Tips for Being a Great Guest When Bringing Your Pet Home for the Holidays

Speaker 1: 0:00

Are you thinking about taking your pets with you for a holiday visit to friends or family this year? Well, if so, stay tuned to this episode, because we're going to talk about all the things that you need to think about before you go. You're listening to Starlight Pet Talk, a podcast for pet parents who want the best pet care advice from cat experts, dog trainers, veterinarians and other top pet professionals who will help you live your very best life with your pets. We also share inspiring rescue and adoption stories from people who have taken their love of pets to the next level by getting involved in animal welfare. My name is Amy Castro, and I'm the founder and president of Starlight Outreach and Rescue and a columnist for PetAge Magazine. I've rescued thousands of animals and helped people just like you find the right pet for their family. My mission is to help pet parents learn all the ways that they can care for, live with and even have fun with their pets, so they can live their very best lives and their pets can, too. Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk. I'm your host, amy Castro, and today we're talking about being a good house guest when you decide to bring your pets with you. We're going to address the issues of first making the decision about whether you should bring your pet or not, and if you do decide that you're going to bring your pet, maybe to visit friends over the holidays or to go home to visit family for the holidays, how you and your pet can both be great house guests, and how you can plan and prepare for that trip to make it a big success. So my guest today is somebody that I've known for quite a while. She helped me with my dog, jack, who had some behavior issues back in the day, and Connie Archer is a dog behaviorist and a master trainer with Barkbusters Home Dog Training, and she's been working with families and their dogs in the Houston area for over 19 years. So when I was thinking about doing this episode about being a good house guest with your pet and helping your pet be a good house guest if you're going to take them to somebody else's home I immediately thought of Connie as being a guest for this show to help us provide some guidance and some insight into how we can make this work and be good citizens at the same time. So, connie, thank you so much for being here with me today. Oh, thanks for having me All right. So you know and I think I mentioned this to you on our previous phone call that when I was still going home for the holidays you know, unfortunately my parents have passed away and so we do holidays here but when I was going home, you know, as a newlywed, we always I mean I always had pets, but I never really thought about taking my pets with me. So I don't know if this is a relatively new phenomenon or if it maybe just has to do with the fact that, you know, sometimes kids and their parents live closer together. So it's such it's not a flight across the country with your dog, it's a two hour car ride. So what I was hoping to do because I've heard complaints from the hosts that it can be a real challenge to mesh their existing pets with children that are coming home for the holidays and their pets or friends that are coming and decide they want to bring their dog or want to bring their cat. So what do you think are some of the pros and cons with bringing your pets to somebody else's house for a holiday gathering?

Speaker 2: 3:09

Well, I would say number one dogs in particular, and I think, most any kind of pet. They don't like things to change. They don't like things to be different. So anytime you're taking them to stay in a new place, it's going to be a lot of stress for them, plus a little stress for your dogs that you're visiting or the family that you're visiting. And oftentimes maybe, as like if I was checking with my parents, I might call up and say hey, I'm coming home on so and so and so and so Is it okay if I bring the dogs and you're not given mom and dad much of a chance to? I mean, what are they going to say? Because they want you to come. So they're probably going to say yes, but maybe a better question would be if I bring the dogs, would there be any concerns you would have about them being there, like concerns about how they will do with your dogs or your routines or your rules at the house? So if you ask it that way, it gives them an opportunity not necessarily to say no but to say yeah, you can bring them. But you know, is there some way we could do, you know, incorporate them at certain times, or can you confine them when we need to go somewhere and leave them at the house? And you know those types of things. So I think sometimes we need to do that. And then also, I think that you need to think about your dogs. Do they like to travel? Are they used to traveling? I mean, if you have a dog that is a frantic wreck in the car and you're going to drive somewhere, you know they're going to be a wreck the whole way, no matter how many hours the drive is, those kinds of things. And then also, usually, if you're going for the holidays, the holidays are usually kind of a hectic situation anyway. So you know you need to think about are there going to be 50 people here all at the same time? And does your dog do well with visiting strangers? Are there going to be little kids there? Are your dogs used to being around children? You know those types of things. So I think if you think ahead and think of some ways to confine your dog, if you need to, you know ways to control them when there's a lot of stuff going on. I think that would be very helpful. And then, of course, I think taking things with you that are familiar to your dog would be important too. And you know, some people just show up with their dogs and then the mom and dad or whoever the other family members are supposed to do. You have a dog bed for them, or do you have a crate for them? Or do we have food? Do we have dog bowls? I mean, they don't need to be changing food and everything else when they get there. So this is already stressful enough.

Speaker 1: 6:17

Yeah, exactly, that's a good point. And you know I want to go back and kind of hit on this when you were talking about this, just the whole stress of the situation, and I think people really need to think a little bit less about what I want and what is the best thing for my pet. You know I'll use my bulldog, guinevere, as an example. She's a very Excitable dog. I mean, she's been like that since she was a puppy. When I got her, I mean she was covered in mange and yet she couldn't, couldn't keep herself from being like on top of me constantly. She just doesn't settle down. And so you know, obviously she settles down at home because this is her home and she's comfortable here. But I Always think twice about taking her someplace if I don't have to, because although she's cute and I like to show her off, at the same time if I was to bring her to somebody's, like I can, I can just picture it if I was bring to bring her to somebody's House for a holiday visit. It's gonna be the constant panting, the constant moving, the constant, you know, up and down, not knowing what to do. Whereas you know, my dog, tinkerbell, is a four-pound chihuahua. She's not 50 pounds of slobbering bulldog. That's all overly excited and so she still probably wouldn't be super comfortable because she does like her home and her routine, but I think she would do a lot better. So I think you know thinking, thinking about your pet, and we're we're gonna be doing an episode talking about pet sitters versus, you know, boarding your pet someplace. But you know, if you know that you've got an excitable pet or, like you said, one, the kids I've had dogs that you do nothing but throw up the entire time that they're in the car and it's like is that a great way to start your holiday? may not be and so you know it might, maybe another option would be better. And I do want to get to talking about some of the things that you should bring, because I think the less impact you have on People when you get there, the better, even if you're just going to a friends for the day. I mean, it doesn't have to be for a holiday trip Although we're talking about the holidays because we're getting ready to go into this but before we get into the kind of an equipment discussion, what do you think would be some basics? As far as you know, from a behavior standpoint, let's say, your dog is not a nervous Nellie, but you want to be a good citizen when you're visiting somebody else's home. From from a trainer's perspective, what would be some things that I should do? Or, you know, make sure my dog can do before I start Getting them out in public and, like you said, possibly interacting with small children. You worked with my dog, jack. We never did get him to the point where he was good around small children. He just was never exposed to them enough and so therefore he wasn't safe around them and he was also very selective. You know, introducing to other dogs was always a process, so he was not a dog. I was just gonna bring willy-nilly to other people's homes so just because it was more trouble than it was worth. So what would be some basic training that you would say you'd want to make sure you had under your belt?

Speaker 2: 9:05

Well, I always tell people you know, even if you don't like to use Now this would be more like if you were staying overnight or staying for several days but if you can get your dog used to a crate or where they like Going in a crate or think that's a good place for them, that's super helpful because if there is a dog already there when you get there and the two aren't doing too well together, you always have a safe place to put your dog. But I think also you need to think about the things your dog does at your house, like your rules, like do I allow my dogs all over the furniture? Do my dogs jump up on my counters? Do my dogs beg at the table? You know when everybody's eating, and so I think if you know the person's rules where you're going, then you need to be able to adjust your dog to those rules. Now you may not be able to get them all trained perfectly before you go, but you know things like if you're going to sit in the living room having your dog on a leash, where they can't leap all over Everybody's furniture and on top of everyone, you know, maybe not allowing them in the kitchen area. If they're dogs that will get up on the counters and try to steal things off the counters and maybe you know, maybe you're used to. When you go somewhere at your house, do you leave your dog loose in the house. Well, in a new place that the dog's not familiar with, sometimes there's more potty accidents. There's just more things for them to get into. They're like oh, what's that over there? So if you have a way to either confine them in a certain room but if, if they're crate trained, it just can help all the way around not that you have to have them in the crate the whole time, but I think that's a big thing and then being willing to Keep them on a leash, sometimes where they're not all over everybody, all right. And if your dog jumps all over people when they meet them, then you need to try to control it. Now you may not be able to get them perfect where they never want to jump, but you can kind of limit that by when somebody's people are getting ready to come over. Have them on a leash so that you, you know, have some control. Or, can you know, use gates. If your dog's used to being gated, like in a room, those types of things would help.

Speaker 1: 11:33

Because we've got gates all over our house.

Speaker 2: 11:36

It's like a darn person in here.

Speaker 1: 11:38

You've got to go through this gate to get to that gate, to get to that door.

Speaker 2: 11:41

I think people with dogs usually have gates and they usually have crates, you know, and some people say, well, I don't want to use a crate. My dog's older now. I say, well, that's fine, but just keep them where they can do a crate and where they know that crates are good and you know where they don't flip out and go crazy if they do get put in a crate or separate it into a room. And I think we do put a lot of stress on to the person we're visiting, even though we don't think about it, because you know we're so used to our dogs we don't think a thing about it. But the people you're visiting are used to their routines and their schedules. And then with your own dog, you know, try to keep your dog on the same schedule they normally have been on as far as eating and going to bed at certain times and that kind of thing, and then maybe practice leaving them at home Some if you're not used to leaving them alone, because you'll probably have to do it when you visit people because people want to go out to eat. Well, I've got to stay home with the dog. Well, you won't, you won't do that.

Speaker 1: 12:49

Yeah, it's like why bother go visit people if you're going to have to stay home with the dog? Yes, yes, I'm a huge believer in crates and I've said it many times on the podcast episode. I just don't get people that think that it's cruel. I don't leave my dogs loose at night because running a rescue and having you know some strange dogs that they might not know as well, I don't want to have a dogfight break out in the middle of the night. I don't want somebody getting into my trash can or getting into the medicine that's on the counter or whatever it might be. And so we don't even call them crates, we call them their houses. And you know when I say everyone, get in your houses, each dog knows which one's theirs and they get in there and they turn around and wait for you to shut the door and that's where they sleep. And I think that if you took, you know, you said you know about taking things that are familiar. When they're in an unfamiliar environment, nothing smells like home, it smells like me. Having that crate with their bedding in it probably gives them a lot of relaxation and security when they're in a strange environment. And so, to put that, you know, let's say I'm staying in somebody's guest room to have that crate in the guest room where it's quiet If it's time for them to go to bed, or I'm just trying to get them out from underfoot for a little while, that that gives them a quiet, safe, comfortable place to spend some time and, like you said, it doesn't have to be all day, but it just kind of gives them a time out, get away from the chaos.

Speaker 2: 14:10

Yes, sometimes need that, especially if there's lots of things going on, which at the holidays is usually pretty crazy. And then you know you have to think about if your parents have pets or your family or visiting has pets. Maybe you think in your mind, oh, my dog's great with all other dogs, well, maybe their dogs aren't so good, or maybe they're scared of other dogs, or maybe your dogs 100 pounds and theirs is 10 pounds, you know. So they're going to be concerned about those kinds of things and I think you can, you know, be considerate enough to help out and say you know, we'll see, I'll keep, you know, I'll keep my big dog on a leash for a little while, you know, to see if the dogs are going to do well. And if you have a young dog, your dog's going to want to play all the time with the other dogs. And if your dog's huge and their dogs little, you know they could get too rough or hurt the other dog, that kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 15:08

Oh yeah, or just like my little dog Tinkerbell, the little four pound Chihuahua, and she is older, but you know we bring in these galutes here at the rescue, these big old dogs, and she used to be much more tolerant, but as she's gotten older she doesn't want them near her or they get too close and they touch her. She yelps like they're it's like okay, he barely touched you. But I think she's a little bit afraid, like maybe she's sensing her own fragility as she's gotten older. But I like what you said at the very beginning about not putting them into the. Can I bring the dogs, yes or no? Because that's such a forced choice question and, like you said, who wants to say no? And now your family or your friends don't want to come visit you because they can't bring their dog. But I think by just putting it straight out there that, hey, you probably have some concerns, that you probably might have some worries. What concerns are those? So we can see if I can manage those. I think it's great to have that, have that conversation upfront and then you can get a sense for is it enough concerns that it's just not worth bringing the pet or is it a manageable concern that I can take care of? I also like what you said about the rules at home versus the rules at someone else's house, because I was thinking I wasn't even thinking about the furniture, but I was thinking about, at night, the people that let their dog sleep in bed with them. And you know, every once in a while I've let my dog sleep in bed. I generally don't, because I don't need somebody snoring and being all up against me with their 9000 degree body putting off heat. But you know, somebody's got a nice guest room. They may not want your stinky dog on their bedding or on their blankets or whatever. Have to send some nice comforter to the dry cleaners because your dog stunk it up, peed on it or drag mud on it or whatever it was. I mean, it's just that's another great reason to have that crate and the leash thing. I think the leash thing was a great suggestion too. It just gives you a, it gives you a level of control over the dog. And I think the other thing that I think people should be worried about, especially if it's not somebody that you visit frequently, if your dog gets out the door because of all the people coming and going and maybe the children that are visiting don't realize your dog doesn't come back or your dog gets lost because they're not familiar with the area outside. So definitely a good idea to have that control or those barriers in place to keep that from happening. For sure you had mentioned about bringing your own food and things like that, because I was kind of thinking along the lines, like you had mentioned the bed, to bring the crate, their bed, their own bowls Although that's probably not as much of a crisis, but their own bowls, certainly their own food, so you're not switching food. Anything else that you can think of that would be helpful items to bring.

Speaker 2: 17:45

Well, one other thing that people probably might think to bring would be dog toys or bones that your dog likes. But you have to be very careful with that, because if there are dogs in the home you're visiting, they may be possessive of toys. Or, you know, if there's a dog bone on the floor and it's something new that their dogs haven't seen before, they may want to go get it. And then your dog may not like that. So if you bring anything like toys or chew type items, I would keep those in the area where your dog's going to sleep at night or stay in the room with you that kind of thing versus just throwing them out in the middle of all the other, because there may be other dog toys and stuff there and you have to be careful because things can happen Well, and with children too, you know, especially if your dog is the one that's possessive of his or her toys and you've got a toddler that goes over and sees a bright red ball and goes to pick it up.

Speaker 1: 18:47

I mean that could be a situation as well. Situational awareness has to be huge when you're bringing pets.

Speaker 2: 18:54

And I think you know a lot of times people you know they're just oh, we're going home and I'm taking the dog. You know they don't really think about things like that, but it'd be great if they would the person you're visiting. I'm sure they're thinking oh gosh, what's going to happen? How are we going to do the? feeding with four dogs here instead of the two we normally have, right, and that's another time you can have troubles. And if your dog, say, is one who we call them grazers, one who eats a little bit now, a little bit late, you know, kind of has food out all day, you have to be really careful with that kind of. Thing where you might have to keep that food, your dog's food, in a certain room where the other dogs can't get in there, you know, so that you don't have altercations over food that kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 19:44

That's a good, good point. Another thing I thought about and I hadn't really even thought about this until just this moment, but being aware of you know, let's say somebody's got a yard that they have access to is the yard fence. Is the fence in good condition? Because we've even done some? We don't do home visits per se, but I adopted out a dog to a friend one time and I knew she was an escape artist and so when I went to go deliver the dog, she's like well, let's look at the fence, because her perception of what the dog could get out of and what I knew the dog could get out of was completely different, and they had to make some adjustments to the fence to keep the dog in the yard. So fencing would be one, and then swimming pools is another one to think about. You know if your dog is not used to being around a pool or your dog is older and could get knocked into a pool by another dog that you know. You definitely want to make sure you're able to monitor that because I've, you know, read and seen and heard some pretty terrible stories about what can happen to a dog that's not familiar with swimming pools or that pool if they were to fall in. I kind of look at it as pack like you're going camping, as if for the most part, to pack and bring the stuff, as if you were not going to have access to anything and you know if you need to leave it in the car, then you need to. Then you leave it in the car. It doesn't have to all get hauled into the house. Another great tip that came out of we did a travel with pets like a road trips with pets episode. So if any of you want to go back and listen to that, it was the chock full of good advice. But one of the best pieces of the ice that I hadn't even thought about was to bring your pets medical records on a jump drive. You know it'd be great to bring, if you had copy of paper records but to get to get your pets records, because if something God forbid did happen and you had to run to an emergency vet or a strange vet, then you've got your pets records. Especially if it's after hours at an emergency vet, you might not be able to get that from your vet in a timely fashion. So I thought that was definitely great advice.

Speaker 2: 21:39

Really good idea and you know, if you have, say, you have tags from for your dog, like from the vet, from the rabies and all that, a lot of people have them but not everybody puts them on the dog. I would say if you're traveling with your dog, like if you're going somewhere where they're not familiar with, you, want the tags on the dog any, if you can get them on there somehow, right, because if they get out or get out of the backyard, at least they have some kind of ID where people can try to find them. And of course we would hope the dog would be chipped also. But at least you would have two ways. And some people believe it or not, there's still people that know aren't familiar with chipping dog, they don't even know what you're talking about, yes, and they'll say, well, what is that? So some people are going to look first. I think people do look first for a tag or a color and you know, nowadays there's you can get your collars with your dog's name and a phone number on them. You know where it's right there on the color.

Speaker 1: 22:43

Yeah, embroidered right in the collar, so it doesn't. You don't have to worry about tags, tags jangling that used to drive me insane when I did allow my dog to sleep in the bedroom. They're scratching or something at night and then it's like ching, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching. It's like, okay, now I have to duct tape those together and now you can't see the tag. So it's kind of pointless, but they've got all kinds of things to prevent that now. But and you know, and we're actually we're going to do a great episode coming up also about microchipping pets and how it's important and bust some of the myths that people have about microchips. But what I would say on this episode, when it you know to make sure, before you leave, that your microchip is up to date, because that is. You know we run into two huge issues with microchips at the rescue. Either the pet does that. Well, first of all, three issues, three issues. Number one people don't have a microchip and the you know whether they had a collar or not, who knows? But it's not here now and no tags now, so the only other way we would know whose dog it is is by the microchip. Then the ones that do have a microchip, but it was never registered. That's something that pet owners always want to make sure. Next time you go to the vet, have the vet scan your microchip number, contact the company, make sure that it's registered. Then the third thing is that it's registered but all of the contact information is out of date, because you've moved three times since you got your dog and you never updated your microchip. You definitely want to before you go on any trip and you should do it anyway, but especially if you're going to go on a trip to make sure that all of that microchip information is up to date for sure.

Speaker 2: 24:14

When you were talking about your little dog who's nervous, nilly, slumbering all over all the time. Some dogs will do better not going to somebody's house. They would do better if you get somebody to come to your house to watch them or something there, or if they are familiar with a boarding place, like if you've boarded them before then sometimes that's better for some dogs not all dogs, but for some.

Speaker 1: 24:45

Yeah, I think it really goes back to knowing what's the right thing. I think sometimes people make the decision based on finances, because it's not cheap to board your dog and it's not cheap to have a pet sitter. But you have to sometimes balance that out with you. Take your dog with you to save $200, $300, or however long you're going to be gone it could be a lot more, I don't know, depending upon how many dogs you have, things like that but is that money worth ruining everybody's weekend or week-long holiday visit because the dog became an issue or the pet became an issue? So I think you really need to take quite a few different things into consideration. As far as being I just want to dive in a little bit more as far as being a good house guest you talked about and I think it is important what are the rules in that house? And being prepared to adapt to that person's rules because it's their home, it's their stuff, it's their sofa, it's their bed and that kind of thing. But what about introducing pets? And I know each situation is going to be a little bit different, but do you have any general advice? Like I know, probably the thing would not be to walk in the front door, let your dog off the leash, and then all dogs come together and figure it out.

Speaker 2: 25:56

That's probably your right there. It's not the best plan. So a lot of times, if we are, I can say it's going to be the first time these dogs meet one another A lot of times it's better to have them meet outside of the house first, like out front. Sometimes we'll just stand in the yard, have the dogs on a leash and just kind of maybe let them do a short little sniff and then kind of, you know, not jerk them away, but kind of move them away, and then stand there and talk with the owners for a little while and then sometimes even doing a little walk down to the corner and back with the dogs. And then sometimes, if you walk them in, we'll go straight to the backyard. Then, because there's less to fight over, there's less to you know, nothing to guard or possess, really in the backyard for the most part anyway, and let them keep walking around in the yard. And then if you think they're doing pretty well, you can, since you're in the fenced area you can drop the leashes on the ground, don't undo them, and that way the dogs can move around more freely. But if something starts to happen and you see, oh, this is not good, then you can grab the leash and you at least have some control, whereas if you totally unhook them, then you are, you know you could be in trouble. And then if they're doing well in the backyard, then everybody walks in together, people and dogs all together. So that's kind of how we would do it, and sometimes, like if the person's gonna adopt a new dog and they already have a resident dog, we'll do that same thing have them meet outside and walk first.

Speaker 1: 27:37

Yeah, I actually learned that from you because Jack was I had mentally labeled him dog aggressive, but it was really in certain situations and if you didn't do the introduction right, you know if it was. I'm walking down the sidewalk with my dog on a leash and you're walking down the sidewalk with your dog on a leash but your dog is scrambling, pulling and charging towards my dog face to face. That was never gonna go well and the whole. You know like let's stop at a distance, let's see how we do from a distance. And then you know, let's get a little bit closer and really being aware of what your dog's doing and I think that walking side by side. I remember doing it in front of my house and this is probably about 15 years ago. Where we started it was my friend Kristi and her dog Mack and then my dog Jack, and it's like we started. You know she was on one side of the street, I was on the other side of the street, we were walking together. Then we kinda came closer and they were fine and then they were like jumping in the pool together. Afterwards I mean, it didn't take very long to realize like okay, this is gonna work out. But the introduction had to be done properly, so that's super important, and I think it's important to realize that just because your dog gets along with your other dogs doesn't mean your dog gets along with all dogs, and so you always wanna be yeah, you wanna be careful how you introduce them and I always go with the assumption that maybe they won't get along. So let's just introduce them properly, and if it works out in 30 seconds, then great.

Speaker 2: 28:59

But and you know, if they're not, if they don't seem real comfortable at first, just kinda keep them on leashes or keep them separated a little. Once they see the other dog is not a threat or a danger, then usually things will get better. But just open in the door and letin' your dog in, and if the other dog doesn't know your dog is not the best plan for sure, because it's like an invader coming into their territory and they don't know. They're like whoa, what's happening, you know. So, yeah, and that is something people don't think about often, because they think their dog is good with everyone, which is fine, but the other dog may not be, you know, as friendly to all that kind of thing. And then I know you mentioned to me before we did this about what if the people you're going to see have cats? That's a whole another thing to think about too. And if your dog's never been around a cat, what things do you have to think about then as well?

Speaker 1: 30:04

so, because you don't want your people's cats terrorized, so you have to Well, and the thing with cats that I have learned is that if it's not managed properly, the behavior that you can trigger because cats respond when they feel unsafe and bad behaviors oftentimes are a result of either illness, which that would be one thing, or them feeling not safe, and that lack of feeling safe can last beyond the weekend visit that you have. So if your dog is chasing the cat all around the house and now the cat's not using the litter box because your dog was guarding the litter box from them or not letting them get to the litter box, that person could have a long time of an issue with their cat in the litter box afterwards. So yeah, the cats are a whole another for sure, a whole another ball of wax. But I did want to address the issue of bringing home cats and I don't know I didn't even really ask you if. I assumed you weren't a cat person. But are you a cat person, connie?

Speaker 2: 30:54

You're pretty much a dog person. No, I've never had. I've never had cats. I don't dislike cats. I just love dogs, so you know. And it is a little more work to try to get the two different kinds of animals together sometimes, especially if you have an older cat and then all of a sudden you decide you want a dog. Well, older cats usually aren't very fond of a dog at first. If you start with a kitten, it'll usually work out pretty well, but Right and what I would say.

Speaker 1: 31:21

I think, as far as visiting, let's say I got a cat and I go home and I visit my parents a lot, or I visit my sister a lot and she's got a dog, then it might be worth taking the steps to introduce the cats and the dog and to do that properly. But I think if I was going to Well, first of all, I think if I was going to visit somebody for a weekend that I probably wasn't going to visit frequently, I probably wouldn't bring my cat. But if I did bring my cat, I probably would not go through the steps of trying to introduce the cat to the dog or to the other resident cats. I'd probably just maybe keep my cat in the spare bedroom where I'm staying and just kind of let them have that place, because there's just. You mentioned very first thing you mentioned is animals not liking change. Well, I think cats hate change way more than dogs do, at least in my that's true. Not all cats, I mean some cats are very dog-like in being like, hey, throw me on a leash and I'll walk to the dog park and play with the dogs or whatever, but most cats not so much. But I would say, if you are going to travel with a cat, that you kind of take that same advice of being as self-contained as possible. So one of the things that I would recommend is bringing disposable litter boxes. I think that's a great idea to bring yourself. If you're going to be gone for 10 days, you bring yourself five disposable litter boxes in a bag of litter and then you don't have to worry about cleaning things or you can just throw the whole thing away. And I think, for cats for sure, you need to make sure that they have a quiet place to stay. It's not going to probably be a great thing for the cat to be out amongst family chaos. But, yeah, quiet place. Bring everything that you need and the disposable litter boxes. And I think it probably isn't a bad idea either to think about crates for cats and or harness and leash Even if your cat doesn't walk on a leash. It's just a good way to catch them if you need to. Or to ease them out from under furniture if they want under it, Rather than grabbing their scruff or something and trying to drag them out. You might be able to get a hold of them a little bit better and have a little more control over the situation. So any other thoughts or words of advice, Connie, for bringing your pet with you and being a good house guest.

Speaker 2: 33:30

I just think you know you need to think is my dog going to be comfortable there and do you think that he'll be happy to go with me and be around other people and other dogs? And if there's going to be a lot of people, will my dog do well? And if there's going to be kids there and my dog's not good with kids, do I have a way to manage that? Confine my dogs when the little ones are there or whatever? And then thinking about the other people you're visiting, thinking about their pets, and is my 100-pound dog going to scare their little chihuahua to death? And how can I make it where the chihuahua is not terrified the whole time? You know those types of things. And then if you've got everything under control on your end with your dog or dogs or cat, whichever, then it's going to be easier for the people you're visiting and they won't feel all the stress, because if they're hosting you, they already have some stress.

Speaker 1: 34:36

That's right.

Speaker 2: 34:37

Because they've got to get everything cleaned up, they've got to figure out all the meals and the food and what we're going to do, and you know all of that and where everybody's going to sleep and that kind of thing. So just take that pressure off the other owner and think about. I think just sometimes people don't think because they think their dog is super social and loves everybody, but the place you're going may just not be used to a dog that's just all over everybody every second, and that kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 35:08

You know. One last thing I'd like to just kind of say too is that I think we have to, as adult human beings and being respectful of everybody involved, including our pets, to know when to say, when to say hey, this isn't working, this is miserable for everybody, or my dog would settle down, but now they're, you know, they've gotten themselves all upset and everything else, to realize that you know, maybe it's time to go home or to go stay at a hotel that's dog friendly, or something like that, rather than forcing an issue and just continuing to make everybody miserable. So I think having a plan B. It made me think about when we had to evacuate for one of the hurricanes and we had not intended to evacuate. It was a literal last minute, like let's just throw the pets and some. Luckily, as we're pulling out of the driveway, I saw our boxes of camping gear and I told my husband, grab that camping gear. And he's like why we're going to so and so's house? And it's like, well, when we got to so and so's house, there was 900 other relatives there and you know I can't. I think I had, I don't know was a bunny rabbit or a guinea pig or something. There was something in a cage, so we were able to put that inside the house, but there was no way I was going to be. You know, there were people in sleeping bags, you know, sleeping on the floor because we're in our bedrooms. So we literally set up that camping gear and spent. Luckily it was only a night before we we came back. But sometimes you got to have a plan B ready for bringing that camping gear or making that hotel reservation, or at least scouting out in the area if there's some pet friendly hotels, or again, just be be willing to get back in the car and cut your trip short if you have to for everybody's sanity or safety or both.

Speaker 2: 36:45

Yeah, I would think, you know, having a hotel, you know, and some dog friendly hotels or kept friendly, whatever, would be a good plan, you know, in case it just gets too much for everybody or you get dogs that just aren't getting along and then everybody's on edge watching the dogs I think that'd be a great plan. Or even if you needed to board one of the dogs.

Speaker 1: 37:10

I was just going to say that because that, now that I say that one other time when we evacuated actually it might have been that same trip it was hot and so we did. We started calling around, we found a veterinarian that had a boarding thing and we did board him. I completely forgot about that, so it was just the, and I think we boarded the cat too, because after that first day it was like it's just too hot for these animals to be outside and I can't. I didn't even really even ask to bring them in. I just knew it was going to be too much and it just would have been rude for me to be like put my animals in their house. So we did go ahead and board them. So that would be another thing. You scout out, you know what your boarding options might be.

Speaker 2: 37:48

And you know if your dog say your dog is used to like doing doggy daycare sometimes at your place, then when you go to visit someone you know if you're going to be everybody's going to be gone all day long and or you're going to have a hundred people in the house on a certain day. You might want to think about putting your dog in the doggy daycare, sending them to dog daycare that day while all the chaos is going on, and then you could pick them back up and bring them back for the evening or whatever.

Speaker 1: 38:18

But I think that'll be nice and tired, because they've been running around playing it.

Speaker 2: 38:22

Yeah, oh great.

Speaker 1: 38:26

Well, connie, thank you so much for being here with us today and for sharing this great advice. I hope it gives people some food for thought to make a good decision about what's right for everybody involved, about taking pets, traveling with you and visiting other people's homes, so I really appreciate your time and your expertise.

Speaker 2: 38:43

Oh, I enjoyed it and I really think if people would just stop and really think before they go, like what? You know what things could be problems, what things will probably be easy, and am I going to wreck the place where I'm going or make the people so nervous and upset? You know the whole time. How can I make it smooth and easy? And because they're you're a guest there and your dog is a guest too, and you really need to think ahead, I think.

Speaker 1: 39:14

Great. Well, thank you so much and thanks for having me and thanks to everybody for listening to another episode of Starlight Pet Talk. We appreciate you listening. Share this episode with your friends and family, especially if maybe you've got some family members visiting you for the holidays who have hinted about bringing their pets. Share this episode so that they can plan accordingly and everybody can have a great holiday visit. Thanks for listening to Starlight Pet Talk. Be sure to visit our website at wwwstarlightpettalkcom for more resources, and be sure to follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app so you'll never miss a show. If you enjoyed and found value in today's episode, we'd appreciate a rating on Apple, or if you'd simply tell a friend about the show, that would be great too. Don't forget to tune in next week and every week for a brand new episode of Starlight Pet Talk and if you don't do anything else this week, give your pets a big hug from us.