What To Do With Pets While Worldschooling

When preparing to leave your home for an extended road trip or worldschooling adventure, there’s a lot to take care of. Deciding what to do with your dog (or cat or rabbit or hamster) can be one of the trickiest and most consequential decisions you’ll make. Like so many aspects of long-term family travel, there is no right or wrong answer, no simple or obvious solution to caring for pets while traveling. But, rest assured, you do have options.

Option 1 – Arrange for sitters to care for your pets

Max was super excited to worldschool. He planned most of the logistics.

There are many types of pet sitter solutions. Perhaps you have family or close friends willing to take your pets into their home while you’re away. Alternatively, you may have personal connections willing to stay in your home and serve as both your pet sitter and house sitter during your Wonder Year. Barter, compensation, or some other arrangement can be negotiated according to your circumstances.

Leaving a pet with a family member or friend may offer the most comfort and relief for a traveling family. But if that choice isn’t available, another option is professional pet sitting or boarding services. Companies such as Rover.com match screened pet sitters with families needing pet care while traveling. Increasingly popular, the social aspect of these sites provides a growing universe of ratings and reviews that can be reassuring. Other traveling families choose to go the route of boarding facilities or kennels. If this is you, be diligent in your research, read reviews, visit and ask questions before you book, and inquire about volume discounts.

We brought this photo of Hopper with us and propped it up next to our bed every night.

Option 2 – Take your pet with you

Traveling with a pet takes extra planning, extra diligence, extra space, and a willingness to make some trade-offs. Many traveling families, especially those traveling by car, van, or RV, choose this option. Domestic and even international travelers can make it work. If you plan to go international with your pet, you’ll need to get familiar with country-specific requirements and immigration/quarantine rules to avoid surprises or delays.

If Fido or Sugar is going to join you on the road, here are some things to do in advance:

Schedule vaccinations, well visits, dental care, and grooming appointments before departure
Gather medical records and take copies with you
Make sure pet supplies fit in your space and are easily portable
Here’s another instance where having a contingency plan is essential. Consider asking a friend or family member whether they could take in your pet if things aren’t working out on the road. Hopefully, it would be for a manageable duration until you can figure out a longer-term solution.

Once you are mobile, here are some other things you’ll need to do:

Identify pet-friendly lodging options, including hotels, campsites, and rental accommodations
Locate pet-friendly trails, beaches, parks, and other attractions
Plan for bathroom breaks and walks
Make sure you have enough food, water, treats, and toys for each segment of your trip
Take lots of photos of your cute kids with your cute pets, and enjoy the ride!

Jemima, the duck, found a home on a local farm.

Option 3 – Rehome your pets

Depending on your circumstances, a necessary option may be to rehome your pet. We know it’s not an easy choice, but if, for example, you are leaving and have no return date, or plan to be on the road for several years, you might decide that rehoming will work best. If that’s the case, we encourage you to plan early so there’s plenty of time to make it a loving transition for everyone.

Pets are part of the family, and we want them to be well cared for and safe. For long-term travel, this might require piecing together several solutions. Angela’s dog Timber was with his humans for each domestic segment of their two-year journey and stayed with relatives when the family was overseas. Julie’s dog, Max, traveled with the fam full time in their camper and stayed in kennels when they ventured into wilderness areas for longer backpacking excursions. Whatever the arrangement, try to give guardians and pets time to get acquainted, make plans for regular check-ins, and then expect some twists, turns, and tail wags.