pleasure. That is what drives me is my passion to help people spend more time and, and have more quality time with their pet, build more memories together. So, I appreciate you for having me and, and introducing me to your audience. All 

[00:42:48] Amy Castro: right. Well everybody, thank you again for listening to another episode of Starlight Pet Talk.

[00:42:52] Amy Castro: If you know anybody with pets, definitely share our podcast information with them and, you know, make it a goal to plan a trip with your pets. Start small, like we said earlier today, and then you can build up to bigger and better things. And as we say, every single week, if you don't do anything else this week, give your pet a hug from us.

[00:43:13] Announcer: You've been listening to the Starlight Pet Talk podcast. We're glad you joined us to gain new insight on the many loving ways to adopt and care for your pets. Be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. And if you want more information, go to starlight pet talk.com because your pet can't talk.

[00:43:31] Announcer: Be sure to join us next time for Starlight Pet Talk.