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Dog jaunt: Visit Atlantic City by train, with your dog

Photo by StangGT

I am always happy to hear about trains that allow pets onboard, so you can imagine how pleased I was to hear about the ACES trains that take weekenders to Atlantic City. Trains run on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only. They travel between New York’s Penn Station and Atlantic City’s Rail Terminal, and stop only once (at Newark’s Penn Station). Total trip time? Just under three hours.

Pet dogs are allowed on ACES trains “free of charge when carried by passengers in well-secured containers designed for transporting animals. The containers may not block aisles and must be moved off seats for customers.”

And once you get there? The Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority issued a really useful press release last spring that lists pet-friendly hotels, beaches and attractions in the Atlantic City area, and an offManhattan post I mentioned in March suggests staying at the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel not only because of its “Love That Dog” program but also because the hotel has the world’s largest collection of Miss America pageant memorabilia. Check out BringFido and Go Pet Friendly for dog-friendly restaurant suggestions — and keep in mind that it’s always a good idea to confirm that a restaurant’s policy hasn’t changed since it was listed.

One quick note: You won’t be able to board the jitney buses that trundle around town with a pet dog (even with a small dog in a carrier, the customer service representative told me). Your remaining choices include walking, taking a taxi (if the taxi driver likes the look of your pooch), or taking a NJ Transit bus (a customer service representative re-confirmed that small dogs in carriers are allowed on NJ Transit trains and buses). You may also take a small dog in a carrier on the sightseeing trolleys operated by the Great American Trolley Company — the same company also runs trolleys around the downtown areas of nearby, smaller resorts including Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon/Stone Harbor, Cape May and Wildwood.

Chloe’s Clicks: Dog travel links we liked this week

This week’s Chloe’s Clicks takes you all over the U.S. — in a desperate attempt to impose order on chaos, I’ll move from west to east across the country.

We start in the San Francisco Bay Area, where In Circle Pets spent a day on the Marin side of the Golden Gate bridge, at the dog-friendly Cavallo Point Lodge — a former U.S. Army post converted to a luxurious and eco-friendly destination (here’s Cavallo Point’s pet policy).

There and Back Again spent the day in Roswell, New Mexico, and was happy to find that the UFO Museum and Research Center is dog-friendly. Don’t miss the pictures in this post — the “Aliens Welcome” Arby’s alone is worth the click.

Moving north and east, KSPR.com in Springfield, Missouri reports that the city is becoming more pet-friendly: A downtown restaurant, Trolley’s Downtown Bar and Grill, now welcomes dogs on its patio. Girls Guide to the Galaxy, located in St. Louis, posted a useful article about dog-friendly parks, walks, restaurants and events in the Gateway to the West (although several of St. Louis’s dog parks are private, blogger Carlie Irwin lists the ones that visiting dogs can use).

Keep going and you land in Chicago, where Daisy, JD counts the dog-friendly Green City Market (a year-round farmer’s market) in Chicago’s Lincoln Park as one of the things she’s “happy and content about.”

Head east, and visit dog-friendly Syracuse, NY with the help of a useful post from Sharon’s AKC Yorkshire Terrier Puppies! — Sharon describes some fun walks, a nearby town, and a BBQ restaurant to check out. Our friends Rod & Amy Burkert of Take Paws were not too far away, and wrote a great post about visiting a couple of dog-friendly wineries in the Finger Lakes area. The picture of a sozzled Ty (to be honest, he was just tired) is priceless.

Leaving the grapes for the Big Apple, Pet Hotel Guru posted a quick article about dog-friendly hotels, stores and restaurants in New York. (Dogs are also allowed in Saks Fifth Avenue, should your shopping take you in that direction.) And here’s something completely different: A site that tries to list “all of the places from Maine to Florida where dogs are allowed on the beach for at least some part of the year.” It was last updated in 2008, so do your own research as well, but it seemed too useful not to mention.

You’ve read all of this, and now you want to bring your dog to the United States for a vacation — get started with a post from How to Travel With Pets about the basic requirements for bringing a pet dog into the U.S., which is not only useful but also mentions Dog Jaunt (always the quickest way to Chloe’s heart!).

Photo Friday: Dog travel photos wanted!

This week’s photo is of a friend’s dog, named Bobbie. I love — but LOVE — how Bobbie’s standing with his front paws in the cupholders! (Our friends are super-conscientious people, so I have no doubt that this is not how Bobbie actually travels. Surely, just out of the picture, is a booster seat with a harness for safety….)

I also love Bobbie’s story. Our friends met him at a shelter, where they’d gone to rescue a senior Miniature Schnauzer (named Jack). The lady of the family mentioned to the shelter folks that she really wanted a “a little white froo froo dog,” though she realized that she was about to go home with Jack. It turns out that Jack’s cage-mate, a nearly-starved scrap of a dog, would normally be white except that he’d been shaved bald to get rid of his horrid mats — and that was Bobbie, who’s now four pounds heavier, and a perfect white fluff-ball. Jack spent the rest of his life with them, and Bobbie is still going strong.

The outrageously adorable Bobbie

Please send me links to your favorite dog travel photos! They’ll get listed below, for everyone to click on and view. Here’s how it works:

  1. Every Friday, I’ll put up a post like this one, sometime during the morning (Pacific time).
  2. If you have a blog or a website, post a dog travel photo on your site on Friday and link back here to the current week’s “Photo Friday” post so that your readers can see other great dog travel photos. Please take a moment to make sure that you are linking directly to your photo post instead of your homepage.
  3. If you don’t have a blog or a website, simply post your photo to Flickr (or Facebook, Twitpic, etc.).
  4. Using the inlinkz button below, paste in the link to your photo or your blog post. That way, Dog Jaunt will link back to you. Please include a few words in the “Name” box describing where you took the photo (in this case, “Name” refers to the name of your photo, not your name!).

Helping your house-trained dog stay house-trained while traveling

Photo by Poochie Bells

We recently faced up to the fact that Chloe is not yet perfectly house-trained. Too often, we’d get complacent and then find that she’d snuck off to the basement or another distant room to pee or poop. The problem is that we live in a large house, and while she’s good as gold in the rooms she sees all the time, she must regard lesser-used rooms as being, in effect, outside. Our solution? Poochie Bells, and a lesson with a trainer from Ahimsa Dog Training, the dog school we took her to when she was a puppy.

Poochie Bells are, essentially, several bells sewn on a long ribbon that hangs over a doorknob, or on a hook. The trainer showed us how to teach Chloe to use the bells to signal when she needs to use the bathroom. (The bells come with directions, but we felt like we needed extra help.)

The reason I’m telling you this is because dogs who are traveling may also treat an unfamiliar room (like a hotel room, or your friends’ guest room) as an acceptable place to use the bathroom — purely because it’s not “home.” Chloe had only one accident away from home in the PPB (pre-Poochie Bells) era, but only because I was obsessively vigilant. I’m pleased with the bells because they give Chloe a way to communicate her needs both at home and on the road — we now travel with a set of bells, which we hang on the door of our hotel room so Chloe knows that our house rules also apply in this new place.

So far, it’s working like a charm. I’ve added Poochie Bells to Chloe’s packing list, and if your house-trained dog has been having accidents away from home (or if you fear she might), consider adding them to your packing list!

Please note that other companies make door bells for dogs, and crafty readers may be thinking that it wouldn’t be too hard to make a set out of some bells and ribbon. We happened to buy a set of Poochie Bells, and they’ve worked for us.

Amazon link:
Poochie-Bells EcoFriendly Soft Bamboo (Terracotta)

Taking a dog to Hawaii: Reduce quarantine time to a few hours

Photo by dno1967

Friends of ours have a house in Maui and have kindly offered it to us as a vacation getaway. Fantastic! I thought, but how sad I’d be to leave Chloe behind. If we brought her with us, how sad to leave her in quarantine for the first five days of our visit (though it would be an excellent excuse to schedule a really long getaway). Our friends pointed out, however, that Hawaii’s new-ish (since 2003) quarantine program has a “5-day-or-less” option, and while I’d been focusing on the “5 day” part of the name, nearly 90% of the pets traveling to Hawaii are released to their owners within a few hours (FY 2005 data).

Getting your pet directly released takes money (including your vet expenses and a $165 fee charged by Hawaii) and effort, but if you jump correctly through all the hoops, your dog will be in your hands only a few hours after your arrival in Honolulu. The Department of Agriculture’s official checklist (PDF) walks you through the required steps. Summarized briefly, they include:

  • Correct rabies vaccinations — Your dog has to have been vaccinated at least twice for rabies in her lifetime. The vaccines must have been administered at least 30 days apart. The most recent vaccine must have been administered more than 90 days before your dog arrives in Hawaii, but within the vaccine manufacturer’s stated booster interval (that is, your dog must still be covered by her most recent booster when she arrives in Hawaii).
  • Working microchip — Your dog must be microchipped, and the chip must be working properly.
  • OIE-FAVN rabies blood test — Your vet has to send a blood sample to an approved laboratory, which will run this test to determine whether your dog has sufficient levels of rabies vaccine in her blood. At least 120 days must pass between the day after your dog’s blood sample reaches the lab and the date of your dog’s arrival in Hawaii. (That assumes, however, that your dog’s test result is successful. If it isn’t, your dog will need to be re-vaccinated, and a new blood sample will need to be sent in. To be safe, give yourself plenty of time for this step.)
  • Long-acting tick treatment — “A veterinarian must treat the pet for ticks with a product containing Fipronil or an equivalent long-acting product labeled to kill ticks (Revolution® is not acceptable) within 14 days of arrival.” Frontline is an example of a product containing Fipronil.
  • Timely delivery of supporting documents — Original documentation of both rabies vaccinations and the original of a health certificate from your vet, plus a completed Dog & Cat Import Form AQS-278 (PDF), signed by your vet and notarized, must arrive at the Rabies Quarantine Branch more than 10 days before your pet arrives in Hawaii. To save time, enclose the $165 fee (cashier’s check or money order).
  • Timely arrival at quarantine facility — Be sure to schedule your flight so that you arrive in Honolulu before 3:30 p.m. According to the department’s website, “it may take up to one hour for the airlines to transport a pet to the Airport Animal Quarantine Holding Facility and animals not arriving at the facility by 4:30 p.m. will not be released at the airport that day.   Pets arriving in the late afternoon and evening will be held overnight until inspections are completed the following morning.”

The mind reels. The main thing, however, is to get moving as soon as the idea of a Hawaii vacation crosses your mind. And once you’ve jumped through these hoops, you buy yourself a period of time (since the blood test results are good for three years) during which return trips to Hawaii will be significantly easier.

There is one further wrinkle to tell you about: Since 2007, visitors willing to jump through a couple more hoops may be allowed to request direct release of their pets from the airports on the neighboring islands of Kaua`i, Maui and in Kona. Here is a “Checklist for Requesting Direct Airport Release at Kona, Kahului and Lihue Airports.”

The last twist, of course, is that only Korean Air allows dogs to fly in-cabin to Hawaii, and the only Korean Air flight going to the islands departs from Korea. That leaves me with the following unpleasant choices: (1) Go to Maui while Chloe stays in Seattle at a kennel or with a petsitter; (2) Take Chloe with us, but under the plane; or (3) Travel with Chloe to Korea and then to Honolulu. Argh! [8/15/11 I’m thrilled to report that this paragraph is now out of date. I’ve just learned that Alaska Airlines is now allowing small dogs and cats to travel in-cabin to Hawaii, as of today’s date.] The point of this post, though, is that once you and your dog arrive in Hawaii, quarantine rules needn’t stand in the way of a great island vacation.

Raw food that travels well: More good news

Until last week, we were feeding Chloe frozen raw food at home (from a Seattle company called Natural Pet Pantry — yes, Chloe rejected all of the nationally-available brands) and a motley assortment of foods on the road, including Taste of the Wild and Now! kibble, and Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried raw food. I’ve been wavering in my allegiance to frozen raw food since my brother, an infectious disease specialist, asked over Easter break how confident I was that I wasn’t putting Chloe in a position to contract toxoplasmosis. Not that confident, it turns out, but I still hankered for the benefits of a raw diet.

Enter ZiwiPeak’s air-dried raw food — or, rather, re-enter, because I tried it out on Chloe as a puppy and she rejected it then as vigorously as she rejected every other food we offered her. For the past week, however, she’s been wolfing it down, and I’m convinced enough that it’s a keeper that I’ve invested in a couple of the big bags of venison and lamb. I’m pleased, too, because this food will travel well, so I don’t have to switch diets on her just when she’s dealing with the stress of travel and jet lag. One last thing to celebrate: Portion sizes for ZiwiPeak air-dried food are very small (just 2 oz. a day for a dog Chloe’s size), so this food doesn’t take up a lot of packing space either.

Please note that the Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried raw food I mentioned also packs easily and is a quality product, but Chloe doesn’t consistently love it, and rehydrating it takes more time than she’s willing to wait.

Chloe’s Clicks: Dog travel links we liked this week

Lots of links to tell you about this week! Let’s start with Travel with Whippets, coming from an RV somewhere in the U.S., which posted a very positive review of the very dog-friendly Four Paws Kingdom Campground in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, near Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, NC. Good news: “You don’t even have to own an RV to camp here; they also rent little dog-friendly cottages or parked RVs, complete with fenced, gated front porches for you and your pets.”

Other eastern U.S. links include a note from uptake Hotels about the pet-friendly “Inn the Doghouse” package offered by the Hotel Providence, a new luxury hotel in an historic downtown Providence, Rhode Island district, and a tempting post from petswelcome.com about dog-friendly things to do on Martha’s Vineyard (including going to the farmer’s market!). If you’re lucky enough to live in Savannah, GA, you probably already know about the activities organized by St. Almo, the local dog lover’s club, including Halloween trick-or-treating, a summer ghost tour in the Historic District, and several Yappy Hours throughout the summer (this month’s Yappy Hour was held at the much-praised Leoci’s Trattoria).

Changing coasts, In Circle Pets described a fun afternoon itinerary, including lunch, for you and your dog in San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood. Head south to Santa Barbara, and seek out the Arroyo Burro Beach (Hendry’s Beach) mentioned in a post this week by Six Minute Style — it’s dog-friendly! You might also like to go on the self-guided Red Tile Walking Tour (PDF) mentioned in the post.

Inland, 5280.com noted that Golden City Brewery (in Golden, CO) is a fun visit for two reasons: The brewery offers experimental and seasonal brews to its visitors every Thursday, and its backyard patio is dog-friendly. Heading west again, It’s a Vegan Dog’s Life posted a great article about visiting Moab, Utah with a dog.

Half a world away, the Sebel Pier One Hotel in Sydney, Australia welcomes pets “in one of Sydney’s prime tourist locations at Walsh Bay, alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge.” Spin the globe and land in the Netherlands, where an ex-pat blog called Clogs and Tulips explains the difference between “hondentoiletten” (on-leash dog relief areas) and “hondenspeelweiden” (off-leash dog play areas), and where to find them in Utrecht.

Head north a bit to learn that dogs have been banned from 72 parks in Nottinghamshire, in England’s East Midlands, because owners were failing to clean up after their pets. In remaining parks, new rules require that dogs be leashed, and that no more than six dogs be walked by one person. I love the link for this gloriously British quote from a local kennel club member: “‘I think this is really well overstepping things.’”

A short while ago, I wrote a post about how Minneapolis was addressing the issue of keeping off-leash dog parks clean. At about the same time, Rod & Amy Burkert of Take Paws were learning that permits are also required to visit Louisville, Kentucky dog parks. Louisville, however, allows visitors to make advance arrangements to visit the dog parks. Check out the Burkerts’ post for the how-tos, and three cheers for Louisville! I would love it if Minneapolis adopted this system someday.

Photo Friday: Dog travel pictures wanted!

Not every Parisian dog is purse-sized! This week’s picture was taken last July at a beloved bistro in the Haut Marais called Le Progrès (1, rue de Bretagne 75003). I love the look on the lady’s face.

Photo by boltron-

Please send me links to your favorite dog travel photos! They’ll get listed below, for everyone to click on and view. Here’s how it works:

  1. Every Friday, I’ll put up a post like this one, sometime during the morning (Pacific time).
  2. If you have a blog or a website, post a dog travel photo on your site on Friday and link back here to the current week’s “Photo Friday” post so that your readers can see other great dog travel photos. Please take a moment to make sure that you are linking directly to your photo post instead of your homepage.
  3. If you don’t have a blog or a website, simply post your photo to Flickr (or Facebook, Twitpic, etc.).
  4. Enter a link to your photo or your blog post in the form at the bottom of my post (if your URL is longer than 100 characters, you will need to use a URL shortening service, like bit.ly). That way, Dog Jaunt will link back to you. Please include a few words in the “Link Title” box describing where you took the photo.

Traveling by Denver public transit with a small dog

Photo by DenverDwellings

Denver’s Regional Transportation District (“RTD”) offers bus and light-rail service in and around Colorado’s capital city. The system covers eight counties, and stretches between Boulder and Nederland in the west, Longmont in the north, Highlands Ranch in the south, and Aurora in the east. RTD also has a fleet of airport shuttles (“skyRide” buses) that carry passengers between the airport and Denver and surrounding communities, including Boulder.

Although RTD has a really admirable website, it took some digging to learn that pet dogs are allowed on board RTD buses and trains “if they are kept in a cage or container.” [7/5/11 Thanks to an alert reader, see below, I learned that the RTD’s pet policy is no longer on its website. I called today and learned that yes, pet dogs are still allowed on board RTD buses and trains, as long as they are in a carrier.]

For other posts about traveling with dogs on public transit, take a look at Dog Jaunt’s handy guide!

How to make your dog more comfortable in her carrier

Photo by tombothetominator

One of the search queries I see most often in Dog Jaunt’s records is “dog whines in airplane carrier,” so I know that there are plenty of you out there who are worried about how your dog is reacting, or will react, to being in her carrier. Even Chloe, an outstanding traveler, has started to scrape a bit at the sides of her carrier during takeoff.

I’ve decided that she’s probably not upset about being in the carrier, but is instead reacting to some unpleasant engine squeal that happens when the plane is working its hardest — it had me worried, though, and got me researching solutions for anxious canine travelers. Here are my best suggestions.

Give your dog time to grow accustomed to her new carrier, and be sure to use it on trips to places she adores (the off-leash dog park, for example, or a dog store where she’s showered with treats) — not just trips to the vet. Leave it out at home, and encourage her to spend time in it by tossing in treats. You might even set her food bowl in its opening at meal times. Put a super-soft pad in it so it really is comfortable (notice the extra padding in this doxie’s carrier?).

On the day of travel, be sure to give your dog a long walk just before you leave for the airport. You don’t want to push her so hard that she’ll need to drink a lot of water when you return, but exercise will increase the likelihood that she’ll snooze on the plane. Tuck into the carrier your dog’s favorite toy and a tee-shirt that you’ve worn, so she’ll have the comfort of familiar smells.

Consider spraying the inside of the carrier with Comfort Zone with DAP, a synthetic version of a pheromone produced by nursing dogs (it also comes in TSA-friendly wipes that can be run around the inside of the carrier and on your dog’s collar). Please note that the first time I used Comfort Zone, I stuck my head in the carrier right after I’d sprayed it to see if it smelled like anything, and choked myself on the alcohol that carries the important ingredients — be sure to let about five minutes go by before letting your dog inside, so the alcohol can dissipate!

Some owners swear by a spritz of calming lavender spray, or you could tuck a lavender sachet under the carrier’s padding (so your dog isn’t tempted to chew it). Others swear by Rescue Remedy Pet, a distillation of floral essences. A drop or two on your pet’s tongue, nose or paw may have a calming effect.

Several airlines will let you put your dog’s carrier on your lap during flight, and although you cannot let your dog (or any part of her!) stick out of the carrier, you can put your arm inside the carrier and soothe your dog with pats and treats. Chloe’s carrier is very large, so I’m careful about when I pull it onto my lap. It works best when I have a window seat or I’m sitting next to my husband (we can turn it sideways across our laps). Otherwise, it’s really too much of an imposition on my neighbors.

Turn to sedatives as a last resort, and only with your veterinarian’s approval and prescription. In some cases, they may be necessary and appropriate, but sedatives in general are not recommended even for pets traveling in-cabin, since they tend to affect your dog’s balance and impair her breathing.

Amazon links:
Comfort Zone with DAP
Comfort Zone with D.A.P. Wipes for Dogs
Bach Rescue Remedy Pet