Shall we take our dog travelling Australia?

Whether to take your dog on your trip travelling Australia is one of our most frequently asked questions and it's obviously a very personal one.  Yes you love your dog, but you love granddad too and is he coming?  BUT if you cannot see yourselves without your beloved pet, then consider taking him.  You won't be able to go everywhere, but that is the same in your normal life with your dog. 

Obviously another consideration is losing your Precious Pooch as they obviously do not know the area if they do get away from you, but there are options for you too in this regard.

Many families do take their dog travelling Australia and others choose another option for the dog at this time.  

We asked the TAWK Tribe as to what they think and the reasons why to give you a real idea of what it would be like to take your dog travelling Australia.

The following are answers and thoughts from other TAWKers (names omitted to protect privacy) to help you make your decision .....

• I took my dog across Australia, it was only the national parks I couldn’t do but was soooooooo much more than them to see and when I needed I put her in a pet resort.

• It’s not just national parks you can’t go to. You also have to have a safe place for them to be when you do the grocery shop, go see a movie, do any tours (esp. full day tours!), you can’t book into a hotel for a night off from camping life. 
• It’s a hassle to fly home for a special occasion. Dog sitters add a substantial amount to the daily expenses and they arn't always available (esp. for large dogs). Leaving one adult with the dog and taking turns means you don’t get to see things together. On top of this- consider whether your dog will even enjoy travelling. Then consider the stress if you loose the pooch at a roadside stop or they need emergency veterinary care in an unfamiliar area. 

• We are currently travelling Australia with our dog. We love him dearly and would never ever re home him. But we do find having him with us makes it more difficult. There’s ALOT of places that aren’t Dog friendly but we love him and our kids love him and we’d never leave him behind, so we make it work  ☹️
  

Photo - Kylie Doon

• I’ve travelled both with and without our lovely dog- and I choose without whenever possible and we see and do more when she isn’t with us.

• We are travelling the lap of oz with our 10 nearly 11 year old daughter and our 2 x 12 year old border collies, leaving them at home wasn't an option they are family and we have had no problems so far. If we want to do NP's we look for dog day care which hasn't been a problem. 

• We are currently travelling with our dog and although we love him to bits, I wish he wasn’t with us. Its so restrictive, we want to wing it but because of him we have to plan ahead, or miss things completely.
  

• We took our dog and plan to take one again. They are your family. In 5 years we have only used kennel facilities twice (overnight in Tom Price while we did Karijini & a week trip up to Cape York). Most towns have a caravan park/camp spot that allows dogs and we made friends with other doggy families to take it in turns to dog sit when needed. It definitely helped having lots of friends/relatives around the country to help out at times too. It takes a little extra planning but definitely manageable· 

• We would never take our dog. We love her like family but if we can't organise care for her we wouldn't go. You are really restricted on where you can go and stay. If you want to see national parks or conservation areas forget it. Most of our favourite places have been these. The cost of boarding them at specific locations along the way is a huge expense. I would recommend you try your hardest to find someone to care for them while you are gone. We had a house sitter purely to look after our fur baby, not the house. Worked well. He loved her and walked her and was excited when we got got home.

• Day 42/366 We are 2 adults +2 kid and our dog and we are so happy we have him. Pros and cons but in the end he IS for life and we deal with any obstacles that come up. You put diesel in your 4x4 and the dog into kennels when required and don't think about it. Free camping and the odd show ground, no problems yet. We have pre booked him into kennels when we know we will want to be in places that can't take dogs. 

Travelling Australia - Livin' the Dream take their dog with them

• Kids are restrictive too. We travelled with a 3 year old, most of the national parks were too much walking / climbing for her little legs. Plus trying to see places like Canberra war memorial was too hard for a child let alone kids and dogs.

• We are travelling with our 17 month old daughter and Labrador. Use Wikki camps to see dog friendly places. We haven't had any dramas yet. Kids meet so many other fellow travelling families too.

• We did our lap last year without a dog but met many people that did, mainly at free camps as we weren't in areas with dogs when at caravan parks. Having animals does restrict your choices of places you can stay and national parks are no go or big bonds. 

• We have been on the road 3.5 years now with our Mastiff X you can do it no worries just takes a bit more planning. Just make sure you carry all of the vaccination paperwork in case you have to board them at any time.

• We took our beloved Coco, a medium sized lab cross on our 14 month trip right round Australia. Wouldn't have dreamt of leaving her behind. It required some extra planning around always having her with us, but she is part of our family and it was totally worth it to have her with us.

• Yes!!! Do it!!! It's not easy but they're family too!!! Kids would be even sadder without the pets too. We have done 3 big trips around Australia for almost a year each. 
• We just took our beautiful 2 y/o Great Dane X boy camping (granted only the second time and his first was nearly 18months ago) and he took a LONG time to settle. He's always been a bit lead reactive, mostly frustrated excitement- LET ME PLAY! But it wasn't very relaxing as I was stressed about him being noisy etc. 

• We thankfully have an option to leave him with family but we would miss him so much (we plan to go for 12 months) But I just don't know if it would be fair to take him, on any of us. We're not planning to go til 2018 though. We do plan to keep taking him camping and see if he calms down but I still don't know if we'd take him around oz. we'd need to get a wagon too as we only have a dual cab with canopy. So much to consider!

We hope that you have got some insight into whether you will take your dog travelling Australia with you.  We have a Facebook Page Travelling Australia With Kids and Dogs you might like to join if you do decide to.

Let us know what you think below.....