We Now Have A Dog (Miniature Schnauzer) Changes In Our Timeshare Lifestyle.

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

We knew going into buying a dog that it would change our way of using our timeshares. We own at The Beach Club at St. Augustine which doesn't allow Pets. We had plan to use all 6 weeks in our retirement years before getting Maddie. I am still working, but the time is near for retirement.

So for this year we found a Condo that allows pets and we will be renting it for a month during the last 2 weeks in March and 1st 2 weeks in April. I will either rent or spacebank these weeks with RCI and/or II within the next 2 weeks.

We will be driving from Wisconsin to Florida with our Schnauzer (Maddie) in March and April 2013. She is 13 weeks old this week. And she will weight 14lbs max, as an adult dog.

I have several questions for you.

1) How many miles should we plan on driving with Maddie per day on our way to Florida? In the past we have made the 1200 mile trip in 1 1/2 days.

2) What are the best pet friendly Motels to stay at on the way down to Florida?

3) Do you know of any Florida Timeshare Resorts that are Pet Friendly?

Is Maddie worth this Lifestyle Change? The answer Is YES!

Walt

This is Maddie


[IMG]www.http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e83/tennisWalt/IMG_0748a.jpg?t=1346593252[/IMG]

[Laurie Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Laurie]

We've been staying at Red Roof Inn when traveling with our dog - cheap, no extra pet fee, and so far so good as far as clean and hassle-free. Not the swankiest, but serves the purpose when we need it.
http://www.redroof.com/local_events_.../pet_friendly/

We would *love* there to be more pet-friendly timeshares which would offer designated rooms for pet-families. There's one in St. Augustine that trades thru II, Townhouses at St. Augustine, you could look into that one...

edited to add: Caribe Beach resort on Sanibel allows small pets too.

[SOS8260456 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close SOS8260456]

Oh, she is adorable!

We currently don't travel with our dogs. We have two, a 13 year old 40 lb sheltie and we just recently adopted a 10 lb jack russel mutt (was told it was a pure bred but she is pure black and the vet said there is no such thing as a pure bred black jack russel). My plan is that once the older dog is no longer with us, I would like to be able to take the younger dog. She is pretty good, although when startled she will bark up a storm, so I have to figure out how to deal with that. She is used to the crate though I don't use it often. I won't bring her now because I would rather the two be boarded together rather than leaving one all by themselves.

I look forward to reading all the advise.

Lisa from PA

[PHILL12 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PHILL12]

We also have a Sheltie about nine years old and we never would try and take him to a timeshare. He is happy staying home knowing we will return! Every time we go I get ticked off because we have to pay house sitter or dog feeder to take care of him. This last week in Lake Tahoe and we had to spend $150 just for the dog. Our trip to Dallas for dd's wedding cost us $350 while we sent the honeymooners to Maui we baby sit their dog and cat and house free.

People that love to traval should think twice about timesharing. I have seen couple resorts over the years that take dogs and we wouldn't stay in one. This wouldn't be a vacation because like at home we would spend time taking care of the dog.

[jackio Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close jackio]

She is beautiful! We don't take our 10 lb Havanee/poodle with us when we travel, but then again we don't go for a month at a time either.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Schnauzers are nice dogs. Our relatively new rescued cat has kept us from going more than a week at a time for the past couple of years, but I don't think she would be happy anywhere but home (she's now an indoor cat--by choice).

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Congratulations on the new addition! She's a pretty girl.

I love all animals but my job and then my choice to travel often limits me to cats. They have a large on demand water fountain and dry food dispenser which can go for up to a week. Yes they like their wet food but they won't die without it. My friend checks up on them a couple of times while I'm gone. In return I dog-sit when she goes away.

Walt, I'd plan on stopping every 4 hours for a stretch and a potty break.

Your new pet reminds me that we haven't seen vintner around lately. Where'd he get to?

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Congrats, she's so cute!! Ever since I've got my two dogs, it has cost me a fortune in either boarding or house sitting fees. That's one reason I don't travel as much but I love my Monkey & Mater.!!! shaggy

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

There are a few pet friendly TS's in Orlando.
Some of the westgate units are and there is another resort in Orlando.
I think it's Celebration world.

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

I'm starting to feel like I don't want to go anywhere without at least one of my animals. There are times when I have to, though.

As far as places which are driving distance, I've been looking for boarding places near the timeshares. I'm probably better off just using the pet sitter, but I really miss my pets.

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

Our first long trip with our dog “Maddie” age 10 months old. March 14th to April 14, 2013.

We live near Milwaukee Wisconsin, in a city called Brookfield. Since our timeshare resort, (The Beach Club at St. Augustine) doesn’t allow dog, we made plans to spend a month in St Augustine Beach at a Resort called Ocean Village Club. This is one of a few resorts that allow pets in St Augustine. We rented from Vacation Rental Pros.

http://www.vacationrentalpros.com/fl...augustine_psv/

We stayed in this Condo Unit. O14 Ocean Village Club. it was a very nice unit that is located in the first building next to the Ocean.

http://www.vacationrentalpros.com/pr...new-1212-47836

We did own 7 weeks at The Beach Club at St. Augustine but they will not allow any pets there. (I just sold 6 of the weeks while in St. Augustine and we will keep the 7th week.)

http://vacationfla.com/bchclub.htm

We drove from Brookfield to St Augustine Beach by going to Rockford, IL. It adds about 40 miles to the trip but then we don't have to drive through Chicago. The roads are better and the traffic is much less. We drove about 500 miles to Paducah Kentucky for our first stop. We stayed at the Drury Inn and Suites. This is a pet friendly hotel chain that I would highly recommend.

https://wwwc.druryhotels.com/PropertyList.aspx

We drove another 500 miles to Macon, GA on the 2nd day and we stayed the night at the La Quinta Motel in Macon. Again with was a very nice place to stay with or without a pet.

http://www.lq.com/lq/properties/prop...srch=1&sissr=1

The next day we drove another 4 hours to St. Augustine Beach.

http://www.floridashistoriccoast.com...FcdU4AodC1QA_g

Maddie was a very good dog going down and coming back from St Augustine. She barked once on the way down and once on the way back to go potty. We stopped between 3 and 4 hours to get gas and eat and we walked her around each time we stopped.

We have been going to St Augustine Beach for over 15 years and love the Beach for walking with and without the dog, plus riding our bikes on the beach. I also love playing tennis at Atlantic Beach and Tennis Club.

http://www.tennisround.com/tennis-co...nd-tennis-club

The old town of the city of St Augustine is like an European old town and seems to be getting better each year with great Restaurants many of which are Dog Friendly.

http://www.oldcity.com/

http://www.bringfido.com/restaurant/...ularity&page=1

2 of our favorite Restaurants are La Pentola and Harry's Restaurants that also happen to be Dog Friendly.

I would consider the La Pentola Restaurant a Gourmet

http://www.lapentolarestaurant.com/

https://hookedonharrys.com/locations/st-augustine/

We found that having Maddie with us made our vacation special because of the many other dog lovers we met in St Augustine.

Since I started this Thread I have decided to retire and we will be spending all of March and at least the first 2 weeks of April at the Ocean Village Club. We also will be spending the first 2 weeks in Feb. at the Vacation Village Parkway in Orlando and Westgate Lakes Resort in Orlando. The last 2 week in Feb. we will be at Vacation Village at Bonaventure.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Sounds fantastic!!! I'm sorry your t/s in St Augustine didn't end up working out, but that doggie is adorable and obviously worth it!!!

[VegasBella Member Find all posts View Profile Close VegasBella]

Congrats!

We bring our pets on some vacations and not on others. Just depends. I'm actually on vacation right now with pets

We have trouble finding reliable care- givers. One of our animals needs medication twice a day. It's really easy to give her the pills but our experience with pet sitters has not been good. They are often flaky and don't listen to instructions, etc. So we prefer to board our pets when we go out of town. That way there's just more oversight.

I do wish more timeshares were pet-friendly, although it is less stressful to vacation without them. One thing I think we will do more often is to bring them with us but board them at our destination. This way we can visit them regularly and if something happens we will be right there.

Sorry I can't give any recommendations for anything on the east coast.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

Congratulations on the new addition! She's a pretty girl.

Your new pet reminds me that we haven't seen vintner around lately. Where'd he get to?

Mostly lurking mode.

Steffi is now 13-1/2 year old. Overall, she has been a wonderful dog (but there have been times...). Her age is catching up with her.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

We knew going into buying a dog that it would change our way of using our timeshares.

Do what we did, buy a Florida home for your dog. Ours loves it.
- - - - - -
Of course, you'll still be stuck with 6 weeks of timeshare, exactly what we have.