Rental Car With a Dog: The Pickup Counter Kit
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You land, you collect the keys, and the car in bay 14 belongs to somebody else and will be inspected when you bring it back. Meanwhile your dog has never smelled this interior and has no idea why he is in it. Six things handle both halves of that: a cover and a towel for the car, a bed and a bowl for the dog, a treat for the settling in, and bags because a rental lot never has a dispenser.
A borrowed back seat and a dog who did not choose it
Rental agreements vary, and plenty of them say something about pet hair in a way that gets expensive. Our article on rental cars with a dog covers the policy side, the deposits and what to ask at the counter. What follows is the physical kit, the things that mean the car comes back the way it left and the dog stops pacing in the first ten miles. All of our kits are listed on the Bundle Guides hub.
Leave it if you are renting for an afternoon and your dog rides in a crate you brought anyway. The crate does the cleanliness job and the familiarity job at once. Bring the towel and nothing else.
What the car needs and what the dog needs
The 4Knines cover is the whole cleanliness argument. Regular is 54 inches wide and fits cars, trucks and SUVs, the hammock panel closes off the rear footwell, and the cover leaves seat belts and LATCH points reachable, which matters in a car you are not allowed to modify. 4Knines describes a non quilted K9 Shield laminate on the seat bottom that it calls waterproof, with a non slip backing, and notes the seams themselves are not watertight. Black, grey or tan. Take it out and shake it in the lot before you hand back the keys and the seat underneath is the seat they gave you.
The Rubyloo travel bed does the other job. It is ripstop nylon with reinforced stitching, in Small, Medium and Large, and it rolls into its own carry bag so it goes in a checked bag rather than shipping ahead. Rubyloo describes the bed as water resistant and fur resistant, wiped clean by hand or put through a machine wash. In a rental it goes on top of the seat cover. That way the one surface your dog actually lies on is the one he has been lying on all year, in a car that smells of the last four renters.
The Bernal set is the water answer. Wildebeest describes it as two ripstop nylon bowls, one for food and one for water, that pop open in seconds and fold flat into a zippered case, holding 8 cups between them, in Sky Blue or Black. Rigid bowls roll around a trunk you do not own and end up wedged under a seat you will be asked about. These fold into a glovebox.
The shammy towel is the piece people forget until they need it. Rubyloo sells it as a 1 pack or a 2 pack, each towel 34 by 26 inches and trimmable for a smaller dog, used damp rather than dry, wrung out and machine washed for the next time. Rubyloo describes it as absorbent, with Rapid Dry Technology that dries a dog faster than a cotton towel. Wet paw prints on a light interior are the thing an inspection notices, so the towel is the last item you use before the drop off.
Our cheddar bites carry one ingredient and nothing else, freeze dried in small batches in Malvern and packed in a single 8 ounce bag. Crunchy rather than soft, so nothing greasy transfers to a rental's upholstery, and strong enough to pay a dog for getting into a car he has never seen. The waste bags are ours too, leak proof on an easy tear roll, and they go in your pocket at the counter because the walk to the rental lot is usually grass and gravel.
No vacuum and no air freshener
Handheld vacuums show up on every rental checklist for dog owners, and they are the wrong shape for a trip. A vacuum is a bulky object in a bag you already paid to check, and the cover plus the towel do most of what it would have done. We also left out air fresheners and interior sprays. Covering a smell with a stronger smell is how a returned car gets flagged, and a rental you have actually kept clean does not need one.
Counter, drive, drop off
Fit the cover in the lot before the dog goes in, not after. It is a few minutes of work on an empty seat and considerably longer with a dog standing on it.
Put the bed down on top of the cover and let him get in on his own. Lifting a dog into an unfamiliar car starts the trip with a struggle, and most dogs will load themselves for a piece of cheddar.
Towel him at the car, every time, before he gets back in. Damp fur transfers to a headliner and a door card and those are not surfaces you can shake out in a parking lot.
Strip the cover the night before the return and let the seat air out. Doing it at the airport with a flight to catch is how the cover ends up left in the trunk.
What owning it replaces
A detailing charge, obviously, which is the version of this bill nobody budgets for. It also replaces the old blanket most people throw over a rental seat, which slides, bunches and covers the seat belt buckle. The bowl means no paper cup of water balanced on a console. If cheddar is not the right currency for your dog, Explore lets you swap the protein before the trip, and it sorts the rest of our treats by life stage and format too.
Questions about renting with a dog
Do rental companies actually charge for dog hair?
Policies differ by company and by location, which is exactly why the linked article on rental policy is worth five minutes before you book. Ask at the counter rather than guessing. You will usually get a straight answer.
Will the seat cover fit a car I have not seen yet?
Regular at 54 inches covers most sedans and midsize SUVs, which is most of what a rental counter hands out. If you have reserved a full size truck or a three row SUV, the XL is the one to take.
Can I use the towel on the car itself?
You can, though it is sized and shaped for a dog rather than for glass. For paw prints on a door card it works fine used damp. For anything on the paint, use something meant for paint.
How it ships
Four of the six pieces come from three makers, so this is an order to place two weeks out rather than the night before a flight. 4Knines® items are sold and shipped by 4Knines® through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift. That box leaves Oklahoma City. Rubyloo items are sold and shipped by Rubyloo through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift. The bed and the towel both travel under that one. Wildebeest items are sold and shipped by Wildebeest through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift. The cheddar and the bags leave Malvern. Pack the cover and the bed in the same checked bag so neither one gets left behind, and the other road trip kits cover the driving days on either side of the rental.
Related guides
- Pup cup drive through treat kit
- Convertible and open air ride kit
- First Car Ride Puppy Kit: What to Put In It
