I am taking my 9 month old black lab on a trip to northern california in about a week. I have all the travel arrangements set up, health certificate, flea/tick meds, etc..., but was curious about anything specific about the actual flight with the dog.
I talked a bit with the vet regarding whether to use some form of sedative to keep her relaxed. Surprisingly, the vet said they typically don't recommend any kind of medication even for the more hyper dogs, but rather recommend something like dramamine (not the non-drowsy version of course). They explained that it would also be helpful if the dog developed any issues with motion sickness while on the plane (hadn't even considered that part).
My dog does really well traveling in a car. She never barks and, if anything, just sits there and watches. Most of the time, she will lay down and often just go to sleep. I don't know how she will be if she is in a crate being carried around, shuffled onto/off a plane, etc... though since this is the first trip with her.
I decided to test the damamine option when I would be around her the entire evening in case anything developed that I had to take care of. If anything, it worked more like a shot of caffine. She was bouncing off the walls and didn't show any sign of drowsiness at all. I'm sure some of that was the fact that I wasn't taking her out for the exercise she gets almost daily, so she had some pent up energy, but that will be more representative of travel day anyway, so a good test.
What do you guys think? Should I even bother with anything or just go as normal? Has anyone tried anything different that has worked well or poorly that I might want to consider or make sure not to use? My prefrerence would be to not use any kind of drug if possible, but I also don't want her to have a traumatic experience with traveling either so would consider it if that is a significant concern.
Thanks in advance for any ideas. Feel free to PM me if you have a negative experience with a specific product so we don't have any problems with the forum rules.