Taking Your Dog on an International Trip: Worth the Hassle?

For the longest time I assumed my frequent travelling would make it too complicated to become a dog owner. After all, getting a new dog and then turning around and leaving it at home all the time wouldn’t be ideal. But with more and more destinations becoming dog-friendly, traveling with your dog is actually less of a hurdle than some would think, especially when your pup is small and well-behaved! Yes, there’s research, paperwork, and extra fees involved, but being able to travel with your fur baby? Priceless.

In this article I’ll dive into some things to consider when deciding whether or not to take your dog with you on an international vacation.

The Moral Question: Will Your Dog Suffer Less at Home or With You?

One of the first things to consider when travelling with your dog is whether they’re going to suffer. We adopted our chihuahua, Tishka, two years ago, and the truth is I’ve never spent a night away from him. I’ll admit, our codependency is not the healthiest situation, but living far from family and friends means our dog doesn’t get to meet many new people who could watch him while we’re away.

We left him once at doggy daycare when we went to Disney Tokyo, and apparently he sat there waiting for us to come back all day, even refusing to walk or go to the bathroom. He was so defiant about not walking that the daycare roasted him in Japanese on their Instagram.

Since that trial didn’t go so well, I couldn’t imagine leaving him for longer, let alone overnight at a kennel unless it was an emergency. And I definitely wouldn’t be able to enjoy my trip knowing that he was suffering without us. But every dog is different! Ask yourself how your dog handles being away from you for long periods of time. And this might sound silly to the non-dog-obsessed, but don’t forget to ask yourself how you’d feel being away from your dog. Who wants to spend thousands of dollars on a trip just to cry every day because you’re missing your pup?

Now let’s consider the possible trauma your dog could endure while coming with you, be it by plane, car, train, ferry, etc. Do you have a nervous dog who barks a lot? How do they feel about being confined in small spaces? How many hours will the trip take?

I’ll focus on air travel since most of my dog travel experience is from flying with my chihuahua in the cabin. Something my partner and I decided together was that we never wanted to fly with our dog in cargo. We’ve heard too many horror stories to ever subject our dog to that kind of stress and uncertainty, so we only fly on airlines that accept dogs in the cabin. Generally if your dog is under 17lbs (8kg), many airlines allow you to fly with your dog under the seat (for a fee, of course.) A friend of mine recently introduced me to her mom as “my friend who only goes to places her dog can go,” and honestly? It’s true.

The next thing to consider is how your dog does in small spaces for long periods of time. We’re very lucky to have a super chill dog who doesn’t mind flying and actually loves his carrier. If we leave it open at home he’ll always try to sleep in it. He’s been on many flights and usually just sleeps the whole time, either in his carrier or on our laps. The longest flight our dog has been on is 12 hours, and when it’s that long, I sneak him out in a blanket to try to use pee pads in the bathroom. Keep in mind that many airlines will ask you to keep your dog inside the carrier for the entire flight, so be discreet. We also make use of airport pet relief stations, which are popping up more and more — something I didn’t even know existed before I had a dog. So if all of that sounds feasible for your dog, what are you waiting for?

How Dog-Friendly Is Your Destination?

Not so fast, cowboy! Before going any further, you need to look into your destination's entry requirements for pets. This is the part I can't stress enough: rules vary drastically from country to country and are subject to change, so always check the official government website for exact requirements. That being said, some things come up again and again: minimum age requirement, microchipping, up-to-date vaccines like rabies, worm treatment, a health certificate a few days before travel. Some countries also require blood titer tests or a quarantine period, so the earlier you start researching, the better. Our Japan prep took around 8 months because of the two rabies tests, the blood test and wait time.

This story is best for another time, but don’t overlook what you need to go back home after your trip. We almost got stuck in Japan with Tishka last year because we didn’t know about Japan’s “dog exportation” process! And don’t be like Ben Jenkins who accidentally “moved to Egypt” when he didn’t know his pug, Croissant, had to be at least six-months-old to reenter the United States.

Now that that’s out of the way, the next thing to consider when deciding whether or not to bring your dog on a trip is how dog-friendly your destination actually is. Due to our unique work situation, our dog has been to some pretty exotic places off the beaten path, like Armenia, Georgia, and Serbia to name a few. Sometimes it’s easy to find information about how pet-friendly places are, and other times you’ll have to do your own research.

The next step after airfare and entry requirements is finding a pet-friendly hotel. Luckily sites like Booking or Airbnb have pet-friendly filters, so you can easily get a sense of how many options you have. If you really want to stay somewhere specific that doesn’t advertise accepting dogs, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask directly if they’d be willing to make an exception for a small, well-behaved pup. This method has worked out for us when there weren’t a lot of hotel options.

Beyond flights and hotels you have to think about whether your dog can actually come along for the things you want to do on your trip. For us, this just means being flexible and compromising — like on our recent trip to Brazil, where we opted for outdoor dining since dogs generally weren’t allowed inside restaurants. We also leaned more towards physical activities like hikes, beach walks, parks, or bike rides over things like museums.

If you can’t find information, don’t be afraid to forge your own path. When we don’t know if a place is dog-friendly we just put him in his dog travel backpack and roll with it. The worst that can happen is being asked to leave. Tishka has gotten to see so many from his carrier that didn’t have any pet-friendly info available.

Tishka visiting the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in Rio de Janeiro

Other things that can make a place more dog-friendly are nearby dog parks and vet clinics (if you need to do a pet health certificate before leaving). If you know you’ll be busy all day and might need pet support you can also research doggy daycares in the area or dog walkers on apps like Rover.

If all that sounds feasible for your situation with your dog, try bringing them on a small trial trip. I hope this article was useful — let me know what other tips you have in the comments.