There are tons of boarding kennels with trained staff where you can put your dog. There's also sites like Rover where you can hire people to take care of your dog while you're away- sort of like Uber but for dogsitting. It's a lot easier in this day and age to get your dog care while you're gone.

Currently I am living in Germany and I am really so far away from my lovely dog :(. My grandparents are giving him food and water. I really miss him, but I know that he is in good hands.

When my family and I went on vacation, I had my dog boarded at the kennel at my vet's office. It was not as expensive as I was expecting it to be either. I know that he was well taken care of and the people there are great. I would use them versus asking a relative or a friend to watch my dog since this can be inconvenient.

I ask my family to watch my pets when I am on vacation and I always either pay them or bring them a gift from my trip. They appreciate it and my pets are well behaved so they do not mind caring for them. If they were little monsters then I am sure I would have to look into a kennel, but they keep them locked up most of the time and I couldn't do that to my baby!

I travel often during summer holidays, so my puppy stays with my boyfriend's family. They know how to take good care of him so he is in good hands, he also gets a bit spoiled there so I think he loves it.
There will be a time where I will move abroad again, and he will definitely go with us.
If my boyfriend's family were not able to take care of him, I would research a few boarding kennels and send him there. Some are really nice and send daily videos to owners etc for peace of mind.

That's what moms are for. LOOOL!

I travel a lot and I usually leave the babies to my mom. I know that I have nothing to worry about because she treats them like they're her grandchildren. The only thing I'm worried about is that they'd be spoiled too much. I'm kind of a disciplinarian when it comes to my pets. And my mom...well, she's the typical grandma.

When we travel to a closer State for a few days, we take our dog with us and his kennel. If we all go out, then we put the dog in his kennel, this way we know our dog is safe and the relative's house is intact. If we travel far away and at longer period of time, then we would him at the vet's kennel so he is properly taken care of.

When we go on holidays we leave the dogs at home and we ask our neighbor to take care of them. They live outside so the neighbor only has to give them water and food. I have noticed that they feel much better when they are on their own territory, rather that being in new places.
Also my dogs are big and don't enjoy staying inside for a long time.
But my parents had a small dog that lived with them in the apartment. They could not leave it with anyone because it would not eat and try to escape, so they took it along. We even took the dog to Greece :p

I like to leave my dog at a relative's house, but I understand that might not be possible for everyone. The vet's office is really your next best choice, as the veterinarian is a qualified individual that is able to cater to your dog's needs, and it shouldn't be too expensive either. However, I think this is becoming less and less of an issue the more we move forward, as there are many more vacation opportunities that allow the dog to come along with the owner.

If you're going to leave home for a long time, I'd surely consider asking a friend or a relative to take care of your dog for this frame of time, or, if you don't know anyone who can, you can go to a local kennel or pet hotel, you'll surely find one at a fair price in any medium/big city.
Unfortunately, a lot of poeple don't care enough about their dog to actually pay for it, so they'll just leave them on the streets: for the love of God, don't. It may be obvious, considering the forum we're in, but don't even take this option into consideration. It's awful.

Typically, when we travel, we either take the RV or plan the trip to be by car so that the dog can come along. He's even been to Canada and Mexico. My seasoned traveler is well-behaved in a hotel or motel, isn't too large, and is a low-shed breed so we rarely have problems.

If necessity or practicality mean the trip is a flight or just isn't something he'll enjoy, my first preference is to find a friend or family member who will physically stay in my home while I'm gone - sleep there, cook there, etc. Second best is to find him a home to stay in as part of their family. If I can't find a friend or family member for this one, I go to "dog vacay" and find a pet sitter there. Then we do a 30 minute meet & greet at their home, followed by an afternoon of "daycare," and if we have time, a trial overnight before a longer trip. I want to give him every chance to feel comfortable in that place and with that person.

I don't use ever use kennels with Casper because he was a rescue and even a single night in a kennel environment triggers behavior and training relapses, even if the kennel is a place he has previously been to for doggie daycare because for daycare, they're in a group and for overnights, they're alone in the kennel. I think kennels are okay for many/most dogs but they should have a chance to get used to them with short visits or single overnights before long trips. Dogs suddenly left at a kennel for long period with no prior experience can come out of it with behavioral issues.

Luckily, we live in a neighbourhood with friendly people. We even have relatives close by. But in case we are leaving for a trip, we either:

• Have that relative go to our house daily to feed our dog and give him food. We give the relative the key to our house as well. The dog's food will be left in their house or they can give our dogs some table food. With the shih tsus though, they can only have dog food.
• Have a neighbour look out for our dogs if it's just a short trip.

In any case, before we leave, we make sure that the dogs have enough water and food. We give them lots of hugs and kisses as well and tell them that we'll be back soon, lol.

When I've had to travel on business or holiday, I've either asked kenneled my dogs at the vet's office, used a pet sitting service or asked friends, relatives or neighbors to visit and care for them. Once we went to Arkansas on business and holiday five times in one year. No sooner would we get home and fetch the dogs from the vet's office, then we'd be putting them back in and heading out once more. We didn't want them thinking they were living at the vet's office, even though the vet and his staff were wonderful and treated our dogs as their own and lived near the office. So at that point, when we knew we had more frequent travel ahead, we began asking friends, family and neighbors to help, so the babies could stay home and not be kenneled all the time.

My husband and I are travelers. In fact, we have been to 6 countries last year and last month we were in Bangkok, Thailand. But we have never tried bringing our dogs for vacation abroad because of the arrangement. I cannot bear to imagine my dog in a cage down there in the cargo area. What I want is for my dog to be on my lap during the flight. But that's not allowed, according to my nephew who works in airline.

For our domestic vacations, we usually search for resorts that allow pets so we can bring along our dogs. Last year our dogs had a grand time in 2 resorts but this year the score is still zero. Maybe before the end of this month of May, we can take a short vacation with the dogs.