Holiday road trips: Best dog car seats for traveling
Skip the plane, grab your dog and get behind the steering wheel to travel this year
Traveling with pets is becoming a numbers game. First, you have to get past the overprotectiveness of leaving your dog with a stranger — even if it’s a five-star dog sitter / stranger — or hoping a trusted family member chooses a staycation. Second, you have to figure out which airline is OK with emotional support animals and which ones have strict rules about pets (ESA or not) being on planes at all. Third, you’re calculating how much it would cost to leave your pet in doggy day care (or book on Wag! or Rover) versus the cost of having your four-legged family member on the plane with you.
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Sometimes it makes more financial sense to leave your dog in a familiar space at home, and let professional dog sitters win them over. Other times you’ll take care of paying the pet fees on the plane, plus the extra costs for a pet-friendly hotel and getting a car rental so you don’t have to deal with non-pet-friendly public transportation. (Even Uber and Lyft aren’t a guarantee, depending on whether the ride-booking driver is cool with animals or not.)
All of this extra planning, especially around the holidays, can make some dog owners say, “Screw it. I’ll take a road trip instead.” When you’re in your own car, you can keep an eye on your dog and still reach your destination (as long as it’s not an island or so far that the gas mileage wouldn’t make sense).
If you’re in the latter crew and looking for a comfortable dog seat so your pup can come along, here are some suggested dog car seats to choose from.
As an Amazon and Impact Affiliate, I earn a percentage for each purchase using my referral links. Although I specifically only choose items on these countdown lists that I actually would buy — and have four- and five-star ratings — please be aware that I have not physically tested all of these seats.
Recommended Read: “10 best car seat cushions for long drives ~ Window Shopping listicles: The shopping trip you didn't know you needed to take”
Shamontiel is a dog lover to her core: 611 completed walks with 99 dogs, eight dog-housesittings and six dog boardings at the time of this publication.
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