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Any Tips for the Car Ride When Bringing Your Puppy Home?

by Melissa

Hello all, We will be bringing our new Mini Aussie puppy home in 2.5 weeks and are so excited! The car ride is a little under 3 hours long, so I'm trying to figure out how to plan for the trip to keep our little guy comfortable. My husband will be driving, so that I will be able to focus 100% on the puppy.

Given that the trip will be 3 hours, I don't think the puppy will want (or allow me) to hold him in my lap on a towel for the whole ride. My next thought was to have a hard plastic carrier in the backseat with me sitting next to him to offer toys and comfort. I want to make this trip minimally stressful on him. What do you guys think?

If a carrier is best, would you recommend I purchase a small hard sided, plastic carrier that he'll fit into for now? I thought about going ahead and purchasing a larger carrier which will last longer as he grows, but am not sure what's best. A decent carrier is expensive! I think that getting one of the cloth/canvas carrier bags is a waste right now as I know he'll end up chewing that up.

Lastly, how should I handle stopping to let him go potty? He'll be 8.5 weeks old, and I am not comfortable with letting him out in rest stop areas where other pets have definitely been.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

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Get a soft transport Box
by: Anonymous

Hey Melissa,

I just got my mini aussi puppy 3 days ago. We had a 3.5 hour ride. We had a soft transport Box which is already for middle sized dogs. I was sitting in the back with the transport box opened next to me. I had a blanket in the box and a cuddly toy. I also had a blanket on the bench and on the lap. She was yowling a lot but fell asleep after an hour. She also threw up so be prepared to have something to clean it up. It wasn't necessary to stop as the puppy is so stressed by everything that everything else is more interesting than going potty. Just when they get very nervous you should stop.
Sorry for my english i am from germany :-)
Mia, my puppy made it quite well. And one important thing is to stay calm. Because as soon as you get nervous the puppy will get nervous too.

Good luck! And enjoy everything :-)

Congrats on new puppy!
by: Michelle

We brought our 13 week old puppy home 1 1/2 months ago, and this is how it went. We also had just under a 3 hour drive. We had a pet carrier, from a previous cat we owned. However we did not need it. The puppy stayed on my lap the whole ride and wanted nothing to do with the carrier ( I offered it a couple of times). He was very nervous at first, ( a lot of panting) but snuggled in and slept off and on. They are used to being with their siblings, so I think he was happy to have someone to snuggle. It was also a great bonding experience for us. His breeder did not feed him in the morning (we picked him up pretty early) so there was no accidents. I had a towel just in case. We brought harness and leash and stopped once, but he did not go. We didn't need any of the toys we brought, he just wanted to be held. If you won't use a pet carrier after this trip, I would ask a friend if you could maybe borrow theirs. Wear old clothes in case of accident or carsick. Good luck, and congrats!!

Two and Half Hour Ride
by: Anonymous

I just got my Aussie puppy yesterday. We took a crate with us and she wanted nothing to do with it. She rode on my lap the entire time and only whined when she was thirsty.

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