DRInkbowl

This drinkbowl was our first purchase for us to be used in the car. For our 4×4 car it is THE BEST drinkbowl EVER! We always have water available without it splashing over the edges when driving off the road. When we simply push the floating middle part down, water comes up for us to drink from. The black edge prevents water flowing over the edges. You can hold it up side town and it will not spill water.

Our small adjustment:

Dad made 2 small hooks in the baseplate where the bowl is placed on, that hook through the side openings of the bowl. This way dad is sure the bowl will not move or slide when we drink too enthusiastic. This works way better then the original velcro, in our opinion.

Dog nail clippers

Our mom ‘likes’ this clippers. We write it like this because it is not her favourite thing to do. And therefor Finley and I don’t like it very much either. Mom is a bit scared to clip our nails too far and it will hurt us. It does happen to the best sometimes, but it is never fun.

The nice thing about most clippers is the lock on the side. Then you are sure it won’t fly open during our travels. Also it is nice to be able to close thee clippers when you are still in the training phase.

Training clippers:

Settle your pupper in a down position or sit position. As long as he is relaxed.

Ask your dog for a paw left or paw right and reward, repeat, reward.

Hold your dogs paw and bring the closed clippers in your other hand so your dog can see it.
Reward, repeat, reward, etc.

Hold your dogs paw and make an open en close movement with the clippers to introduce the sound and movement.
Reward, repeat, reward, etc.

Hold your dogs paw and move the clippers in closed position to his nails and lay it on top of the nail.

Once all of these steps are trained, you can place the clippers over your dogs nail. If he allows it you can cut a tiny bit off. If not then only repeat the movement without cutting.

MOMMIES TIP: My senior dog shows me up front when I accidentally try to clip too far. When I close the clipper and apply a little bit of pressure, he pulls his paw back. This is for me the sign I am too enthusiastic and should adjust before clipping. With my new puppy this is off course not the case yet.

Official papers

This one is obvious, but important! Never forget to keep your passport updated. I don’t have many boarder crossings where the officials are interested to see my papers, but in the cases they were… they checked all pages. They love all stamps, dates, vet signatures, legalisations, vaccinations, checkups and HISTORY! Once they see you are always on the date and doing ‘your job’ as a responsible pawrent, they are less likely to cross-examin you with all kinds of questions or make you see the vet.

We always make copies of the passport and legalisation papers in case anyone needs them or wants to place stamps. This because some countries don’t like other countries and deny you once they see the stamp of their enemy. Hence, the copies.

Safety harness

This harness is specifically chosen to wear during the ride. We normally only wear it on the highway, but don’t tell anyone else. It is just not so convenient for us doggos to be pinned down on one place when driving bumpy roads. Then we should be able to ‘move as one with the car’.
Countries such as Germany have a law that says dogs should be restraint inside the car for safety reasons. Its to prevent us flying through the car when an emergency brake is necessary. Makes sense, right?
Note: You will receive a fine when you don’t respect this law.

Choosing the right harness:

Always make sure you pick the right harness and it is adjusted to the correct size. Mom picked this harness, based on the vets advice. He said that you should NEVER attach the dog-buckle to the collar. This will cause the dogs neck to break during an accident. ALWAYS attach the dog-buckle to the harness. This way the breaking force it distributed over the entire body of the dog

Muzzzzle

Yes, we also bring a muzzle for me and Finley. Not because we are afraid we will bite, but because it is obligated in lots of countries. Sometimes all through the city centre, but almost allways inside trains, buses, metros and any other way of public transportation. If you don’t have one, you can’t travel (Been there, done that)

Energy burner

We LOVE, LOVE, LOOOOVE the ruffwear gear. They are super durable and of an amazing quality. My backpack is 12 years old now and used very frequently. Now, not so much anymore, but from age 2 to 10 this was THE perfect way to drain some extra energy during a city trip or a hike. I always had toooo much energy. After 5 minutes of sleep I was ready to go for 2 hours again!! My pawrents always let me carry my own food and drinks. Over the course of the day this weight became less, which is a great side affect. Also with this backpack on, everyone was in AAAAWWW soo cute and cleared the sidewalk for us to give me all the space I needed/wanted!
Now we store the backpack until Finley is mature enough (fully grown) to be able to carry it.

Wipe it, pweaze!

My mom uses special wet doggo wipes to wipe our paws, coat, face and ears. Other wipes may contain all kinds of chemicals our body doesn’t really like, so we use the special pet wipes to make sure there’s no crap in it.

We use the compressed wipes to save space inside our backpacks. It unfolds into a good 30x30cm cloth that helps you clean anything. Just in a small layer of water it unfolds and absorps water or anything else. Later you can wash it and keep using it as cleaning cloth, for example. The only thing it doesn’t do is fold back up 😔.

Standard gear

Part of our standard gear is always a bag with treats and poop bags. Those are the two vital things we ALWAYS bring with us. The poop bags, because… I don’t know why mom always collects our poop! And the treats because we sometimes needs some motivation to keep walking. Because treats sometimes need to be given fast, to prevent to reward the wrong thing, it should always be open and ready to go.
🤫 shhh… don’t tell this to my little brother, but Mom always keeps our kibble in the treats bag. She knows it’s our edible GOLD for years now, and we do anything to have an extra meal a day!

The safety buckle

Mom chose this buckle for us. It is a buckle just as any other car buckle. The housing of this buckle is attached to the roof of the car (construction). As soon as we break hard, the buckle blocks and prevents us from flying through the car.

Flee and tick protection

This extra collar protects us from getting flees and ticks, but also tiny sandflies etc. We don’t want to get itchy on the road but we walk a lot through the high grass. With this collar the ticks will fall out dead from our furcoat. In case Mom misses a tiny one, the collar will make sure it is removed anyways.

Doggo shoes

In the beginning my Mom was a bit like: ‘…is that really necessary? A dog has good enough feet right?’. But after a few hikes in the heat she was adamant we needed shoes. Walks over hot tiles in the city, hot tarmac crossings in the city, hot dessert sand and rocks convinced her. I was not dancing for fun, but because of the pain in my paws. Choose boots that fit your dog correctly, because not all boots are perfect. We tried the ruffwear boots (old version) and those lost the rubber soles quite quick and did not stay on long. Later we tried Trixie Active Walker and they fitted me perfect. This does not mean the ruffwear was bad or the Trixie ones were better. Shoes can be a difficult thing. What fits me doesn’t have to fit Finley and the other way around. It’s about the paw size, shape, shape of the leg, how I walk etc. So don’t give up after your first try, sell them online for a fair price second hand and try a new pair.

We also bought some Pawz boots for inside use. We sometimes come in musea, malls or even outside areas where the tiles are super slippery. This is, as we all know, bad for our hips, elbows and other joints. Now, I am old! So when my paws slide I tend to fall immediately and have no balance. In Finleys case we want to prevent him to slip and slide due to his elbow dysplasie. The Pawz boots are great for this. They are like little balloons that attach to our fur and paws great and have a good price for a 12 pack. One set at home, a set in the car, a set in our backpack etc.

first aid kit

For our very first trip to Mongolia we contacted the vet for a dog emergency kit. He could help us with everything we could be needing during our trip in deserted areas. Our pawrents also took a five day Dog First Aid Course with a trainer, vet, assistants and dog-patients. They learned how to recognize symptoms, perform basic health checks, diagnose over the phone with the vet, perform basic procedures such as giving shots with medication, stitch wounds, bandage head/paw/body/tail/ears etc. Not only does it give them a more confident feeling, it also slightly increaces our doggo health chances to make it to the nearest vet. Which sometimes can be 500 kilometers away all off road.

Keept it cool,baby!

This cooling mat is nice for us puppers. Our car is from 2001 and has airconditioning which is super nice for us. However some days it can be over 40 degrees Celsius and this extra cooling mat is very much appreciated. You can drain it under water and remove all excessive water untill the mat is almost dry. You can place it in the fridge for a bit, but you don’t have too. Without staining or dripping or soaking the dog bed it provides just enough cooling for us inside the car.

tick tweezers

You can get the tick tweezers in all shapes and sizes. Our Mom and Dad like this one the best. It is just easy and quick. You push on the end of the tweezers to open the teeth at the front. Place them over the tick and start twisting and turning. After a bit the tick will come out by itself.

Tip from the vet:

Always drop the tick on a piece of paper when released from the tweezers. Check to make sure you caught both the head and the body. Only then you are sure you got the entire thing. In case the head is still stuck inside your doggo, your mom can call the vet for assistance. You wouldn’t want to catch Lime disease!

Kibble Vault

These foodstorage containers are available in almost any size which is super convenient. There is always a container which will fit your space slot. This is also the reason why we have two different sizes. They both fit into a different space of our trailer.
Both containers are water and air tight, so our kibble stays super tasty for a long time.
Don’t forget to bring your measure cup so your dog gets enough/not too much food. Our mom always feeds by looking at us, as we loose or gain quite fast. But for some dogs it’ s just best to bring your measuring cup, inside the container.

Travel bowl

This collapsable drink bowl from ruffwear is again: GREAT! The quality is absolutely awesome!! You pop it out of your bag in a second and fill it with water or food. The inside is from a watertight material which will keep the outside from getting wet. We like the bowl so much because we lick the inside completely clean after eating or drinking! And even after 12 years using it very regularly (once a week) it now had to be replaced, because my little brother punched a hole in it when picking it up and runnning away with it.

ID Tag

Do you know those situations where all of a sudden your pawrents take off? Always make sure your pawrents can be found!Have a name tag with a phone number which always can be reached, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU TRAVEL! Make sure to put your landcode as well together with your name.
We chose this awesome nametag from Silidog because it is quiet and very durable. Mine is lasting already for 8 years now and still readible. I’m the type of pupper that loves dirt, swimming, running etc so my tags always lasted for about a month. This tag is THE KING!
As soon as we knew Finleys name we ordered him a tag as well, but in his color Blue. As it is made in the USA it took some time to get to NL but we are so sooo happy with it!

Slowfeeder

Mom almost forgot she stored the Wobbler inside the trailer for us, as slow feeder. At first she thought this was a bad bargain, because I am racing as a tornado around the property with the wobbler. Anything in my way will be victomized. But just recently she tried the wobbler for Finley during our short vacation in 2022. And its a big hit. His dinner now takes about 20 to 30 minutes instead of 5 minutes. And he doesn’t chase it as enthusiastic as I do! So this is a great way for him to train his nose (search all the left behind kibble), his patience and to digest his food better. This way his eating moment is also a bit of a braingame which drains his energy as well! Mom says win-win!