Travelling with <span class="highlight">dogs</span>

G'day Mike, we don't travel anywhere without our dogs, they love travelling, and we'd hate to leave them behind.
As long as you continue to do the right thing and clean up after them etc, we will always have dog friendly places to stay.
things sometimes take a little longer, as you have to stop more often, and feed/ water/ excersise them of course, but it's all worth it.

Cheers
Al

We travel with our Golden Retriever with no problems whatsoever.
On the odd occasion that we stay in caravan parks, we find that most allow pets.
The good thing is he never asks "how much further is it?" & doesn't want us to keep stopping for ice creams & drinks!

Travelling with dogs is more difficult than travelling without, but if you want to take them it's not impossible. My wife and I did a lap in 2007 without any pets and we were able to stay pretty much where ever we wanted to, NPs, all caravan parks and camping areas and it was very convenient.

We adopted a small dog and have travelled extensively in SA, QLD and NSW and dropped in to VIC and the NT over the last 3 years with her and it has been a learning experience. You're not allowed to take pets into National Parks, so on occasion we have left her for a day here and there with pet minders or in pet boarding places (vets, caravan park facilities etc.) and several times she has come back with fleas. This is ok for her because we treat her bi-weekly with frontline but there have been a couple of times where they didn't die immediately and have ended up in our van bedding which makes for an uncomfortable night sleep. Also on occasion there are NPs where there's no-where nearby to camp or board your pet nearby (Canarvon Gorge springs to mind) so you have to either not visit or leave them over 100km away.

You will need to watch for snakes and crocodiles even when walking around camp sites on a lead, there was an occasion in Victoria where she was nearly bitten by a tiger snake while we were walking on a dirt road and she was on a lead. She didn't even notice it and I only noticed it when it tried to strike her and managed to pull her away as it did so, it missed we walked away in a hurry. Also be aware that state forests do aerial baiting with 1080 poison which is nasty stuff when ingested so keep an eye on your pet and what he/she is chewing on.

When you visit places of interest like museums etc. you'll need to have an idea of where to leave them, we have left ours in the van if the weather is cool, but if it's hot we tend to just miss out. All in all we wouldn't leave our dog at home, she's part of the family and loves to travel but it is more restricted and disappointing when you miss something you wanted to do.

Mike

I would suggest that you buy a good muzzle, to help protect from 1080 baits.

Alan

We have always had at least one dog and absolutely love them, they are a wonderful animal and it broke our hearts when the last two died.
Having said that we wont be getting another until our travelling days are over, just too hard on us and the dog having taken our last border collie on a few short trips.
The wife's sister and hubby took one of those little "fluffy slipper with legs" dogs with them when they did their first trip around the block. Came home and found new owners for it before the next trip.
I know lots of people take their dogs with them but I think you have to consider your needs and that of your little four legged friend as well.

Cheers
Pop

Hi Mike,

You may already be aware of this ExplorOz article.

Cheers

John

Don't always think there will be 1080 bait signs, nearly all pastoral areas of SA have 1080 baited this year by air and by ground. I counted 9 dead dogs on the Birdsville track and they weren't tickled or shot so some bugger don't care where they are baiting. There wasn't one single sign to be seen.

Mike, we just did SE Qld to Birdsville via Thargomindah, Tibooburra, and Innamincka with our 4.4kg fur-child. It was her first camping trip and I had read up about 1080, wild dogs etc and was a bit apprehensive.
She frets at boarding kennels and we haven't yet tried boarding her with family.
She was our 4-legged door bell. We were in a tent, and although we planned to stay in parks or populated areas, we couldn't discount a break-down (or similar) that would prevent us from getting to our planned camp site...and then we may have been forced to camp with no company.
She's well trained and didn't yap (don't you hate yappy flamin' dogs!!) and didn't need to "play door bell" at any point. Meeting lots of people and other travelling dogs was a great socialising experience for her.
Had we been in van with solid walls things would have been different. We would have felt more secure at night if alone...and we would have been able to lock her in for a short time while we went to do things without her. Are you vanning or tenting?
As it was, we had to always take her on the lead to shops etc while one person waited outside.
She was always on the expandable running lead when we were at camp, esp in Innamincka where we saw a number of wild dogs/dingo crosses (?)..She slept between us and only went out for a night time loo break with an escort.
She was often on the lead as we wandered around both towns and isolated places, esp if there was a chance of snakes (eg wandering through old outback cemeteries) or if there were wedgetail eagles (!!).
We acknowledged that we missed some experiences, but if we'd stayed home, we'd have missed even more experiences, eh?!