Roadtrip vs. staying with G-ma???
 

Hi everyone!!!
My husband & I are going on a loooong road trip tomorrow. It's actually a 10 hour trip, but we're breaking it into a 2 day trip. Our 4 month old, female yorkie:aimeeyork isn't fully potty-trained yet...she still uses potty-pads, when she wants to. :eek: She typically does well in the car; but has never been in the car more than 2 hours straight. Once we arrive at our destination, she will be in her "play-pin" most of the time, due to us being away & the several kids that will be around. But, at night she will be sleeping with us, like she normally does!
**OR**
We could leave her with my grandma for the 5 days that we're gone. My grandma will leave her in her "play-pin" for about 7 hours during the day, checking on her @ mid-day! During the evening she will let her run around the house, as she normally does @ our house. Our only concern here, is that my Grandma has 2 cats...and our Yorkie likes to play & chase them, and they're just NOT having it. They're not the playful type. We're just worried that her cats will hurt our puppy, or something to that nature. Also, we don't want our precious puppy to develope seperation anxiety during those 5 days.:(
We have NO idea which is the best choice for us, & our puppy! SOMEONE PLEASE, PLEASE HELP...WE ARE LEAVING IN THE MORNING!!!!:confused:

If you decide to take him, there are herbal calming drops that seemed to help our Yorkie on long road trips. Also, I would recommend having a good doggie car seat/bed where he can sleep and chill out. Our dog's scared of many things so we put his car seat on the floor in the back and that seemed to give him a good place to hide, sleep and chill out.

We've taken our dog on some long road trips (6 hours at a time) and he was fine. But he is potty trained and has never had a mistake in the car. Just make sure you take the breaks that you need to to let her out and go potty, maybe every 3-4 hours or so?

I've taken Brandi on long road trips (12 hrs or more only stopping for gas and potty breaks) and she did fine. I would stop maybe every 3-4 hours to take a potty break and give her a sip of water and feed her. I strapped her in the back seat with her bed and blanket and she practically slept the whole trip. So she was safely in the back seat. I also did not let her have free reign of the car. As long as she could see me, she was happy.

When I was on the road under no circumstances did I leave her in the car alone when I had to go to the bathroom (I don't do that anyway). I took her in every store with me and if they said I couldn't bring dogs in, I would drive to the next gas station or rest stop. Wherever I went, my little one went. I also had emergency supplies for dogs in case we got stranded somewhere especially winter. I take extra food and water and clothing in case we get stuck somewhere and that has happened to me before. I got caught in a snowstorm on my way to Nashville Tenn from Delaware. I had to spend the night in a hotel and they only charged me 10.00 a night for the little one.

I made the trip by myself on several occassions and Brandi has gone with me everytime.

Ohh and as for the cats....I wouldn't worry. I have a cat too and Brandi knows when to play with her and not play with her. My cat will take a swat at Brandi (her claws are not out) and then go some where in the house that Brandi can't reach. Cats (especially older cats) tend to play in spurts and get bored very quickly. My guess is the cats will eventually just tolerate her but I don't think you have anything to worry about the cats or your little one getting hurt. As long as the cats have a safe place to retreat to when they don't want to be bother with, your little one should be okay.

Thanks for the responses everyone!!! I really appreciate it!:)

Did you decide?

I say you take her, just like Apple says, she probably wants to be with you and will be more comfortable!

Peanut was about 4 months when I started taking him places, we went to the river, the cabin, beach trips.. he went everywhere, and did just fine. You just have to stop and take some breaks, let them walk around a little, but you do that anyways.. If you start taking her now she will be really use to going places for the further down the road...

We even bring his little bed and stick it in the car with a blanket and he is good!! Half the time he is looking out of the window on Dh's lap!

Given the choice I would take her also. Sophie Kate went on a long road trip when she was 5 months old and did really well, it was eleven hours in the car but we stopped about every three hours for her to potty (and us too).

Suggestion is get her either a car seat or seatbelt harness so she can nap and sleep.