2 hour car journey to bring new puppy home

[Jackwiththelazyeye]

Looking for experienced help please?

Long time member and poster - name changed for this thread in case it becomes identifying. We are collecting our new Labrador puppy soon - he will be just over 8 weeks old. The fastest route home from the breeders will be 2 hours mainly on motorways/A roads.

When we brought our last dog home it was a slightly shorter distance and I remember having her in a small crate on the seat next to me. As I remember (8 years ago) she was fine and slept quite a bit.

When I was a child (about 40 years ago!) we bought a puppy a good 7 hour drive away and I remember him being put in a big washing up bowl with blanket/towel and DF stopping the car every hour or so to let the puppy have a wee and a drink. I remember sitting next to the ‘bowl’ on the back seat all the way home with him.
No idea if it’s a coincidence but that dog was a fantastic car traveller for his whole life!

I am possibly overthinking this but wanted to hear of anyone else’s positive puppy car journey stories. Thanks in advance.

Oh she’s not been sick since and is an amazing traveller in both our car in the boot and our camper van on the back seat 🙂 We think it was the wormer she’d had before she left.

They have to be properly secured in the vehicle. We recommend to all our buyers to bring a travel crate lines with paper and vet bed. We also loan crates to new owners if they don't have one with them.
Furthest ours have travelled was North Cambridgeshire to the bottom end of Jersey.

We did 3.5 hours, had him on the seat next to me in a harness/dog seat belt.

Didn't stop, just powered through.

We had multiple pee pads on the car seat under blankets, but he slept most of the time and had no accidents.

We brought our lab home 8 weeks old it took 5 hours 30 minutes. He was in a crate strapped down on the back seat. ( crate strapped not puppy!) we took towels, wet wipes, spare clothes in case he was sick on us, a laundry basket with paper in it for him to wee in ( too young to be on the ground at service stations)
He whined for about 5 minutes and then slept all the way home.

Had a two hour journey with mine. Took a small crate but breeder asked me to have her on my lap with blankets and towels to make her feel more secure.

I think we drove about three hours. We stopped at a pub for lunch. The puppy couldn't interact with other dogs but we kept him with us and it was fine.
He was very car sick for years after. Some are some aren't.

We got a little puppy booster seat from Amazon. It fixed into the car with a seatbelt and had a safety clip that attached to her harness. We put it in the back and I sat with her and she slept most of the time. The breeder had brought the pups in the car from 6 weeks to help them get used to it.

Good luck!

Our youngest (now 11) on a 3 hour journey from the lab rescue in Preston. Good as gold, just lay on my lap being nosy! We think he was 10/11 weeks old.

4.5 hours here for our goldie. We stopped on the way back but he didn't need to go(!) The breeder gave them all a blanket and we had also dropped off some soft toys when we first went to see him. We had a crate in the boot which he would have gone in if he was a wriggling distraction. But he just slept the whole way on my H's lap. Driving away from the breeder was the hardest to thing for me, I felt like I was ripping him away from his mum 🥲
He's nearly 2 years old now and travels really well in the boot of our car.

Thank you all so much for your replies and tips!
We brought him home yesterday- once he settled he was absolutely fine and slept most of the way home on the back seat, next to me, on a pile of puppy training mats!
No need to stop at all and he's been as good as gold since we got home
Pic of him in the garden this morning with a flowerpot!!

Oh, he's gorgeous, OP!

I'm glad the journey home went so well

Would love to pick your brain please on best way to secure a puppy cavalier (5 months) and also when grow to a dog. In a car.

oh and what lead for a puppy of this age? TIA

When we collected our Lab pup he was running round as we arrived. I had him on my lap on an old towel for the 2 hour journey home, my husband drove. He cried quite pitifully for about half an hour and I was getting stressed and feeling so guilty for removing him from his mum.
He fell asleep and when he woke up he was much happier, no more crying and seemed to have adjusted to me being his new mum so fast. He was all cuddles for the rest of the journey. When we got home he met the children and had a meal, he was absolutely fine and his little tail was wagging.
I guess we were lucky but no accidents on the way home. The breeder said she had started to toilet train him and he did pick that up very quickly once we got home so maybe she had. Labradors are great, they adapt well to lots of different situations. I’m jealous of your puppy!

My lab did 5 hrs. We stopped halfway for about 30 mins. He was on old towels next to my son and was wearing a harness and dog seat belt. No accidents and he slept all the way. He did vomit everywhere once we got home and I had fed him a small portion if food though (breeder had not fed him, just incase) he's a fab traveller and adores the car now.

We had a 4 hour journey with 8 week old lab. She cried for a bit when we left but soon fell asleep cuddled up to a towel that smelled like her mum 🥺 it's common for dogs to be sick in the car when they first get used to it also..!

Did 5 and 1/2 hours with Sunpup. In a crate fastened down on back seat. Cried a little bit, slept a lot. We took a laundry basket so he could wee when we stopped ( too young to go on the ground) took towels wet wipes change of clothes in case of accidents but didn't need any of it. I sat in the back with him.

@EraOfTheGrey hello, sorry I've just seen this message! It was just from Amazon

Petsfit Dog Car Seat,Soft Dog Booster Car Seats with Seat Belt Tether, Large Dog Car Seat,Safe and Comfort Sofa for Traveling amzn.eu/d/ek48Xzd

Fits my two mini dachshunds perfectly x