Traveling with your (large) dog. Tips? Tricks? Vehicle suggestion?

As my wife and I dive deeper into motorsports as our way to make a living, we find ourselves traveling more and more.  We may wind up on the road 20-25 weekends this year.  We thoroughly enjoy it, with the one huge exception of having to leave our dog with a sitter.  It's expensive and we miss her.  There will be some weekends where it's our only option, as we travel coast to coast.  However, when there are events that are within 8-10 hours drive, we'd like to take her with us and drive there instead of flying.  She's a 2 year old, 75lb black lab.  Has anyone ever done frequent road tripping with their large dog?  Our plan would be to stay at hotels that allow dogs.  When we're at the track, if she can't stay near my wife (who is working registration/front of the house stuff), she would stay in our vehicle.  Hence we're thinking either large SUV or cargo/15 passenger van.  We'd park it nearby with the a/c running on warm days, with her food/water, etc...set up for her.  I really don't want an RV, it's just more than we need and would be of little use to us outside of the track.

Ideas?

Exactly why I bought my Excursion. Tow pig for the miata, plenty of room for me + dog with the 3rd row removed. I actually just listed it for sale here

We used the Sierra for years for this. We now have the Seltos. Fits two 75lb long haired german shephards with ease and their crates folded in the rear. bring a pop-up put it next to the vehicle and leave them outside. They love it. 

bobzilla said:

We used the Sierra for years for this. We now have the Seltos. Fits two 75lb long haired german shephards with ease and their crates folded in the rear. bring a pop-up put it next to the vehicle and leave them outside. They love it. 

Never thought about the tent idea.  How long did you leave the dogs for in the tent?  If we're working, we will be able to take a few short breaks to check on her.  However it's still an 8-10 hour day, so we want her to be comfortable and safe.

Can't comment on the dog hanging out in or out of the vehicle, but a good thick dog bed does wonders for them on long trips.  Used to just tell the dogs to load up and we'd hit the road.  Marked improvement when we started to throw a dog bed in for them to lay on.

Wow, I never thought of a tent either.  They just want to be with you and see what's going on, but it's always better if they're shaded from the sun and out of the rain.  Some cool stuff out there!

$75.

If you wind up with a sedan and want to do some DIY stuff, when we did the big Cadillac roadtrip I made a platform to replace the rear seat cushion which bought the dogs some headroom and made a more stable base for dog beds or crates:

It being a massive back seat to begin with certainly helped.

In our doublecab Tundra I actually chopped the rear bench brackets to fit a crate on one side, I should take a picture of that.  At warmer rallies we put the EZ up over the truck and camping nets over the windows, keeps it nice and cool in there while allowing airflow.  When the tools/parts aren't flying the dogs can also be outside, as noted.

I would think mini van for max flexibility. Side or rear entry/exit. Low load floor. Seats that move out of the way for cargo or doggo.

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

I used the garages at putnam but checked on her every hour or so. She was 7 months old at the time and had a ball. When we brought her older half sister to Road America the wife just had her with her all day. I know people that do this same thing all weekend, people are always willing to watch/play with the dog if they're friendly. 

STM317 said:

I would think mini van for max flexibility. Side or rear entry/exit. Low load floor. Seats that move out of the way for cargo or doggo.

We're wondering if the minivan would be large enough.  Would a Chevy Express 1500 or 2500 be better?  With the bonus capability of towing...

bobzilla, she's a fiend for attention....she's much bigger now, but this is her as a puppy

No personal experience (I'm a cat person and they are not interested in going to the track!), but I have several friends who bring large dogs with them to the track in crew cab pickups.  Many of them have rear seats that fold to make the kind of platform shown above for the Caddy, and it certainly addresses the towing question well.

Make sure to check the track's policy on dogs though, some of the ones I've been to specifically do not allow them in the paddock.

SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:

STM317 said:

I would think mini van for max flexibility. Side or rear entry/exit. Low load floor. Seats that move out of the way for cargo or doggo.

We're wondering if the minivan would be large enough.  Would a Chevy Express 1500 or 2500 be better?  With the bonus capability of towing...

Just depends what you prioritize. The full size vans will have some more space and capability. But they'll get worse fuel economy, have higher load floor and it's much less likely to have conveniences like auto sliding doors/hatch.

If you were considering doing a mild RV conversion, then a full size van is the better starting point. You can buy a used work van and add sound deadener, insulation, etc to your hearts' content before customizing the interior for your needs. At that point, Ford Transits, Sprinters, etc enter the chat.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

My dad did something similar on their XC60 for their lab.  He made the platform the size of the 60% seat so there's still a seat available for whatever unlucky person gets to travel with Dog Vader. Its abit of a jump for him to get up there though.

When I had my greyhounds, we had minivans because kids. I'd usually pop out one of the middle row seats, put a dog bed in there, and they would both just pile in and go back to sleep.  We did thousands of miles with 4ppl and 2 stickdogs plus stuff.

If the OP is planning on towing, though, the Suburban type bus is probably a better plan.

More space = more better. 

Full size van > Minivan >= Suburban/Excursion > Minivans without sliding doors (Acadia, etc.) > SUVs. 

As an adult, my wife and I have had 2 Great Pyrenees, 1 Samoyed, and 1 foster Samoyed. The Kia Sedona is wayyyyyyy better than the Mazda Tribute, which was better than the 4Runner. All of these had both a Samoyed and Great Pyrenees in them at the same time. 

Growing up, we had Golden Retrievers. The Oddyssey was better than the Roadmaster wagon was better than the V70 was better than the Outback was better than the ML430 which was about the same as the 4Runner. 

Since this thread is worthless without pictures...

Pyrenees and Samoyed in a Kia Sedona. Despite Frosty laying right in the middle of the space, Milo still has room to move around and 3 different spots that he can lay down. 

Golden in a Roadmaster

Samoyed trying to tell my wife that she doesn't know how to drive the Sedona, and he is going to take over: 

Great Pyrenees, Miata for scale: 

Dog is her copilot (This is either the Tribute or the 4Runner, and you can tell how little room there is)

This is a 4Runner. You can see the passenger front headrest on the right. You can just see the Pyrenees fur - he's standing and looking out the other window. Not much space. 

Milo in the Tribute. He's taking up about 1/3 the useable space. 

Finally, one point against (some?) full sized vans, rolling the windows down is great for the doggos. 

Dogs are very adaptable and likely to enjoy being included and not at all likely to complain, as long as their basic needs are being met.  I don't know that vehicle type is important, as long as everyone fits.  A minivan like the Toyota Sienna would seem ideal.  If you need a truck for towing purposes, then yeah, a 'Burban.  For trips, bigger is always better.

I stayed at a Hampton Inn over the weekend, and I saw like four well-behaved dogs just on my way to get free coffee!

You mention keeping the dog in the vehicle with AC running. That kind of idling on a hot car can be rough on a vehicle, but...

One thing I especially like about the Prius Hybrid is that it is great at "idling.". Set the temp and the car will run off the battery until the battery is drained. At that time it automatically turns on the engine to recharge the battery. Once charged it turns off the engine, rinse and repeat.  

But, also great, with the proximity key this can all happen with the key not really in the car so no threat of vehicle theft. 

So...new Sienna hybrid? Or, similar in SUV or truck guise. 

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

I can't help with the traveling. When the dogs go, we usually take the motorhome. 

Sorry, it was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the picture. 

John Welsh said:

You mention keeping the dog in the vehicle with AC running. That kind of idling on a hot car can be rough on a vehicle, but...

 

Yeah, I know it's not ideal.  However on those July days in the south if we're working at the track all day I want to make sure she is OK.  The pop up tent idea may be a good alternative.

In reply to Toyman! :

We sent that picture to Chobani and got a bunch of coupons for free yogurt.  Which the dog ate half....

Space is nice but trust me dogs just want to go. 

this is our two last fall in the wife's Rio. Kiva was "only" 50 lbs at the time. 
 

and this is them telling us to hurry up. 
 

last July when we went to the UP in the truck. 04-06 gmt800 have the best rear seat function for dogs. We also use a harness so if the worst happens they don't become 75lb middles. We didn't use to do that but as I have gotten older and more attached I take more precautions. 
 

we've been doing cross country trips with all of our dogs for 20+ years now. Longest and smallest was the 2001 Grand Vitara with a 100lb shephard/malamute mix and a 40lb year old border collie puppy, crate and luggage and a table strapped to the roof. Indy to Tucson. 

EDIT: on that last photo, the youngest learned to use the harness to hold her onto the pillows jus right while driving. Bumps and turns she realized would slide her off the perfect sleeping position so she slid over until the line was taut and then rolled to her side and fell asleep. She's too smart.

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

popup, shade and water.

Oh c'mon!   That's not a Valentine card or something?

In reply to 914Driver :

Oh they're stackable for sure. 

Do dogs get scared of the noises at the track? 

In reply to Slippery :

Depends on the dog. Our current ones no. A few previous yes.