Dog Packing List: What To Pack For An Overnight Stay With Your Dog

When we started planning for our dog friendly Orlando hotel visit to The Alfond Inn, I immediately started thinking of everything we would need to pack for our dogs, Diesel and Annie! We had taken Diesel to a dog-friendly Tampa hotel years ago but since it had been a while, I went to Google to make sure there wasn’t any other helpful items that I thought would be good to have, a part from the basics!

In this post I’ll share what I brought to our dog friendly hotel stay, including helpful packing tips like how to pack your dog’s supplements and more!

Step 1: Get A Pet Travel Organizer Bag

Before you start packing, you need something to put all of their items in! One of the best things I’ve ever done was getting a pet travel organizer bag for my dogs! My favorite brand of dog travel bags is Mobile Dog Gear! They have so many different kinds and sizes of pet travel organizer bags that you can really find one that has the perfect amount of storage that you need.

In this post, I feature Mobile Dog Gear’s Week Away Dog Travel Bag. My favorite part of this pet travel bag is the removable divider in the middle, which can be super helpful when packing for two dogs, or when you just want to organize everything into sections! Learn more about this dog travel bag and two other pet travel organizer bags in my review below.

Read The Post: 3 Pet Travel Organizer Bags That Make Traveling With A Dog Easier

Step 2: Pack Enough Dog Food

The first item on my dog packing list is your dog’s food. Whether you’re planning an overnight stay with your dog at a dog-friendly hotel or a road trip with your dog, I always recommend packing at least 2-3 days worth of extra food in case of an emergency. Luckily, in the dog travel bag featured in this post, it comes with two lined containers that you can easily store 15 cups of food each (even more for small dog food!).

Step 3: Pack Your Dog’s Supplements & Medications

The next items on my dog packing list are your dog’s supplements & medications. Whenever you go on a trip, you always pack your own personal medications right? Same with your dog! Below are the supplements Annie and Diesel are on and my pro tips for packing them!

ProDen PlaqueOff® Powder (dog dental supplement)
- I always recommend everyone getting the 60g size bottle when first trying out the ProDen PlaqueOff® Powder. Not only does this allow you to try it out at a lower investment, but, here’s my dog travel pro tip: Save the bottle! This size bottle is equivalent to a small Tylenol bottle, which makes it the perfect travel size! Measure out the amount you’ll need, pack a scoop and leave your larger size at home! This also allows you to immediately use your larger size when you get home without having to worry about unpacking everything for your dog!
- P.S. Want to learn more about dog dental care and this natural dog dental supplement? Check out my full review of the ProDen PlaqueOff® Powder!
Pet Honesty Fish Oil (for joints & coat)
- I have small Rubbermaid containers that you would use for salad dressings and I pre-pump out their fish oil into those. Super easy and they wash up great in the dishwasher (no lingering fish oil smell, ha!).
Nutramax Dasuquin With MSM Soft Joint Chews (Diesel only)
- These are slightly bigger than a Hershey’s Kiss, so I either use small containers or a Ziploc bag. His joint chews come in an air tight bag, so I make sure to replicate that.
- P.S. I did a full review of these Nutramax Dasuquin With MSM Soft Chews Joint Aid For Dogs. Check it out!

Plus, this dog travel bag has a helpful zipper section at the top which is the perfect place for your dog’s supplements and an extra roll of dog poop bags as shown below! Pro Tip: When packing your dog’s medications, use a weekly plastic pill container like we use for our own. This will help you stay on track and ensure that your dog is given what they need each day!

Step 3: Pack A Dog Toy (or two!)

Our trip to the dog-friendly Orlando hotel, The Alfond Inn, was Annie’s first hotel stay ever. If your dog is newer to travel and overnight stays in a new place, I highly recommend bringing some toys from home!

I brought two dog enrichment toys, a Classic KONG and West Paw Toppl and one of their favorite dog chew toys, the Nylabone Pro Action Dental Power Chew. All of these provide great distractions for your dog when needed, and you could use them to serve your dog’s food, add some treats (see step 4), or you can pack a small container of dog safe peanut butter to fill them. Licking is a great way for dog’s to relax and reduce stress, which can be helpful in new environments!

Step 4: Pack Your Dog’s Favorite Treats

A super important item on your dog packing list is your dog’s favorite treats. Annie and Diesel LOVE all of their air dried dog treats from Plato Pet Treats, so I immediately knew they would be perfect.

Packing your dog’s favorite treats can be super helpful when traveling with your dog. They can be used to:

Reward your dog for positive behavior (in a new environment)
Refocus their attention on you when they get nervous
Add an extra treat during the trip (it is a vacation after all!)

Annie can get super anxious, so I always carried treats with me at all times. When walking through the downtown area, I would constantly reward her with treats as we walked by people, after outings to dog-friendly restaurants and whenever I needed to refocus her attention back on me if I felt her tensing up.

P.S. Check out my full review of Plato Pet Treats Air Dried Dog Treats!

Step 5: Pack Helpful Items From Home

The next three items on my dog packing list are the Dirty Dog Shammy Towel, a bed top sheet & a lint roller. Now, not all of these are necessary or needed by everyone, but below are a few helpful tips on why you may or may not want to bring them!

Dirty Dog Shammy Towel
- If you know you’re going somewhere wet, or if some unexpected rain is in the forecast, this dog drying towel comes in handy! You can use it to dry their paws before entering your dog friendly hotel or dog friendly Air BnB, or if you plan to enjoy any fun outdoor adventures or activities, you’re ready to go!
- P.S. Check out my review of the Dirty Dog Shammy Microfiber Dog Towel here!
Bed Top Sheet
- I actually learned this tip from a friend! I’ll be honest, I packed this and totally forgot to use it during our dog friendly hotel stay, ha! But, many people recommend bringing a bed top sheet with you to put on top of the bed if your dog sleeps with you (mine do!) to bring some smells from home and/or to prevent added mess on the bed sheets.
- Every hotel though does cleaning and many dog-friendly hotels have a cleaning fee anyways, so this one’s really up to you!
Lint Roller
- Every dog mom has a lint roller! Whether it’s in your purse, glove compartment of your car or somewhere. For our trip, I knew we would be going out with the pups to dog-friendly restaurants and exploring the town. Since this was our real first travel outing since before Covid began, I really wanted to look nice, ha! Enough said!

Step 6: Pack Your Dog First Aid Kit

The last item on my dog packing list is a dog first aid kit! I reviewed the ARCA Pet Dog First Aid kit and a year later I still think it’s one of the best dog first aid kits out there!

No matter where you’re going, a super remote area or around town, having a dog first aid kit packed is always a good idea. This specific dog first aid kit comes with a smaller bag that you can use to pack must-have dog first aid supplies.

What do you think? Are you ready to plan a dog-friendly trip with your dog? I hope so! Traveling with my dogs has been so much fun and with these helpful tips, I hope everyone can plan some amazing trips with their pups!

What’s on your dog packing list? Do you include anything else that you love to travel with? Share with me in the comments below.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out more posts about dog friendly travel and dog travel accessories and gear like:

Photography: Kate Kelley Collection