This is the checklist I’ve created for trips with Chloe. I live for checklists. Please note that I don’t bring every item on this list on every trip. It helps me a lot, though, to collect in one place a list of every item I have, at one point or another, been grateful for or wished for.
(My husband would want you to know that he believes Chloe will never, ever need a lifejacket, but he doesn’t write the checklist. Or buy dog gear.)
Before you leave
- Make travel reservations for your dog
- Ensure hotel is pet-friendly
- Ask about mini-fridge if bringing raw food or bones
- Get health certificate from vet within 10 days of travel
- Confirm that your copy of your dog’s shot record is current
- Ensure sufficient supply of prescription medications
- Identify good local vet and emergency vet
- Get a temporary ID tag with local address and phone number
- Print a copy of your airline’s pet policy
- Get directions to pet relief areas in airports where you have layovers
Carry-on
- A couple of meal’s worth of food (I carry 1-2 of the tiniest Natural Balance dog food rolls)
- A collapsible water bowl
- A water bottle (filled once I’m past security)
- Chloe’s leash and harness, for unfenced pet relief areas
- Poop bags
- Extra-good treats, to coax her back in her carrier en route
- Health certificate (if needed) and a current copy of Chloe’s shot record
- Prescription medications
- Picture of your dog
- A hand-held fan (a sensible suggestion from a Dog Jaunt reader)
Packing
- Carrier and messenger bag carrier
- An extra leash and harness
- Harness and seat belt clip for car travel
- Towel or seat cover for car travel (to protect dog from hot seat, and protect seat from dog)
- Window shade
- Windex Wipes (to clean nose prints off rental car windows)
- Coat/raincoat (depending on the weather)
- Lifejacket
- Safety vest or blaze orange handkerchief
- Paw booties
- Food kit
- Prescription medications
- Treats and chews
- Quiet clicker
- Toys, inc. felted ball and Chuckit! Mini Launcher
- Travel crate and 2 pads
- Loose bedding (towels/blankets)
- Bedsheets, to protect the hotel’s bedspread and sofa
- Travel bowl or Gulpy
- More poop bags
- Flashlight, clip-on light for nighttime walks (a sensible reader suggests a headlamp instead, and recommends the Petzl Tikka 2 LED Headlamp, from REI)
- Dog-walking pouch (arm gusset, clip-on pouch)
- Extra Zip-loc bags
- Set of Poochie Bells door bells
- Bottle of enzymatic cleaning solution
- Paper towels
- Lint roller
- Air freshener/candle
- Bitter Yuck/Bitter Apple
- Gaffer’s tape or painters’ blue tape, to tape cables and power cords out of reach
- Grooming supplies (small bottles of shampoo and conditioner; brush and comb; no-tangle spray; super-absorbent towels; tub faucet adapter; eye and ear cleansing pads; nail clippers; dog hair dryer)
- Local dog-oriented guide book(s)
- First aid kit


