Pet Friendly travelling cross-Country
Most people adore their dogs and consider them to be members of their family. So it’s no surprise that one-fifth of dog owners take their dog or dogs on road trips, and the number of people doing so has been steadily increasing over the last few years.
I attribute this increase to three factors:
1. The huge amounts of money we’ve been spending on Pet Boarding Accommodation, Pet Sitters, House sitters and the more traditional boarding kennels.
2. It’s getting better each year to travel with pets with lots more accommodation providers opening their doors to travellers with pets.
3. Public transport options steadily becoming more pet travel friendly.
So, yes, there’s hardly any reason to leave Fido out on your next adventure filled road trip holiday.
Aside from Ozzie locals wanting to travel around their own state or interstate, this is also great news for overseas travellers wanting to explore Australia with their best furry buddy.
The horrible lack of Pet Friendly accommodation options in previous years would not have served Australia well.
Visitors to Australia who attempted to travel with their Pet in style several years ago may have had a lot of negative things to say about Australia when they returned home.
This would have left many people in their home country with a bad taste in their mouth. After all, if people who hear this news adore their dog and despise the thought of leaving them behind while they enjoy all that Australia has to offer, then there would have been plenty of plane tickets that never got purchased due to Pet Friendly travel issues Australia used to have.
Pet Friendly Travel in Australia has come a long way.
The good news is that things have improved significantly. Sure, there are still a few rules and regulations that you should familiarise yourself with before travelling to Australia with your dog, and how much of what you have to go through depends on how our wonderful, hardworking government employees have classified your country.
Conveniently, Australian officials divide all 7.6 billion people that live outside of Australia up people into four categories (how nice of us). Depending on which category you fall into, your poor old pet may be subjected to additional criteria prior to being allowed into this country. To learn more about all of this, you can visit this link (petraveller.com.au)
But don’t let me scare you off though; some of the requirements make perfect sense, and I’m sure you’d want the same for your own country. There are some things that you can’t avoid no matter where you are travelling from.
All travellers wishing to bring their pet to Australia must ensure that their pets have a compliant microchip implanted and have received all required vaccinations, as well as an import permit and health assessment tests. You wouldn’t want your trip cut short because of a nasty underlying health condition your pet had prior to arriving in Australia.
How to get your Pet legally into Australia.
I’m sorry folks but some breeds are also prohibited from ever entering Australia. Once you meet all of the pre-requisite arrival conditions, your pet will be quarantined for a period of time (this period depends on which category of the 7.6 billion Non Australian people you fall into).
I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted just thinking about having to go through all of that with your dog, so I think contacting specialist companies like Petraveller.com.au and dogtainers.com.au might make things a lot easier for you and reduce the stress that both you and your dog must endure.
Pet Friendly Travel and Accommodation in Australia.
So, let’s say you’ve completed all of the pre-Australian pet friendly road trip requirements and are looking to begin your journey and need information on a Pet Friendly place for you and your pet/s to stay.
In addition to all of the tricks and tips for pet friendly travel in Australia that I’ve mentioned on my Pet Friendly page, there are a few rules and regulations relating to how you keep your pet safe while travelling in a vehicle around Australia.
I’m very much in support of those rules; getting up to speed on those rules won’t take you more than a few minutes, and I mention most, if not all, of that stuff on my Pet Friendly page as well.
Follow the rules and regulations when travelling with your dog.
In a nutshell, Australian police do not need a specific piece of dog legislation to refer to before giving you an infringement if you are driving erratically or acting foolishly in your car due to your Pet running around freely in the vehicle. If you are distracted by your pet while driving a couple of tonnes of metal at 100km/h, you are endangering the lives of everyone else in the car, as well as your dog and all other motorists on the roads who are just trying to get home safely.
If you don’t take a few minutes to look up and then follow the rules for how to secure your pet while travelling in a car in Australia, and your dog is seen bouncing around inside your car, preventing you from driving safely, you can bet the cops will pull you over and hand you a rather large fine.
If you buy or rent a ute to complete your Australian road trip adventure, make sure you read up on the rules about having your dog in the back of one of these vehicles. If the cops catch you with your dog loose on the back of your ute, I honestly wouldn’t blame them for throwing the book at you as it’s extremely dangerous for your dog.
I apologise in advance if you are visiting Australia and driving around fully compliantly with your furry companion appropriately secured in the back of a ute, only to see Aussie locals not doing the same, but that is a situation that exists between them and the police, and they will be extremely unhappy if they are caught.
In Australia, you are not permitted to have your dog hang out a window. We all know how much they enjoy the wind on their faces, but it is extremely dangerous for them and can frequently distract other drivers on the road if they see a dog perilously hanging out the window of another vehicle.
The majority of what you need to know is just basic road safety information; once you arrive at your pet-friendly travel destination, you can have all the fun in the world with your dog. Until then, follow the rules and regulations for safe travel to keep yourself, your dog, and others free from harm.
Quality Australian Pet Friendly Accommodation.
There is plenty of pet-friendly accommodation in Australia when you search using www.booking.com.
They have the ‘Pets Allowed’ checkbox you can select when looking for suitable accommodation within a state or territory that may be your next destination.
What’s especially encouraging is that there are now Pet Friendly establishments in some high-profile cities, which is fantastic news, and as each week passes, more and more Pet Friendly hotels or specialist pet retreats for travellers become available.
The 4.6-rated “The Langham” in Sydney’s The Rocks caters to you and your pet with rooms that offer lavish beds and plenty of creature comforts for your dog, despite not being inexpensive for the average traveller. A pet room-service menu exists, and I’ve heard the pet menu is so good that it might also pass as a pretty good menu for humans. The hotel also offers pet-sitting for when you are out and about and walking services for tired from a busy day exploring Sydney.
A lovely and reasonably priced hotel in Canberra, The Mercure now offers pet-friendly rooms with an adjacent fenced courtyard for your pet to play and explore. Additionally, they offer your pet a free souvenir toy to help them remember their trip.
If staying in the lush of luxury is not for you and you love the idea camping when travelling around this vast country, then make your first search on the Big4 Holiday Parks – Pet Friendly website. That’s definitely more my scene and as long as you stick to the terms and conditions for these parks, you’ll love the freedom these places offer and so will your dog.
Pack your bags with your dog in mind prior to travelling.
Do not forget to include a lot of items in the bags for your pet. When the time comes, having it and not needing it is preferable to needing it and not having it. Bring extra leashes, bedding, toys, food, medicine, treats, and water. If you’re like most people, you’ll be enjoying your vacation so much that you’ll leave something behind or misplace it occasionally.
Rather than letting these minor inconveniences stress you out, just have lots of backup plans. Pack extras of any necessary items for your pet because some of Australia’s more remote and breathtaking locations don’t exactly have a lot of shopping options.
Do some research on Vets and Emergency Animal Hospitals
Because most Australians are fervent animal lovers, you can find plenty of veterinarians to help your furry travelling companion if anything goes wrong. To be sure, check to see if the practise is accredited by the Accreditation Program for Australian Veterinarians when thinking about taking your pet there. That’s a helpful tip I recently discovered.
This may not typically be a problem, but if you are picky about who diagnoses your pet’s condition, it may be a good idea. It would be highly recommended for you to visit the Animal Emergency Australia website if you are intending to travel around Queensland, Australia, their website is https://animalemergencyaustralia.com.au/.
Do this before you start your journey so that you can save the Emergency Animal Hospital addresses into any GPS device you may be using in your car, such as a Garmin or TomTom. You should research similar organisations in other states before you travel.
Travelling safely around Australia requires a little homework.
Prior to embarking on a road trip adventure with your pet in Australia, it’s also a good idea to be aware of the country’s limitations on mobile phone network coverage in its more remote areas and its numerous safety warnings for motorists, if you visit Woodwin Auto Tips via https://www.glzwoodw.com/travelling/ you’ll find just about everything you need to learn.
Four final things I’ll leave you with when road trip adventuring around Australia with your pet:
1. Under no circumstances should you leave your pet alone in the vehicle.
a. When it comes to this situation, you won’t be merely attempting to elude the police’s watchful eyes.
b. If Australians walk past your car and see that you’ve left your pet inside, they will call the police and report it.
c. When a pet is left inside a car on a hot day, it doesn’t take long for them to die.
2. Take out high-quality travel insurance for yourself and quality pet insurance for your dog before you depart so that you are covered for all eventualities. Don’t take any chances in this area; make sure you’ll be covered for the worst case scenario because you’ll likely encounter things in Australia that you could not have imagined before boarding the plane.
3. Please consider visiting Australia; for the most part, it is a fantastic travel destination.
a. Please come to Australia with your pets and see what all the fuss is about.
b. Travel safely, and if you have a great time, make sure to tell all your friends when you return.
c. Our tourism industry will welcome you with open arms; it will take us a long time to fully recover from the recent downturn in the tourism industry, so you couldn’t come to Australia at a better time.
d. Australia wants your business and the best way we can grow our tourism business is for you and all your friends to come here and have one of the best holidays of your life with your pet/pets.
e. The ball is in our court, if we don’t make you happy, you’re not going to put forward any positive comments about country and pique the interest of others.
4. Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek & Slide when you are here and avoid being harmed by the harsh Australian sun. Sun related Cancer is a major killer in Australia, so please be sure to read the above provided link to the Cancer Council of Australia.
Preparing your vehicle before long distance driving with your pet.
It’s difficult to ignore the fantastic value of rooftop cargo boxes and bags when it comes to efficient and practical additional storage for any long trip you may be planning. Both options are excellent; your choice will likely depend more on your personal preferences or particular needs. This is the link to a blog article on the Woodwin Auto Tips website about Vehicle Rooftop Cargo Bags & Boxes.
After you’ve taken care of your travel storage needs, you should probably take a close look at what tools and other incident-specific supplies you need to keep in your car. It takes a lot of care and consideration to properly equip your car for the specifics of your intended journey. You must consider what possible emergency or vehicle breakdown situation you may encounter, the consequences of that situation, and how you can best mitigate the associated risk. You can click here on What Tools Should I Pack In The Trunk Of My Car to read the Woodwin Auto Tips article on this subject.
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