I want a dog....but I LOVE to Travel!

Happy Monday! And for some of you…HAPPY SPRING BREAK. Whether you are away at some island, or you are just at home working, at least you get a week off of school. I for one decided to save money this week just by working, but at least I get plenty of free time to hang out with my little doggie. And I know he is grateful for that!

With it being Spring Break-season, and with a good majority of people leaving for some sort of vacation, I thought it would be appropriate to address this concern of having a dog: liking to travel, but having a dog to worry about.

One of the biggest adjustments with having a dog is the whole traveling aspect of it. Before I got Kyzer, I always was leaving with my family to visit my sister out of state, or even my mom’s side in the South. My boyfriend and I would go to Omaha frequently to hang out with friends, or we’d spend the whole weekend visiting each of our parents. But when you have a dog, it’s not like you can just take off whenever you feel like it. You can’t just leave him some food and water and leave him for a few days. You have to plan. Whether it be forming a plan to take him with, or forming a plan to find someone to watch him, you have to figure out the best plan for not only your dog, but yourself as well. 

In my opinion, this is probably the biggest downside of having a dog in college. When you’re in college, you’re in this awkward time where you want to go wherever your family goes, but you also are becoming more independent which makes you want to see the world on your own accord. You want to plan vacations with a significant other, or just friends. Now, we are lucky because my boyfriend’s mom absolutely LOVES Kyzer and is always willing to watch him for us, but if it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be able to go on some of the weekend trips that we have been on, or we would have paid for a boarding facility. Now there are some great boarding facilities out there that I know work great for a lot of people, but in my opinion, I don’t want to spend the money for one unless I absolutely had to. 

So just something to keep in mind before getting a dog is evaluate your love for travel. If you enjoy having the freedom of leaving whenever you want, staying wherever you please without having to rush home for any certain reason, than getting a dog may not be in your best interest right now. Even if you know someone who would be willing to babysit your dog, or you have a boarding facility you have no problem leaving your dog at, just understand that having a dog is a huge responsibility. Spontaneous opportunities may happen that don’t give you enough time to coordinate with someone to watch your dog. In those cases, you may be forced to turn down those opportunities because you can’t find someone to care for your dog. Or you may be having a blast with your friends one night and you want to stay longer, but someone needs to go home and take your dog out. Or you may be asked to get together with your friends a town away, but you can’t go because you can’t leave your dog home alone all day and night. 

In my case, although having Kyzer forces us to coordinate with my boyfriend’s mom to see if she can watch him, there are times when we’ve had to turn down hanging out with friends in our home town because we couldn’t leave Kyzer. 

So all in all, having a dog and having to plan our life around that is worth it for us, and although we do have the privilege of my boyfriend’s mom watching Kyzer, something to keep in mind is that we also don’t need his mom to watch Kyzer very often. If you have a dog that spends more time with family or at a boarding facility than your own home, you may want to rethink if your lifestyle is in your dog’s best interest. Because even if your dog enjoys staying with someone or going to a boarding facility, your dog ultimately likes to be home with you, more.

Just something to consider before committing to a puppy :)

~Kathryn and Kyzer