Page 2 | Ferry travel with young dog - advice

Twooforjoy · 2022-07-18T12:49:24+00:00

We are travelling in August with our dog, Holyhead to Dublin. We have the option of the kennel or leaving in the car in a crate/travel carrier. DP is a vet and saying she will be less fearful in the car, windows down, but secure in the crate which we will put up on the back seat. He thinks she might be nervous benign around other dogs and isn’t convinced it will be the cleanest environment to leave her in the kennels facility (in her own carrier). the dog has done the trip once before but not with me. inteeested in your thoughts and tips to make this as stress free on the dog. She is still a pup, almost one, small breed. Very car happy. I think it is very very cold in the car loading area so there isn’t a risk of heating. the booking form allows for either option for your dog - stay in car or kennels. Thank you.

Cookiedough41 · 18/07/2022 21:04

We're just back from a ferry trip. Would never leave Ddog in the car too many car alarms that would scare him. We came back down the stairs and both cars on either side of us were alarming. He was quite happy on the ferry as there was a dog area with lots of dogs he could have a good sniff at and morsels of food on the ground he could hoover up

Original poster

Twooforjoy · 19/07/2022 09:40

Impossiblepossibilities · 18/07/2022 20:42

We’ve done the Wales/Ireland crossings (Holyhead/Dublin, Pembroke/Rosslare, Fishguard/Rosslare) probably hundreds of times over the 30+ years we’ve had dogs.

We book night crossings so they are already tired/sleepy and leave ours in the car.

Historically, they have had the whole of an estate car boot with dog-guard and tailgate-guard and two no spill water bowls attached to the tailgate-guard. We also bought cheap window grills that allow us to leave all the car windows open without anyone getting their hand in and have a battery powered fan that clips onto the dog-guard. If it’s particularly warm, we put them in a cool vest as well. We can disable our internal car alarm, just leaving the external one active, so that’s not an issue.

We have had all sorts of different rescue dogs over the years, some confident, some nervous, but all have coped with the crossing well. We give them Dorwest Valerian compound while we are in the boarding queue and use DAP travel spray on their bedding while they go for their pre-boarding walk. They’ve all just slept through, sometimes they’ve still been asleep when we arrived back at the car. We make sure one of us is always last off the car deck and first back down, so we can be with them when other people are walking past the car to get to the passenger decks and back.

I now have a toy breed and am planning to get him used to (and loving) being in a large crate before we take him over, as I think he will probably be more anxious with the whole boot.

I have peeked at the kennels a few times and never felt it was somewhere I would want to leave my dogs. Most people tend to leave them in their cars.

If your dp is a vet, ask them about the possibility of using Zylkene for a few days before the crossing. It definitely helped our most nervous dog cope with it.

Thank you! That’s very useful information.

I am going to leave the dog in the car, I need to think out what can be moved about luggage wise and if I will crate her in the car. It’s a discovery sport so plenty of room but we will have a lot of luggage.

i might get her a large pop up carrier and put it on the back seat. tempted NOT to crate her but then I’m worried I’d she is sick in any way or won’t be contained :(

I can’t honestly remember any issue with car alarms on my last two crossings on this route. It was the ease of travel on the ferry the last couple of times, so much nicer than airport especially with kids. Now we are folding dog into the mix… we shall see!

will ask DP about xylkene (is it a sedative?)

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Impossiblepossibilities · 19/07/2022 10:09

@Twooforjoy Zylkene is not a sedative, it’s made from milk proteins and has a calming effect. I’ve used it to help nervous rescues, to get one dog with separation anxiety used to kennels for when I had a hospital stay and more recently to help a dog with dementia. It’s not vet prescribed, you can buy it online and from decent pet shops. My vet recommended it to me.

Zylkene.

Having two big dogs and a family of 5, for the last decade or so we have hired a roof box for family holidays. That way the dogs could have the whole boot and we still had tonnes of room for packing. (We would have bought one, but don’t have anywhere to store things like that, as we don’t have a garage.). The slight disadvantage there might be the height guides for ferry crossings, as with some vehicles a roof box can tip you in the next price category.

When we first started taking our dogs over I had all sorts of anxieties about car vs kennel, would they be ok etc, but in the end it came down to the fact that our dogs are always used to and very comfortable in the car, so it makes sense they would be happier there than in a strange kennel, surrounded by dogs and people they don’t know.

I have been on bad crossings in winter, where there were lots of car alarms going off as we made our way back down to the car deck, but my dogs weren’t bothered in the slightest.

Mariposa80 · 19/07/2022 10:29

Can you get a car seat hammock for the back seat? That should protect your seats, ours is waterproof.

Original poster

Twooforjoy · 19/07/2022 10:30

@Impossiblepossibilities Ill get that stuff online - will order it today, thank you!

the roof rack might be one for us to consider if we commit to this way of travelling but it would take a bit of buying / practising / time to sort out!

i agree she knows our car and that will give her some comfort, she might stay awake waiting for us to return but she won’t have strangers around her.

I’m going to look into travel carriers now, one that pops up and folds away would be ideal as it will free up space.

we have a lovely holiday booked in Ireland on the west coast and I know the dog will love it… just getting us all there as usual is the first hurdle!

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Original poster

Twooforjoy · 19/07/2022 10:33

Mariposa80 · 19/07/2022 10:29

Can you get a car seat hammock for the back seat? That should protect your seats, ours is waterproof.

Oh! Is that something for dogs? To keep the car clean?

i think she needs to be in the boot or a crate, I might be praline but I’m afraid is she gets anxious she might find some random cable to chew. At least if she is in some way contained there’s little she can do and I can contain any mess. (That’s my logic so far, it might change again 😂 )

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Original poster

Twooforjoy · 19/07/2022 10:33

Paranoid not a praline 🤦‍♀️

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Mariposa80 · 19/07/2022 10:37

Yes, a car seat hammock goes over the seats and clips onto the front headrests so covers the footwell and protects the seats.

Original poster

Twooforjoy · 19/07/2022 12:05

Mariposa80 · 19/07/2022 10:37

Yes, a car seat hammock goes over the seats and clips onto the front headrests so covers the footwell and protects the seats.

Ok thanks, will look up!

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mrsrobin · 23/07/2022 17:27

It really depends on the dog - if like mine, she would not be freaked out by clonks, alarms and the like, it should be fine. Mine has been left in all sorts of ferries in the car and every time we have sneaked down to check on her (allowed if accompanied on some crossings) she has been busy snoozing! My girl would absolutely hate being in a kennel!

Original poster

Twooforjoy · 15/08/2022 11:20

Just thought I’d update in case anyone else is needing advice.

It all went incredibly well and it’s so easy to do!

Outbound we kept her in the car. We had a massive carrier. But half way though sailing I had to get access to medicine for my son, so the staff gave me access to the car. They were incredibly nice and accompanied me to the car - he then commented on the dog saying I could try the kennels if I liked - he showed them to me so I popped her in - really nice big kennels, all clean and calm in there, all dogs were chilled out. No car alarms were going off anywhere btw (lots of people commented this would drive dogs nuts).

I amended my return Journey and booked kennels. Again, in she popped and came out happy and tail wagging. We didn’t use the carrier, we put her on the lead and she got a good 10/15 minutes walking about sniffing evening before we got into the car and drove back home!

you are routed to park very close to the kennels so there is next to no faffing about between car and kennels.

It was so easy! - maybe down to my very easy going dog (11 months old small dog). You are also allowed access to the kennels to check on your dog. We sailed with Irish Ferries.

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Soothmoother · 19/08/2022 19:42

Car for me every time. The ferry we use is 14 hours overnight. The kennels are vile. A nasty tin room, with rust and noise, bare metal kennels, right next to the car deck outer doors.
At least in a car, they're comfortable, insulated from the sound, warm, and somewhere familiar.

LidlCinnamonBun · 19/08/2022 19:46

Twooforjoy · 19/07/2022 12:05

Ok thanks, will look up!

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Does anyone have link for one that they found worked well?
Thank you.

Londonderry34 · 19/08/2022 19:51

Regularly sail Pembroke Rosslare. Leave in crate in car. Happy. Walk before and after crossing. Lots of dogs in cars. No signs of distress, in fact, she jumps in prior to journey when she senses what's afoot. So happy in Ireland. Hangs out with local dogs.

Twattergy · 19/08/2022 20:15

We did the kennel to Ireland recently. It is literally a metal box where all the cars are parked. Our dog was OK as she is calm and actually drools endlessly in the car so the kennel was a better option for her. However don't be fooled by 'kennel' it is a metal box stacked with other metal boxes.

Original poster

Twooforjoy · 19/08/2022 23:59

Soothmoother · 19/08/2022 19:42

Car for me every time. The ferry we use is 14 hours overnight. The kennels are vile. A nasty tin room, with rust and noise, bare metal kennels, right next to the car deck outer doors.
At least in a car, they're comfortable, insulated from the sound, warm, and somewhere familiar.

Rust! What sort of a tin can were you sailing in 😂

Holyhead to Dublin (Irish Ferries) the kennels were far from vile and nasty. I’m giving a heads up to anyone who may be doing this route specifically - it’s clearly not a one size fits all seeing as your ferry experience was the opposite!

Kennels were clean, and on both crossings the kennelled dogs were calm and not stressed. I was very pleasantly surprised. Hope this might help someone else in my predicament when I started the thread.

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Original poster

Twooforjoy · 20/08/2022 00:04

Londonderry34 · 19/08/2022 19:51

Regularly sail Pembroke Rosslare. Leave in crate in car. Happy. Walk before and after crossing. Lots of dogs in cars. No signs of distress, in fact, she jumps in prior to journey when she senses what's afoot. So happy in Ireland. Hangs out with local dogs.

Yes. All the passengers with dogs were together regardless of using kennels or not. That was nice.

ours were the big metal cages. I actually found the fact they were metal more reassuring! - easier to disinfect down and less likely to harbour nasties.

my dog is tiny and had loads of room, by the looks of it she slept for the crossing.

I think either option is totally fine now I’ve done it a couple of times but I’ll happily not bring the huge crate now and free up some boot space.

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ScootyAlan · 20/08/2022 09:25

Twooforjoy · 19/08/2022 23:59

Rust! What sort of a tin can were you sailing in 😂

Holyhead to Dublin (Irish Ferries) the kennels were far from vile and nasty. I’m giving a heads up to anyone who may be doing this route specifically - it’s clearly not a one size fits all seeing as your ferry experience was the opposite!

Kennels were clean, and on both crossings the kennelled dogs were calm and not stressed. I was very pleasantly surprised. Hope this might help someone else in my predicament when I started the thread.

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A vile one if you're a dog.