Yes, I wouldn’t want my dog in a kennel, especially for long stretches. But of course, I can’t decide for others and their pets.
We routinely drive with our dog, including cross-country trips. Even with that, we tested out on short drives and increasing distances over time before going on any serious road trips. And we usually stay at hotels even when we drive our RV. (It allows us to keep our dog at comfortable temperatures when we sightsee where he’s not allowed. And we can easily check on him / check the temperatures.) We’ve noticed that it’s relatively easy to find pet-friendly hotels in the U.S. nowadays vs. in decades past.
It’s pretty common for folks to do it in the UK and there are “pet parking” rings outside most grocery stores for this purpose. I wouldn’t personally do it unless the owner mentioned it for certain grocery stores. It does blow my American mind a bit as it just isn’t done.
Yes they insist on dogs being put into a crate- but sitters won’t have a crate ready to use. In the Perth Australia hire cars we used there was a sticker on the dashboard saying no dogs.
I never crate a dog in a car. With rentals, all they care about is whether you return the car in good shape. They have no idea whether you even had a dog in there if it’s returned clean.
Many years ago, on the upper west side in NYC, I had 2 dogs sit outside a store waiting for me. A woman came in yelling, who’s dogs are outside, they will be taken. I went up to her and said, try and take those dogs, go ahead. They were unleashed. She just looked and me and didn’t know what to say. The male would have severely bitten anyone who tried to grab him. Or his companion. But that was along time ago.
I saw them all over London once I realized what they were and I’ve seen them outside the grocery stores here in Portobello! I’ll take my own pictures when I’m out in the next day or so!
In France you often see dogs outside supermarkets, unleashed, just staring through the sliding doors watching for their owner to appear. They usually don’t even walk through when the door slides open for another customer.
Most restaurants with terraces let you keep your dog with you out there.
