For many of us, there will be one time or another when we need to stay at a hotel with our dogs. Whether you often road trip with your dog, you’re traveling for work and can’t leave your dog at home, or the trip to your relative or friend’s city just wouldn’t be the same without them, there are plenty of reasons why you might need a hotel stay with your canine pal.
If you have stayed at a hotel or camped with your dog before, you might remember them barking more than usual! Of course, not every dog will bark a lot when staying away from home, but it’s quite common. Even if you’ve packed the best long lasting dog chews for distraction and other trusted comforts, it can still be a tricky experience for some of our pups.
But expert trainer Juliana DeWillems, the owner and head trainer at JW Dog Training & Behavior, has explained how we can reduce barking in a new Instagram post, and it makes so much sense!
In her video, DeWillems is with her dog, Lola, enjoying a quiet vacation. But while it’s quiet, this means that Lola is hearing noises she wouldn’t usually hear. “And, we’re somewhere new, so it’s totally normal for her to be a little bit barkier,” DeWillems adds.
She says that she won’t travel without a white noise machine (like this one on Amazon) because it helps her hide the unfamiliar sounds of nature Lola isn’t used to – it can come in handy at night, too, if your dog likes to find slight noises to react to in the silence.
“I never leave home without a white noise machine, because this is going to help us drown out the sounds of, right now, the woods,” explains DeWillems. “But if we were in a hotel or an Airbnb this white noise machine would just help keep our environment nice and free of noises for Lola, where if she’s somewhere new she is likely to be a little bit more on edge… especially for the first couple of days.”
On top of using a white noise machine, it’s important to focus on calming and decompression activities – for inspiration, why not take a look at how to calm a reactive dog? Meanwhile, here’s how to travel with a dog, and we’ve even got the best travel destinations for dogs for you if you need some ideas for your next trip!
