What to do with the Dog when diving?

[Reef]

My wife and I almost weekly run into what would seem to be easy problem to deal with, but often kills our dive trips. What do you do with you beloved pet when planning a dive trip?

Our dog is our child. He eats better than the both of us, and yes he is super spoiled. At one time I had no problem leaving him at a kennel, but the last one we tried we had a very bad experience. Actually we have had a few bad experiences.

Some places (dive spots) allow dogs, but with the upcoming summer we don't think taking him would be a good idea.

Typically we will travel Friday night, and dive Saturday and Sunday. Now if the dog is with us that means Sunday is dry because we have to check out of the hotel early.

I'm just curious if any others have the same or similiar issue?

 

[wreckchick]

If the dog has shade and water and the site allows it, take the dog diving! I had my dog on a few dives and she usually just crashed out until we were out of the water. Remember, you'll only be gone an hour at the most.

Rachel

 

[jeraldjcook]

That's what in-laws are for; babysitting the dogs while you're out of town.

 

[perdidochas]

My wife and I almost weekly run into what would seem to be easy problem to deal with, but often kills our dive trips. What do you do with you beloved pet when planning a dive trip?

Our dog is our child. He eats better than the both of us, and yes he is super spoiled. At one time I had no problem leaving him at a kennel, but the last one we tried we had a very bad experience. Actually we have had a few bad experiences.

Some places (dive spots) allow dogs, but with the upcoming summer we don't think taking him would be a good idea.

Typically we will travel Friday night, and dive Saturday and Sunday. Now if the dog is with us that means Sunday is dry because we have to check out of the hotel early.

I'm just curious if any others have the same or similiar issue?

Haven't had that problem, but my dogs are yard dogs. They just need to be fed, and they are ok.

 

[jmani]

Our dogs are kennel trained. we bring their kennels with us, park them in the shade and the dogs are just as happy in their "homes" as anywhere else in the world.

 

[dpbishop]

Check into a pet sitting service. They come to your house, exercise the dogs & feed them. The dogs are happier because they are at home rather than locked up in a strange place.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Same. We use a pet sitting service when we do the weekend getaway trips. It isn't the dive sites so much as the hotels. Its hard to find hotels that accept pets - and remember that sudden changes to your plans might require you to check in at a different place than you'd expected.

Leaving the pet home with someone coming over twice a day to feed it, etc., is a more effective way to go. Plus, the pet sitter can water plants, bring in mail & newspapers, turn on lights, make the place look lived in, and arrange for other things also - like if the electricity craps out and you need to move stuff out of the refrigerator.

Taking your pet with you on a weekend long dive trip is fine so long as nothing goes wrong. But if you need to suddenly change your plans for any reason, you can have issues.

leaving the pet home with a sitter can be a better option, depending on where you're going and for how long.

 

[highdesert]

http://swissmiss.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/scuba_dog_1.jpg

 

[DixieDolphin]

I have this same problem. I live alone with my border collie, but it makes it hard to do any dive trip farther away than an hour or so or for more than a day. Florida is just far, far too hot to even dream of leaving my furboy in the truck (even in the shade) while diving, so he usually gets dropped off with my family on the other side of town. I'm lucky in that regard.

But lacking someplace familiar for your boy, perhaps a pet sitting service... or better yet, a trusted neighbor/friend. I've had some good luck in the past doing 'dog swaps'.. watching a friend's pup in exchange for their watching mine down the line. Folks who familiar with dogs make better dog sitters, naturally.

I'm not a big fan of leaving a dog at a kennel in general, just based upon cleanliness standards and possible disease transmission alone. But my pup is a rescued dog and is very sensitive and scared of strangers... I couldn't imagine leaving him in unfamiliar hands in some kennel. :11:

At any rate, I know where you're coming from! =)

 

[diver918]

I guess we're lucky to have neighbors that will come over and walk him and feed him 2-3 times a day. What we've started doing is having their daughter 'housesit' for us and just pay her a few bucks. She basically just watches TV and eats our food, works for both of us. The one problem we used to have was that our dog was kennel trained, so we couldn't leave him loose in the house and didn't like being gone for more than 4 hours. For the past 2 months we've been leaving him loose and as long as he doesn't take down the barricade to go upstairs he's been behaving.