Leaving Your Dog Behind: A Pre-Trip Checklist for the Weeks Before You Go

Start arranging care four to six weeks out, and finish with a written routine sheet the day before you leave. The checklist below is ordered by how far ahead each task needs to happen, because the paperwork and booking items are the ones that cause real problems if left too late.

Timeline at a glance

Use this as the quick version and the sections below for the detail on each stage.

Four to six weeks out: lock in care

Book the kennel, sitter, or friend first — this is the step with the longest lead time and the most that can go wrong if you wait. Good boarding facilities and independent sitters get booked out around holidays and peak summer weeks, sometimes months ahead. If you're weighing boarding against a sitter against a friend, this is the point to make that call, not the week before.

While you're at it, check whether your chosen option has a vaccine or paperwork requirement with its own lead time — some ask for a Bordetella booster given at least a week or two before drop-off, which means your vet visit needs to happen even earlier.

Two to three weeks out: paperwork and vet updates

This is where most last-minute scrambles start, because paperwork takes longer than people expect.

• Vaccine records — call your vet's office and ask for a printed or emailed copy rather than relying on memory. Confirm what your kennel or sitter specifically requires.
• Microchip and ID tag details — verify the phone number on file is one that works while you're away, not a number that goes to a phone you're taking with you into a dead zone.
• A signed vet authorization — a short letter or form giving your sitter or kennel permission to authorize emergency treatment up to a dollar limit you set. Without this, a vet may have to try to reach you before treating a genuine emergency.
• A boarding or pet-sitting contract — read it. Cancellation policies and what happens if your dog gets sick while you're gone are worth knowing before you're mid-flight.

When your vet can't fit you in

Vet offices book up too, especially right before holidays when everyone else is also trying to get in for a pre-travel checkup. If you call and the soonest appointment is after your departure, don't just skip the step — call your kennel or sitter and ask what they actually require versus what's merely preferred. Many boarding facilities will accept records from a visit within the last year rather than a fresh checkup, as long as core vaccines and Bordetella are current. Some clinics also offer a quicker records-and-vaccine-only visit that's shorter than a full exam and easier to slot in on short notice — ask specifically for that rather than assuming only a full appointment is available. If your dog is overdue for something your kennel requires and there's genuinely no way to get seen in time, ask whether the facility has any flexibility or a policy for exactly this situation — it comes up more often than you'd think, and most have dealt with it before.

One week out: routine, supplies, and the info sheet

Start pulling together what actually travels with your dog or gets left at home for a sitter. See what to pack and how to hand your dog over for the full list, but at minimum:

• Enough of your dog's current food for the whole trip, plus a few extra days in case you're delayed
• Any medication, clearly labeled with dosage and timing
• A written daily routine — feeding times, walk times, quirks, triggers
• Your itinerary and a backup emergency contact who isn't you

Write the routine sheet even for a friend who knows your dog well. Memory is unreliable under the stress of an actual emergency, and a written sheet means anyone — including a vet you've never met — can pick it up and act.

The day before: the final pass

If your dog is a senior or on daily medication

The general timeline above still applies, but a few things deserve extra weight for an older dog or one with a regular prescription:

• Give the sitter or kennel more medical detail than usual — the condition being treated, what a bad day looks like for this specific dog, and what's normal versus worth a call. A senior dog's baseline "a bit slow" is different from a young dog's, and a new sitter won't know the difference unless you spell it out.
• Send more medication than the math says you need. A missed flight home or an extra day away shouldn't mean your dog runs out. A few extra days of buffer costs nothing and prevents a real problem.
• Weigh boarding against an in-home sitter more carefully. A busy kennel environment can be harder on an arthritic dog or one with reduced hearing or vision than a quiet home setting. See boarding vs a pet sitter vs a friend for how to weigh that tradeoff for your specific dog.
• Confirm the caregiver is comfortable giving medication, not just willing. Pills, injections, and eye drops each take a bit of practice, and it's worth a short demonstration before you leave rather than a rushed explanation at drop-off.
• Leave your vet's after-hours or emergency line separately from the regular office number, since a senior or medically managed dog is the one most likely to need it.

None of this needs to be complicated — it mostly means writing down more detail than you would for a young, healthy dog, and choosing the calmer of your options when the choice is close.

Common gaps, and what to do next

Even organized owners tend to skip the same few things. A backup emergency contact besides yourself is the biggest one — if you're unreachable, whoever has your dog needs someone else to call. A copy of your dog's regular food brand and exact portion also gets left out more often than you'd think, and a sudden diet switch is a common cause of stomach upset during a boarding stay. Our Pet Cost Calculator is worth a look too, since boarding and sitting fees vary widely and it helps you budget the trip realistically rather than guessing.

Work backward from your departure date using the timeline above, and don't skip the paperwork steps just because they feel less urgent than packing a bag. A kennel, sitter, or friend with the right documents and a written routine can handle almost anything that comes up — it's the gaps in paperwork, not the gaps in packing, that turn a manageable problem into an emergency you find out about from a voicemail.