Traveling in Mexico With A Dog and Laska the Siberian Husky Misbehaving in San Blas
What's it like to have a dog while traveling through Mexico? How difficult is it? What kind of considerations and sacrifices need to be made?
We had a lot of questions before traveling through Mexico with a dog—specifically a Siberian Husky. Is it hard to get across the border? Is it tough to find dog-friendly lodging? What kind of troubles will we encounter because we have a dog? So many questions!
Traveling by bus
Before coming to Mexico, we were considering traveling without our own vehicle and taking busses from city to city instead. But after some research, we found out that it's not really a viable option. Although Mexico has a great bus system, it is not at all pet-friendly. If we brought Laska, we'd be forced to put her under the bus with the luggage. There'd be no ventilation and significant diesel fumes, plus it gets really hot down there since it's just above the scorching pavement. It's no place for a living animal.
Crossing the border
Our next item on the agenda was figuring out how to get her across the border. It turned out to be a pretty easy process. Her shots had to be up to date and we needed a health certificate from our vet. The Mexican border patrol briefly looked over our paperwork as we drove across the border and they let us go without much hassle.
Finding pet-friendly accommodations
We also wondered, how difficult will it be to find a pet-friendly place to stay? We don't have a big vehicle or a camper where we can spend the night. We have the bare essentials and a small car, so we need a place to call home each night.
Having a dog does limit our options quite a bit. We are typically paying more per night than we otherwise would if traveling alone. However, Airbnb has made it really easy for us to find nice, affordable places to stay. There have been just a couple nights when we had to pay a little more than our budget allowed.
New to Airbnb? Get a $40 travel credit when you sign up!
Laska hasn't made nearly as many appearances in our videos as we thought she would, but when she does, she steals the show. We've had no shortage of requests to include her in more videos, so this one is all about her!
In the video below, you'll see some sights of San Blas and the trouble Laska gets into as we spend the day taking her around town.
We use this action cam to shoot our videos.
Check out @wadepaterson's 20 Questions with TangerineTravels.
@sharingeverybite (Maddie)
@shenanigator (Jordan)
(and Laska the Siberian Husky)
Laksa is truly enjoying her day in San Blas. ^^ I'm terrified with dogs, not sure if I mentioned that. Is it heavy when you pull her at a different direction?
Off topic: I've been eying that action Cam are you using something to keep it stabilize and are using the cam's mic or you your using something else for it? ^^
Laska is really strong, so it can jolt us a bit when she pulls in a different direction, but we've gotten used to it and figured out body movements to lessen the jolt.
One of our favorite things about the Sony FDR-X3000 that we're using is its self-stabilizing feature. We don’t use any stabilizer or do any stabilizing effects in our editing. The camera does it all for us.
Although the Sony cam is pretty great, the worst part is the microphone. It often picks up a lot of wind noise. All of our videos so far have been shot using the camera’s mic, but we’d like to get an external mic to get rid of the wind noise. Unlike a lot of action cams, you can use an external mic with this one, which is nice.
The GoPro also has similar wind issues, at least up through their HERO5 model, but you can’t use an external mic with the GoPro. They finally made their mic much better with wind in their HERO6 cam.
That's good to hear, she looks pretty strong!
Thanks for the info! I've been eyeing that cam and I'm pretty much very loyal to Sony, when it comes to camera! I'm not fond of the Hero cameras though. I was quite fascinated with HERO for a bit but if I'd buy an action cam Sony would be a good option. Thanks for the mic info! ♥
Hahahahaha. Laska really have lovely eyes i must say. Kinda rare.
She is really playful and with so much energy and strength. Very effective and smart too. Really nice that you have been blessed with easy ride while going with her and Airbnb has been cool too. See the expression on the face of that man when he saw Laska. Hahahahaha. Really beautiful a dog. She sure had fun and thank you for including her. Super active. I like her.
She's cute enough to get away with her shenanigans and smart enough to be a pain in the ass :)
Hahaha his face! I didn't notice that before.
Jordan
Hahahahahaha pain in the ass. I can imagine. Her beauty will always stand in good stead for her. Who wouldn't love her.
Haha, looks like Laska had a great time. One question though, in your travels have you had some problems when walking Laska running into stray dogs?
Also, have you guys decided where are you going next?
We try to avoid walking her in areas with a lot of stray dogs. We haven't had any problems yet, but we try to stay aware and are ready to clap loudly and yell at any dogs to might cause trouble - that seems to keep other dogs away.
We arrived in Guadalajara a couple of days ago. After this, it's Lake Chapala where we were offered to stay a few nights for free at someone's house, then we're going to Guanajuato.
I've heard it's a lot more difficult to get a dog across the border, back into the USA, that it is to get one from the USA into Mexico.
That's what we've heard as well. But with the proper documentation, I don't think there will be any issues.
I wish you the best of luck!
I’m delighted to read this and proud that you have considered your dog. It’s easier to not take it but Everything worthwhile in life takes a little bit more effort
The smallest dog on record was a matchbox-size Yorkshire Terrier. It was 2.5" tall at the shoulder, 3.5" from nose tip to tail, and weighed only 4 ounces.
All these love and care for a dog??? Hahahahahahha amazing
it is so good
@tangerinetravels Great! Greetings from Venezuela
Thank for share wonderful post. I appreciate that @tangerinetravels (♥)