Summer Dog Treats Road Trip Kit for the Glovebox
Ella rides in the Camaro all summer, and our summer dog treats road trip kit lives right in the glovebox: freeze-dried, single ingredient, and unbothered by a warm afternoon in the car. Most of our weekends from June through August end up built around a drive somewhere, whether that is a car show two towns over or a lake an hour out, and the treat kit has to keep up with whatever the day turns into.
What goes in the pouch
We keep it simple. A Treat Pouch Trio: Beef Liver, Heart and Sardines covers three flavors in one bag, so there is always something in the pouch by the time we hit the second stop. Add a bag of Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Dog Treats for the days Ella wants something different, and a Beef Liver 3-Pack for the drives that run long. Every one of these is freeze-dried in small batches, and every one is a single ingredient, so the ingredient list on the road trip stash matches the ingredient list at home. We rotate flavors mostly so Ella does not get bored on a longer drive, not because any one of them needs a break from being eaten. For the full lineup we rotate through, our freeze-dried dog treats collection is where we restock before a long weekend, usually the same week we are loading everything else into the trunk.
Freeze Dried Means No Melting
The reason we reach for freeze-dried on a road trip has nothing to do with flavor and everything to do with the glovebox. A soft treat left in a warm car for an afternoon turns into something you would rather not hand your dog, and a bag that has gone soft in a cupholder is not something we want Ella eating anyway. Freeze-dried treats keep their shape and their texture whether the stop was five minutes or the whole afternoon, which is the entire point of a car culture treat kitchen: the treats have to survive the same conditions the car does, gravel lots and all. That said, the treats surviving a warm car and a dog surviving a warm car are two different questions, and only one of them is worth writing about here. Never leave a dog in a parked vehicle unsupervised. That single rule matters more than any ingredient list, and it applies at every stop on the trip, from the gas station to the overlook we pulled off at for photos. We plan our stops around it rather than the other way around, which usually just means bringing Ella along instead of running in alone. Our trail and travel page has more on how we set the Camaro up for long stretches with Ella riding along, including how we plan where we stop and for how long.
Packing the Car for the Weekend
Beyond the pouch, a road trip kit is mostly about keeping the back seat usable after a long stretch of miles. A Tire Stack Poop Bag Holder clips onto a leash or a bag and refills easily, so it is one less thing to dig for at a rest stop, and it rides on Ella's leash the whole trip instead of getting buried in a glove box or door pocket. For the seat itself, we point people toward the dog car seat covers shipped by 4Knines, which cover the kind of gravel-lot, muddy-paw mess that comes with every stop we make for photos. Between the seat cover and the pouch, most of what a summer drive throws at the car is handled before it becomes a problem, and we spend a lot less time cleaning the Camaro out after a weekend than we used to. Our full road trip essentials collection has the rest of what usually ends up living in the trunk for the season, restocked the same way we restock the treat pouch. Before a longer weekend we also check the dog-friendly car events board for what is happening wherever we are headed, since these trips usually get planned around whatever show is closest.
From the shop
Treat Pouch Trio: Beef Liver, Heart and Sardines, Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Dog Treats, and Tire Stack Poop Bag Holder come from our kitchen and workshop. The dog car seat covers are shipped by 4Knines.
Questions
Do freeze-dried treats need to be kept cold in the car?
No. That is the point of freeze-dried: the treats are shelf stable at room temperature, which is why they end up in the glovebox instead of a cooler. It also means we do not have to plan a stop around finding ice on a hot afternoon, since the treats do not need it in the first place.
What if the pouch runs out halfway through the trip?
We keep a backup bag in the trunk instead of just the glovebox for exactly this reason, so a long weekend never turns into a treat-less afternoon. It is a small thing to plan for, but it is the one that actually comes up on longer drives.
How many treats should we pack for a weekend trip?
We do not have a fixed number since every dog and every trip is different. We just make sure the pouch gets refilled before we leave rather than after we notice it is empty, which usually means checking it the night before along with everything else going in the trunk.
For more of how a treat kitchen and a car show habit fit together, see Explore.
