Pick your base for the dog. That is the one thing we would tell any family who wants to travel or live abroad with a dog. When the dog can walk off leash every morning, everyone is calmer, the kids included. When the dog is stuck on a leash in a busy city, every day is harder.

Our dogs have come with us across the US, Mongolia, Morocco, France, Spain and Thailand. Moka and River travel with us now. Kuma came with us on many of these trips. He has since passed, and he is part of every one of these stories.

This page gathers everything we have written about traveling with dogs: moving abroad, flying, packing, road trips in an RV, and the places where our dogs have been happiest. Start with the section that matches your next step.

Choosing a base when you travel with a dog

Before we book a long stay, we ask three questions. Where will the dog walk every day? How far is a vet we trust? Will a landlord accept a dog? The answers decide the town, and sometimes the neighborhood.

Ifrane, in Morocco’s Middle Atlas, worked because the cedar forest starts at the edge of town. Rochemaure, in the Ardèche, worked because of the castle trail and the Rhône riverbank. Marrakech was harder. We had to find the green spaces ourselves, and we wrote down where dogs are welcome so you do not have to.

• Ifrane with a dog: the cedar forest route
• Dog walking routes in Rochemaure, Ardèche
• Where dogs are welcome in Marrakech

Moving abroad with a dog

Moving countries with a dog takes more planning than moving with kids. Vaccines, blood tests, health certificates and import permits all run on their own clocks, and some of them take months. Housing is the other surprise. Many rentals say no to dogs, or say yes and then add rules.

Our longer guide covers what nobody told us before our first move with dogs. The Morocco checklist shows how we planned the 90 days before arrival, with the dogs in the plan from day one.

• What expats never told us about relocating with dogs abroad
• The 90-day Morocco pre-arrival checklist

Pet import rules change often, and they differ for every country and airline. Check the official rules for your destination and your home country before you book anything.

Flying with a dog and what to pack

Flying is the most stressful part of travel with a dog, for the dog and for us. Airline websites do not always match what happens at check-in. Our flying guide covers what airlines actually allow, where their websites mislead, and how to avoid problems at the counter.

Packing is easier. We use the same list every time, from documents to the comfort items that help a dog settle in a new place.

• Flying with a dog: what airlines actually allow
• What to pack when you travel with a dog: our checklist

Road trips and RV travel with dogs

Driving is the easiest way to travel with dogs. The dogs ride with us, we stop when they need to, and nobody fills in an airline form. Our Pacific Coast trip was an RV trip with the kids and four dogs. The Black Hills and New River Gorge trips were planned around the dogs too: which trails allow them, where they can swim, and where they have to stay behind.

• Pacific Coast RV road trip with kids and four dogs
• RV camping with kids and dogs on public land and in lots
• A 5-day Black Hills itinerary with kids and dogs
• 3 days at New River Gorge with kids and a dog

In US national parks, dogs are usually allowed in campgrounds and on roads, and on few trails. Each park sets its own rules, so check the park’s pets page before you plan your hikes.

Morocco with a dog

We spent several years based in Morocco with our dogs, first near Fes and Ifrane, then in Marrakech. Dogs are less common as pets in Morocco than in Europe or the US, and people react in different ways. Some are curious, some keep their distance. The Middle Atlas was the easiest place for the dogs. The big cities took more planning.

• Traveling Morocco with a dog: the Ifrane guide
• Using Ifrane as a base for Fes
• Middle Atlas day trips from Ifrane
• Ifrane with kids: the cedar forest and the lakes
• Walking with your dog in Marrakech
• Marrakech coworking spaces with a dog-OK policy
• Atlas Mountains day trips from Marrakech

France with a dog

Rural France is easy with a dog. Many cafés let dogs sit under the table, trails start from the village, and campsites often take dogs. Our base in Rochemaure, in the Ardèche, gave us riverbank walks, quiet farm tracks and crags where the dogs could wait in the shade.

• Dog walking routes in Rochemaure
• Gorges de l’Ardèche family guide, with a dog-friendly campsite
• Climbing near Rochemaure with kids and a dog

Climbing with a dog at the crag

Our dogs come climbing with us when the crag allows it. A dog at the crag needs the same care as a child: shade, water, and a spot away from the base of the routes, where rocks and gear can fall. Keep the dog leashed or tied near your bags, away from ropes and other climbers’ packs. Some crags ban dogs, and some climbers do not want them around. Ask, and respect the answer.

Every crag page in our kid-friendly climbing guide has a dogs line in its snapshot, so you can check before you go. For Morocco, start with family rock climbing in Morocco and climbing near Ifrane.

Further afield: Mongolia

Our dogs also lived with us in Mongolia, one of our first big moves as a family. The post is older, but it shows how far a family and their dogs can go.

• Exploring Mongolia with family and dogs

What we have learned

A few things hold true in every country we have lived in with our dogs.

Start the paperwork early. Most of the stress of a move with a dog comes from a document that was not ready in time.

Find the vet before you need one. We look up a vet in the first week, and we keep the dogs’ records on our phones.

Walk first, unpack later. On arrival day, the dogs get a long walk before we open a single bag. It settles them, and it shows us the neighborhood.

Plan days around the dog, not just for the dog. Pick trails, beaches and cafés where the dog can come. When the dog has to stay behind, keep it short.

Where to go next

Planning a move? Start with relocating abroad with dogs. Planning a road trip? Read our Pacific Coast RV trip with four dogs. Planning a crag day? Check the dogs line on any page in our kid-friendly climbing guide.