To bring or not to bring?

[ccetta]

My sister and her husband have invited us to visit them in PA for a weekend in January and have included Lucy in the invitation. They are dog lovers who do not currently have a dog. It is a 3 hour drive; Lucy is great in the car, I am not concerned about the ride. My concern is what she will do in a strange house if we go out without her. We don't crate her anymore (DH's idea, she has been completely trustworthy in the house alone for the past 3 years) DH really wants to bring her along with a gate & plenty of toys with the idea that we can gate her in 1 room while we are out. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

[shellbell]

I'd go ahead and bring her, and maybe a crate too. Over the summer I took all three of my labs on an eight hour road trip to visit my SIL. Even though mine are never crated at home anymore, I brought crates and crated them at her house when we left. For my peace of mind. With it being a strange house, plus the kids leave all kinds of things out.

[smartrock]

I always bring a crate for my dog(s) in case one is needed when we're traveling. I have stayed in a hotel room or stayed with relatives and left Chase uncrated and he's been fine. Lark I wouldn't trust to stay uncrated. I recently got 2 very lightweight crates to take on trips because Chase loves going into a crate and on a recent trip, he clearly wanted to be in a crate when he saw Lark go in. I'd rather take a crate and not need it than the other way around.

[ccetta]

I think that I might have come up with a solution -- Lucy has gone to DDC at Petsmart occasionally. I just checked & they are near my sister's house so I think if we will gone for a while on Sunday I'll make a reservation for her for doggie day care. I wont feel bad leaving her alone & she'll be tired at the end of the day.

[Bamps]

I wouldn't go without Opie at all. And if I won't be comfortable taking him, I won't go. In your case, I would take Lucy and if it goes south abort the visit.

[MightyThor]

We just did a road trip across the country for a funeral with Thor. Has hasn't really needed his crate since he was about 4 months old (he's now a year), but we still brought it. We never had to leave him alone in a hotel room so we never brought it out on the road, but in the funeral city we rented a house for a few days and needed to leave him alone a few times. He was just fine in the crate despite not using it in months. He even remembered his command to go in ("go to bed") with no problems. It was worth the peace of mind to bring it, and he seemed just fine to hang out in there for a few hours at a time again.

[Tanya]

I would take out the crate now and do some light desensitization and bring her and the crate.

I keep up crate training primarily for travelling (and I do some dog sports as well), I don't like "trusting" my dogs uncrated in strange homes or hotels. They are behaved when I properly dog proof but that just isn't really ideal when in friends/family homes or hotels. Both my dogs love the crate, even Rocky who hasn't truly been crated in a long long time. But in a pinch, I can crate him no issues. I will keep my younger dog crate trained for life for this reason as well.

[JenC]

I always bring a crate for traveling. You never know if you'll need it.

[doubledip1]

Bring a crate and have fun.

[POPTOP]

Take the crate in case you need it. You're idea of letting him have fun at DDC is a great idea too. He'll get his own special vacation and be ready to settle down when you get home.