Driving or Taking the Train With Your Dog

Driving is the simplest way to bring a dog of any size to Fort Lauderdale, and Florida's Turnpike has a fenced dog park at each of its eight service plazas. By rail, Brightline takes a dog or cat in a small carrier from Orlando and up and down the coast, and Amtrak takes small pets on trips of up to seven hours. Everything here was checked in September 2026.

I-95 or Florida's Turnpike

• Florida's Turnpike runs from Wildwood, through Orlando, to Miami, and it is cashless: SunPass, E-ZPass and several other transponders work, and without one a Toll-By-Plate bill comes by mail. Its eight service plazas, roughly 40 miles apart and open around the clock, each have an enclosed dog park with water: Okahumpka (milepost 299), Turkey Lake (263), Canoe Creek (229), Fort Drum (184), Port St. Lucie/Fort Pierce (144), West Palm Beach (94), Pompano Beach (65) and Snapper Creek (19).
• I-95 follows the coast from Georgia to Miami and runs closer to the house; around Fort Lauderdale and Miami, only its express lanes charge tolls. The state's interstate rest areas are open 24 hours and have dog walk areas with clean-up bags; dogs stay on a leash unless the rest area has a fenced dog park.

Florida's rules for state rest areas limit parking to three hours, require a leash or crate outside fenced exercise areas, and keep pets other than service animals out of the buildings. With two drivers, take turns: one walks the dog while the other goes inside.

Never leave the dog in the parked car

The American Veterinary Medical Association puts numbers on it: the inside of a parked car can warm about 20 degrees Fahrenheit in 10 minutes and more than 40 degrees in an hour, so a 70-degree day can mean more than 110 degrees inside. Shade and cracked windows don't change that. The AVMA's rule is never to leave a pet alone in a parked vehicle, whatever the temperature and however short the stop.

The AVMA also wants pets restrained on the road: a crash-tested harness that works with the seat belt, or a crate big enough to stand up, turn around and lie down in, secured near the center of the vehicle. A loose pet can get under the pedals or be hurt by an airbag, and a head out the window invites injuries from flying debris.

What Florida law says

Two Florida statutes are worth knowing before a summer drive:

• Section 828.13 makes it a first-degree misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $5,000, to confine an animal without enough food and water, or to keep an animal in an enclosure "without wholesome exercise and change of air."
• Section 768.139, passed in 2016, protects a person who breaks into a car to rescue a vulnerable person or a domestic animal, such as a dog or cat, from being sued for the damage. The rescuer must see that the car is locked or there is no reasonable way out; believe in good faith that the animal is in imminent danger of harm; make sure police are notified or 911 is called before going in or right after; use no more force than needed; and stay with the animal, somewhere safe near the car, until police or another first responder arrives.

Taking the train

Rail options into Fort Lauderdale and their pet rules, from each railroad's own pages in September 2026.

On Brightline, add the pet to your booking at least 10 minutes before departure; it stays in the carrier past security and on board, and it can't travel as checked baggage. There is a pet relief area outside the Fort Lauderdale station, which is about 2 miles from the house. More on the station is in our airport and Brightline guide.

Amtrak's seven-hour cap counts transfers. On the current timetables, Orlando on the Silver Meteor and Tampa on the Floridian are each about five hours from Fort Lauderdale, but Jacksonville is more than eight, so a pet can't ride the whole way from the Northeast or Chicago. Coming from Central Florida? See Fort Lauderdale from Orlando.

Arriving at the house

Self check-in with a keypad starts at 4:00 pm. The fully fenced backyard, roughly 3,000 sq ft with a private entrance and new artificial turf, is the place to let the dog out after the drive, and the outdoor shower handles a sandy or muddy dog. The pool is for people, so hose the dog down with the outdoor shower instead. Tell us about your pet (how many, what kind) when you book, and ask us about pet terms. For the first walk, see dog walks near the nest; for heat and wildlife, read keeping your dog safe in South Florida. Flying instead? See flying into Fort Lauderdale with a pet.

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