Traveling With Your Dog: Staying in a Hotel
Traveling with your dog is a great way to socialize them to different experiences that can be difficult to come by in everyday life. Even if you do not plan on traveling with your dog often I recommend taking a few trips because of the beneficial results in the long run. You can easily turn your weekend vacation into training and socialization without even trying that hard.
Hotels are full of training opportunities for your puppy and pet friendly hotels can be found all over the country. If you ask the front desk they will usually accommodate you with a ground floor room that is near an exit, which is incredibly helpful for quick potty trips outside. Unless you are planning on never leaving them alone, bring a crate when traveling with your dog. Even if your dog does not chew destructively they may start when left unattended in a new environment. I discovered this when I once left my room for a few minutes to move laundry from the wash to the dry. Upon returning, my normally lazy, couch potato pup had chewed a pair of sunglasses and shredded a tissue box within minutes.
Entering thru automatic lobby doors, riding in elevators and going up and down stairwells (sometimes metal and echo sound) are all great training opportunities for your pup. If there is a pool you will usually find kids playing loudly, but even if you take it easy in the room there is often ambient noise in neighboring rooms such as doors opening and closing and unfamiliar voices. I have also found that other people staying in hotels are generally delighted to see a puppy around and will ask to pet them, which is a good time to work on greeting manners.
Socialization is extremely important for a puppy. Most owners focus only on introducing their puppy to other people and dogs, but experiencing different sights, sounds, smells and surfaces is just as important. So the next time you are going out of town and trying to figure out who will watch your pup you might consider traveling with your dog instead of leaving them at home.