What to do with dog if I get sick OTR?

[Joanie]

I dream of being on the road with my dog. My biggest fear, though, is what happens to my dog if I get sick or am hospitalized temporarily and can’t care for my dog?

 

[travelaround]

There should be some temporary shelter care available. A lot of people are more into helping dogs than helping other people. Pets seem to evoke compassionate responses.

If nothing else you could call a church to ask for help. There are a lot of Christians who are actively seeking ways to help others.

 

[WanderingRose]

When my husband was stricken far from home, I went with him in the ambulance while nearby campers eagerly provided care to our dog until the next day when my son was able to get to her.

Pet lovers are everywhere.

 

[maki2]

The humane society chapters have a foster care program. So don't let yourself get too stressed out over this potential situation because the program was initiated quite a few years ago for people who needed temporary help for their pets.

 

[eDJ_]

My Dad had a wiener dog he traveled with.  Called her "Poochie". 

He explained that he got sick a couple times when on the road with her but it wasn't anything major.
But Poochie actually worried about him sensing something was wrong. 

I'd suggest that if you have to be hospitalized that you not only leave the dog with caring people but also
a garment with your scent on it as a comforter.

 

[Dingfelder]

Sounds like a network and thinking ahead to keep in contact with it is important.

Unfortunately that runs counter to the spirit of individualism, free exploration, and sometimes even isolationism that strikes me as part of being on the loose and unaccountable, a free and easy wanderer.

I guess you have to pick your battles.

 

[tav-2020]

As many have pointed out, there are options and usually folks ready to help out.
My thought is that something could happen to you while NOT on the road and you still have the same issue of "what happens to my dog". Don't let that worry keep you from your dream

 

[jeanmarie]

I dream of being on the road with my dog. My biggest fear, though, is what happens to my dog if I get sick or am hospitalized temporarily and can’t care for my dog?

Boarding kennel. Anyplace big enough to have a hospital will have a kennel.

 

[JD GUMBEE]

Mrs G made up "Data-sheets" on each dog with their picture, meds/ailments, vets numbers, chip ID #'s and the numbers of two people who formerly agreed to adopt each dog. All spelled out.

The dogs also wear a collar with rattle tags engraved with three numbers.
Ours.
Mrs G's sister.
Our Veterinarian.

All of them knew where we were.

 

[Dingfelder]

As many have pointed out, there are options and usually folks ready to help out.
My thought is that something could happen to you while NOT on the road and you still have the same issue of "what happens to my dog". Don't let that worry keep you from your dream

I feel kind of bad about this.  I was at a casual party (is there such a thing as a cocktail party anymore?) with a few ladies and myself.  One told us about one after another of the dogs she didn't take care of, didn't spay so they didn't keep spewing puppies, took virtually no responsibility for throughout their lives, and told us all the while how much of a dog lover she was and she just loved dogs and had so many sentimental feelings for them.

To me, it was a horror story.  To her it was a love story maybe?  Certainly something worth putting up on her public resume as a caring, dog-loving person.  I felt icky hearing it and icky not telling her off afterwards.  

I don't think people's dreams should not include the comfort and destiny of their pets ... even if they include pets.  That strikes me as very old-school -- that pets don't really exist as things needing care or consideration outside whatever fun of reward or whatever they give us -- and that they are completely disposable or not even a "thing" outside that.  They have no more need of consideration than any other item.  And just as we can throw them away like a pencil or a brick, we don't have to care about them while we're alive or after we are dead.  They are just a thing that can suffer no more than that brick or pencil.  They are nothing and we are all.  Or maybe because we are all?

I don't know if or to what extent this applies to the poster.  But I am tired of seeing this and hope we will one day soon grow beyond the attitude that we are all and animals are nothing and pretty much deserve nothing.  I see it as the opposite.  We are the reason they are here, and, like our own children, owe them a debt accordingly.  They didn't ask to be here, but once we have taken up the mantle of authority and care, it can never lapse; we're in it for the long haul, it's too late, and it's nobody's fault beyond our own.  We might as well bear it in good cheer and never let slip anything else.  Not just for the sake of their souls, but our own.

 

[WanderingRose]

I consider my dog to require just a bit less care and planning for than one of my grandchildren, and her care in the event of an emergency while traveling is of paramount importance to me, as it should be for any dependent living being.

My late husband often referred to “the personification of animals”, attributing human traits to our four legged companions, but he loved our dog as much as I do and shared my concerns.

I carry a card behind my drivers license in my wallet, alerting anyone searching for my identification that I have a pet at home alone. 

On the back, contact information for my children.

If we have time to plan, we must do so.

If not, we must do what we can, trust that emergency responders will not leave our pets on the side of the road and next of kin will know to ask of their whereabouts.