We’ve been traveling with canine friends for nearly a decade — short trips and several trips that crossed numerous state lines. One learns things along the way. The biggest thing, for any length trip, is what we call the doggie diaper bag — a bag that carries stuff to cover just about every eventuality, including food and/or snacks, leash, harness, poop pick-up bags, and so on. Which brings us to the next key point, if highway travel is involved, consider public rest stops as ideal doggie pauses, too.  The more natural environment makes the trip a little more fun for them AND you! Finally, if overnight or extended accommodations will be involved, do your homework first! Pet friendly hotels and motels are not around every corner, and they are not alike. Some charge extra, offer doggie daycare, and have outdoor play areas. It’s worth the legwork, if you’re considering Fido as part of your family vacation.

Photo credit Driving the Northeast

On a recent business trip with lots going on, we ended up taking our lovable Labrador with us. There were many reasons behind this decision, not the least of which was a scheduling conflict with her usual care provider. For all but one of the five days we were there, we managed to meet her needs while having her with us. This included a day of full film shooting for a video project we’re co-funding with friends and co-workers. On the day of the live promotional event for the personal finance book I co-wrote however, taking Maggie along for the show was a no go.

That’s when the folks we were staying with suggested the place that they use for dog day care situations. Waggle Brothers. A pet resort and spa by design, they also provide daily day care for dogs with owners on the go. For a daily rate of fifteen dollars, she got supervised group play time, a separate air conditioned play area to cool off after rough-housing outside and a pool to swim and play in. Not bad. If you want to check on your dog during the day, they have a live pet cam you can go online to check out. Entrance interviews are given to identify those canines who clearly don’t play well with others, so those issues can be addressed before they even arise. Safety was taken into consideration as well, as her harness was removed in case play time got rambunctious and a new dog friend decided to tug on straps inappropriately. We even got behavioral reports from the day camp counselor when we picked her up.

The place was clean, obviously run by dog lovers and had a gift shop for things you might lose or need to replace on the road. Just make sure you have copies (digital or otherwise) of your dog’s medical and shot records. They’ll need them before your dog can be admitted for participation. Although ours was up to date vaccination-wise, there was an additional shot Waggle Brothers required which keeps control of some sort of doggie cold virus that can otherwise get passed around in large groups. It was an extra fifteen dollars, which brought our total to thirty USD for that particular day. The next time we go down though, it’ll only be the fifteen dollar fee to take a full day off as road warrior dog parents. Very affordable, in our opinion.

Some specifics from the company brochure? Seventeen thousand square foot facility overall with 5,000 square feet of air conditioned space for cooling off breaks, 5,000 square feet of shaded outdoor space, an organic products grooming studio, outdoor play area and pool, natural market and pet boutique. Interested in trying them out?

Waggle Brothers Pet Resort & Spa

10780 Biscayne Blvd. Miami, Florida

(ph) 305-891-2058 (fax) 305-891-5206 (toll free) 1-866-WAGGLE1

Customer Service Cell: 305-335-0110 http://wagglebrospetresort.com/

Photo Credits: Kyle May and Trek Hound

Editor’s note: Heading to the Tampa area? Be sure to check out the family-friendly and fun  Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, FL.