Dog Jaunt

Photo Friday: Dog travel photos wanted!

m-a — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:00:24 +0000

This week’s photo was taken last October in Amsterdam’s Oosterdok area, and I just love it. I don’t know for sure, but it looks to me like this dog is living on a houseboat — which prompted me to look for Oosterdok houseboats you can rent. Here’s one: The M.S. Atalanta has recently been redecorated and looks absolutely charming. I wrote to the owners, Brad and Marieke, and they told me that they welcome house-trained dogs on board. How soon can I get there?!

Photo by ricardo-pereira

Please send me links to your favorite dog travel photos! They’ll get listed below, for everyone to click on and view. Here’s how it works:

Every Friday, I’ll put up a post like this one, sometime during the morning (Pacific time).
If you have a blog or a website, post a dog travel photo on your site on Friday and link back here to the current week’s “Photo Friday” post so that your readers can see other great dog travel photos. Please take a moment to make sure that you are linking directly to your photo post instead of your homepage.
If you don’t have a blog or a website, simply post your photo to Flickr (or Facebook, Twitpic, etc.).
Enter a link to your photo or your blog post in the form at the bottom of this post. That way, Dog Jaunt will link back to you. Please include a few words in the “Link Title” box describing where you took the photo.

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Sarasota, FL dog-friendly hotel: Hotel Indigo

m-a — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:00:48 +0000

We visited Sarasota, FL last week for a marathon opera weekend. No, Chloe is not an opera fan — but neither is my husband, so they cocooned together at the Hotel Indigo Sarasota, one in a chain of boutique hotels sprinkled around the country (with some outliers in Shanghai, London, Costa Rica and Mexico). It’s located only a couple of minutes away from the Opera House, and it’s a delightful place, so all three of us were happy. I should mention that we paid our own way at the Hotel Indigo — I’ll always let you know when something I’m reviewing has been paid for by someone else.

Dog’s-eye view: This is not a hotel that makes a big fuss about dog guests — no doggy welcome basket here — but the receptionist came out from behind the desk to collect kisses and distribute pats, and the staff generally beamed on Chloe. There are a couple of useful patches of grass directly across from the front door, and a large grassy lot just across the driveway, so bathroom breaks were a breeze.

Hotel Indigo Sarasota room

What we liked: It’s a small hotel with a charming personality. The lobby is inviting and friendly, and the rooms are large and well-appointed. The decor in this Hotel Indigo is Nantucket-with-a-twist — cheerful, oversized, white-painted wood furniture, lots of blue-and-white linens, and truly enormous beds. The hotel is located a heartbeat away from the most interesting part of downtown Sarasota, and even though it’s on Tamiami Trail, we had no problem at all with street noise.

What we didn’t like: We slept poorly the first night we were there because the hall door between the first floor rooms (where the management prefers to lodge pet owners) and the lobby slammed loudly. When we spoke to the front desk in the morning, we were moved to the third floor, which was perfectly quiet. All well and good, but we would have been satisfied with a sign on the door asking guests to close it quietly. It was our impression that the sign idea would never be implemented, so when you visit, mention the problem and ask to be given a room on another floor. It will not help to have a room far from the door — ours was nearly at the far end of the hall, and we heard it clearly.

The hotel has a café that serves breakfast, but both the menu and buffet choices were mediocre. The bar, however, was a pleasant place to sit and chat with a drink in the afternoon.

The shower is large and enjoyable, but there is no bathtub — and after an opera double-header, I yearned for a soak. I could have soaked in the hotel’s outdoor hot tub (there is also a small plunge pool of cooler water), but I failed to pack a swimsuit.

Next time? We will happily return to the Hotel Indigo, as long as we are assured a room on an upper floor. Our room was in the $200/night range, and we felt that it was worth the price. Please note that there is a non-refundable one-time $125 pet fee.

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Chloe’s car harness: Keeping your small dog safe on a road trip

m-a — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:00:23 +0000

Chloe in the van

Driving from Sarasota to Tampa this weekend, I realized that although I’ve described my preferred away-from-home car safety set-up for Chloe (a 3-in-1 vest harness plus the strap from a PetBuckle kit), I’ve never given you a picture of it in action. So here’s a picture of Chloe in my father-in-law’s van, just after a very satisfying trip to one of her favorite dog parks. It’s already hot in Florida, so she’s resting on the Zentek pad I bought a while ago. Please note that the strap is long enough to let her lie down comfortably, but short enough to keep her from being slung around the car in an emergency.

The only downside of this set-up is that she can’t quite see out of the window, which she loves to do (at home, our car is equipped with a booster seat). The tidiest collapsible booster seat I’ve found, though, only works on seats you can pass a belly-band around, and you can’t always be sure that the rental car you’re getting will have free-standing back seats. It also takes up more room than I currently have in Chloe’s suitcase, so we settle for the very compact harness-and-strap option.

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Which seat works best with an in-cabin dog? [United 757-200]

m-a — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:00:35 +0000

This is only a partial report because you board a 757 (in this case, a -200 series) from the side, and hoi polloi never see First Class. I hope that someday I’ll travel First Class on a United 757 or (more likely) that a kind reader will post the measurements I couldn’t get for you.

The rest of the cabin is divided between Economy Plus (sincerely recommended, as I’ve said before, for the five extra inches of leg room) and Economy. Both have three seats on either side of the aisle. The exception is Row 8, which only has two seats, and only on the right — but it also has a bulkhead, so you can’t sit there with an in-cabin dog anyway. There is also no under-seat space under the left side of Row 9, the first row you encounter as you enter the plane, so that’s not an option either.

The under-seat measurements are the same for both Economy Plus and Economy. On this plane, the clear winner is the middle seat, followed closely by the window seat. Although there’s a place for a life vest, the packets are empty (per the safety video, use your seat cushion), so the under-seat height is a roomy 10.5 inches. The window seat space is 18.5 inches wide, the middle seat space is a glorious 20 inches wide, and the aisle space is a dire 12.5 inches wide (curse those rails). The depth (measured front to back) is about 17 inches.

This post is part of an ongoing series recording under-seat measurements of the various planes we fly on. Keep in mind that most domestic and international airlines have rules about the maximum size of in-cabin pet carriers they allow on board (see Dog Jaunt’s handy charts under the “Guides” tab above).

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Chloe’s Clicks: Links we liked this week

m-a — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:54:25 +0000

Each week is a roll of the dice, of course, as far as interesting pet-friendly links go — this week is heavy on pet-friendly hotels, in the U.S. and abroad.

NileGuide posted a delicious article about eight luxury dog-friendly hotels around the world, from Crested Butte, Colorado to Rome, Italy. A new (to me) blog called Gotta Visit NYC: My New Yorkie Blog is about Yorkies Schmitty and Pudge and pet-friendly fun things to do in New York City — I found the blog by way of a post reviewing the pet-friendly New Yorker Hotel, near Madison Square Garden.

An unexpected source (the New Haven Railroad Blog) posted an article about pet-friendly places to stay in Ayr, Scotland, and a couple of now-forgotten links led me to the sites for a couple of attractive hotels — one a group of holiday cottages in Cornwall, and the other an apparently rare pet-friendly hotel in Istanbul.

On to posts about dog-friendly getaways! The first is offManhattan’s post about seven weekend-worthy, pet-friendly hotels within easy reach of New York City. I particularly appreciate the paragraph at the end of each entry describing how to reach the hotel using pet-friendly public and alternative transit. The other link I have for you describes four dog-friendly beaches in Florida.

On the lighter side of pet travel, People Pets posted a delightful collection of pictures of celebrities traveling with their pets — celebrities don’t always follow the rules about keeping pets in carriers inside airports, it turns out, but many of them appear to own carriers, so I call that a win. Hilary Duff and Ashley Greene set the best example.

And finally, even I realize that there are times when you just can’t bring your dog with you. Take a look at a recent post from Will My Dog Hate Me about choosing the best petsitter for your beloved pooch.

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Photo Friday: Dog travel photos wanted!

m-a — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:21:17 +0000

Today’s photo was taken about two years ago, at Neptune Beach in Jacksonville, Florida. Who doesn’t love an English Bulldog? Who can resist two English Bulldogs?? Leashed dogs are allowed on Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. They are allowed on Atlantic Beach anytime.

Photo by DeusXFLorida

Please send me links to your favorite dog travel photos! They’ll get listed below, for everyone to click on and view. Here’s how it works:

Every Friday, I’ll put up a post like this one, sometime during the morning (Pacific time).
If you have a blog or a website, post a dog travel photo on your site on Friday and link back here to the current week’s “Photo Friday” post so that your readers can see other great dog travel photos. Please take a moment to make sure that you are linking directly to your photo post instead of your homepage.
If you don’t have a blog or a website, simply post your photo to Flickr (or Facebook, Twitpic, etc.).
Enter a link to your photo or your blog post in the form at the bottom of my post. That way, Dog Jaunt will link back to you. Please include a few words in the “Link Title” box describing where you took the photo.

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Travel tip: Practice ahead of time with pee pads

m-a — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:51:12 +0000

Photo by jpcorreacarvalho

In an earlier post, I passed on a tip about surviving a long plane trip with your in-cabin dog: If she starts sending signals that she really, really has to go, carry her to the plane’s bathroom, spread out scented pee pads, and be sure to clean up afterwards. Finally I had to take my own advice — after a six-hour flight, we had only a half hour in Dulles to make our next flight, and there was no possible way to make it out to Dulles’ pet relief area and back. Off Chloe and I went to the handicapped stall. I laid out a couple of scented pee pads, let Chloe out of her carrier, uttered the magic command word, and…nothing. Poor dog had no idea what I was talking about.

Happily, she had sufficient bladder control to last another three hours until we reached Tampa — but the take-home lesson for me is to practice a bit with pee pads (and with the not-so-magic command word) before springing them on her again….

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Which seat works best with an in-cabin dog? [United A320]

m-a — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:00:39 +0000

In case you need a reminder that different airlines configure a plane differently, here’s another A320 to tell you about. We flew on a United A320 today, and on this plane, your best choices with an in-cabin dog are an aisle or middle seat.

The cabin is divided into three classes: First, Economy Plus and Economy. First Class has two seats on each side of the aisle; the rest of the plane has three seats on each side of the aisle. Economy Plus has five more inches of leg room, and if you can, I urge you to choose Economy Plus. Reaching down to pat your dog or give her ice cubes during the flight is way, way more comfortable with the extra space.

There is a bulkhead in front of Row 1, in First Class, and in front of Row 6, in Economy Plus. You can’t have an in-cabin dog if you’re sitting in Row 1, and although there is a big cut-out in the bulkhead in front of Row 6, only service dogs are allowed in that row.

The under-seat space in Economy Plus and Economy is the same in all rows. The seats support a life vest packet, but it’s in a soft package, so it presses up against the seat bottom. That gives you 10 inches of height under all the seats. The aisle seats are 18 inches wide, the middle seats are 19.5 inches wide, and the window seats are 17 inches wide. Measured front to back, the under-seat space is about 17 inches deep.

I only caught a couple of fleeting glimpses of the First Class seats — someone traveling First Class will have to post a comment with measurements! — but the First Class under-seat space is also divided into three sections. The largest, middle section is hopeless — it’s almost entirely occupied by an enormous electronics box. The space closest to the window, however, looked pretty promising. The space closest to the aisle looked very narrow. If you plan to travel First Class with an in-cabin dog on a United A320, go for a window seat.

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Bernal Heights: San Francisco off-leash dog park

m-a — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:00:26 +0000

Chloe and friend at the Bernal Heights dog park

I had heard good things about the Bernal Heights dog park, but nothing could have prepared me for its outrageous, gorgeous views of the City by the Bay (this iPhone picture does not do it justice — from where I was standing when I took it, you can see the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, then turn around and see the rest of the city).

Bernal Hill is a former quarry, and although at this time of year it has lots of grass and wildflowers, you’re not here for the flora. You may not be here for the fauna either — it’s a popular place for dogs of all sizes, and Chloe was a bit overwhelmed at times. The views make up for any defects, however, and I have to admit that all of the dogs we saw seemed to be deliriously happy.

Poop bags are available at both of the main entrances — one at the intersection of Folsom St. and Bernal Heights Blvd., and the other at the end of Bernal Heights Blvd. The park is huge (some 39 acres) and criss-crossed with paved and unpaved paths. Be sure your dog has a good recall command, however, since there are no fences.

Bernal Heights Dog Park
Bernal Heights Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94110

Giveaway code: FAFNIR

Pet relief area at San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

m-a — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:00:38 +0000

SFO pet relief area (Terminal 1)

On the bright side, SFO is an airport that (a) has pet relief areas, and (b) is willing to reveal their locations. They’re on the SFO airport map (look at the interactive map and click on “services” and “Animal Relief Areas”), and upon inquiry you’ll get written directions too. Unfortunately, SFO is a complicated place, so the map isn’t very helpful, and the written directions — well, good effort, but “one is located between Terminal 1 and the International Terminal (Courtyard 1)” doesn’t cut the mustard when you’re in a hurry. Here are more details.

We were traveling on Virgin America, so we landed at SFO’s International Terminal. Usually, pet relief areas are outside baggage claim, but not at the International Terminal. Go back up to the departures level and follow the signs saying “Walkway to Domestic Terminals.” Once you’re in the Domestic area, take the first escalator back down to the arrivals level and look for signs to the Animal Relief Area. Once you’re outside the doors, you’ll see paw prints painted on the ground, leading to the pet relief areas. We never saw a sign for Courtyard 1 (and I suspect the same is true for Courtyard 4), so those locators won’t be a help.

If, instead, you arrive at domestic Terminals 1 or 3, walk down to the baggage claim area and turn left (Terminal 1) or right (Terminal 3). Walk to the end of the terminal building and look for the “Animal Relief Area” signs. When you exit the building, look for the paw print path.

What you’ll find is pictured at right — a fairly large graveled area, fully fenced and equipped with poop bags, trash cans and a water source. It’s not the best I’ve seen, but it was clean and not too cramped — I’ve seen far, far worse (hello, Seattle? Denver? Las Vegas?).

Travel tip: If you’re renting a car at SFO, I suggest skipping the airport pet relief areas and taking the airport train straight to the car rental building. You’ll arrive on Level 4; go down to Level 1 and exit the building to find a small but serviceable planting strip. It will save you a lot of time, but be sure you’re equipped with a poop bag.

Giveaway code: FAFNIR