Traveling With a Dog
Join me as I travel the world with my little Maltipoo Rio
Meet Rio!
A little ball of energy who found his way into our lives in April 2025. We had the chance to adopt him, and we just knew it was meant to be!
Since then, he's embraced our love for travel and comes with us almost everywhere. But don't get me wrong, he's not an easy dog! He has a big personality, and he is stubborn. So in this section I'm sharing the ups and downs of travelling with a dog, along with useful information I've discovered while planning our trips.
Travelling with a dog doesn't have to be difficult, but it does require a little extra planning and some adjustments along the way.
I hope these guides make your own adventures with your four-legged companion a little easier! 🐾
Traveling With a Dog Articles
How traveling with a dog is going...
I am obsessed with my dog, but he can be a lot sometimes, so traveling with him is not always easy. As we spend a lot of time together and travel with him, he has developed separation anxiety, which is not great on a daily basis, but during travel it is even worse because you cannot always have your dog with you, for example, at museums or art galleries. The first time we properly faced this issue was in Budapest. We wanted to visit the famous outdoor hot springs and of course dogs are not allowed there. We can't leave him alone in the hotel, so we had to come up with an alternative. We found a day care for him, and in the end he actually had a fantastic day, as he is quite a social dog. Win-win for our family, but this is just one of the examples of problems you encounter when traveling with a dog. So one of the best things you can do is train your dog to be alone from an early age so you can get a couple of hours during your travels. We, of course, are learning the hard way and are now training him to stay home alone. So, sorting out separation anxiety is in progress.
Another problem I find a lot of dogs face is motion sickness. I go into more detail about it in my Dog Travel Anxiety: How to Keep Your Dog Calm When Travelling Guide. And here I just want to share that when we first started to take our Rio on car rides, he vomited and had diarrhea. 6 months later, we embarked on a 9-day road trip across Europe, some days doing up to 8 hours. So hold in there! Things will get better, and your dog will get used to your traveling. Of course, there are things to consider, like frequent breaks, a comfortable setup, and possibly even some medicine from your vet. I think the best thing we did was starting to train him to get used to the car and longer drives early. We started to go on 1-2h car rides every weekend when he was still a puppy. We knew we would keep traveling; the little guy just had to get used to it. So everything can be amended with patience and care. Hold in there, stick with training, and things will get better!
And on this, I also want to add that your travels will change! Be ready for that; do not expect the same spontaneity as before. Even if you are lucky and you have a perfect dog or a well-trained dog, the world is not ready yet to allow you to enjoy all the good things in life with your dog. Even if you pick pure nature travel, there are still restrictions for dogs. Nothing a good plan can't minimize, but your travels will change, and the sooner you accept it, the easier it will be to travel together. At the beginning, I thought I would do everything I did just with a dog; I quickly learned that it's not the case. Plus, Rio can be difficult at some times; he is nowhere near a perfect dog, so that adds an extra layer of difficulty.
But of course, I love him very very much! He is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. He has thought me patience (well, still learning) and how to slow down. He brings so much love and happiness into my life that it balances out a couple of complicated and uncomfortable travel days. Their world is as big we create it and I want to create the most beautiful life for him 🤎
Who is Rio?
Rio is the most energetic little fluffy ball out there. His breed is a Maltipoo, a Maltese and Miniature Poodle mix. We were hoping he would get the intelligence of a poodle, but he only got the endless energy. If you leave him with other dogs, he can go playing for hours. All the other dogs always get tired of him. We have to take him away 😅. He is smart when he wants to be. He has a huge personality, and everything has to be done with an attitude. At the same time is extremely cuddly. He can be a little teddy bear. He is amazing with people and especially kids. He loves everyone, and usually he gets a lot of love back. Like most dogs, he is extremely loyal. But unfortunately, he has developed separation anxiety. Which is totally on us, as we spend most of our days with him 24/7.
So far, my little traveler has been to:
Spain 🇪🇸
France 🇫🇷
Monaco 🇲🇨
Italy 🇮🇹
Slovenia 🇸🇮
Hungary 🇭🇺
Romania 🇷🇴
Bulgaria 🇧🇬
Albania 🇦🇱
Kosovo 🇽🇰
Montenegro 🇲🇪
Croatia 🇭🇷
Germany 🇩🇪
Austria 🇦🇹
Switzerland 🇨🇭
And of course Gibraltar 🇬🇮