Going away? How to plan the box around your trip

You can pause a dog subscription box here by skipping or pausing a month through your account or by contacting us before you leave, so no box sits on an empty porch. Bags you already have stay sealed until you are back, and the next month's box picks up from there.

Should you skip a month before a trip?

If you will be away when a box would land, yes, that is what the option is for. Subscribers can skip or pause a month, and you do it through your account or by contacting us. Our how it works page lists the same route, so you will not have to hunt for it.

This page treats skipping and pausing as one idea, since nothing we have published separates them. If the difference matters to you, a message to us will settle it. What matters is that the month you will miss is marked before the box goes out.

Do it as soon as your travel dates are firm. Waiting until the morning you leave is a gamble for you, not a rule from us, and a few minutes at the kitchen table now is cheaper than a box waiting out a week on the step.

What happens if a box is already on its way?

Then you cannot change the box, and we will not pretend otherwise. What you can do is ask a neighbor, a relative or your sitter to bring it inside and leave it exactly as it arrived.

Tell them the bags stay sealed until you are home. A closed bag is the easiest bag to keep track of. A short note on the box saying "open when we are home" does more good than any set of instructions by text.

If you are not sure whether a box has gone out, contact us and ask. You are asking a question, not filing a form.

What should you do with treats you already opened?

Close them up and put them back where you normally keep them. Our guide to storing a month of treats walks through the habits, and it is worth a read before you leave rather than after.

When you get back, finish the open bag before you open anything else. That keeps the order simple, and nothing sits half used while a fresh bag waits. If a sitter is feeding the dog while you are gone, leave the bag they should use out on the counter and the rest tucked away, so there is no guessing.

Remember what these are. The treats in the box are for intermittent or supplemental feeding, which means they sit beside your dog's regular food and never replace it. A sitter should hear that part too.

What if your dog is coming with you?

Then the box mostly stays home and one bag goes along. Choose a single bag, keep it closed until you need it, and break the pieces into the size you want before you leave. That way the hands-on work happens at your own counter and not in a parking lot or on a hotel bed.

Do not take the whole box. A trip is a good reason to leave most of the month where it lives. If you want a packing list for the road itself, that is a different subject, and we are keeping this one about the box.

The dog does not need a special routine for the trip. A treat in the same spot, handed over the same way, is a familiar thing in a strange room.

Starting a box you can plan around is simple, and the Modified Monthly page shows how the Dog and Cat choice works.

How do you pick back up when you get home?

Do nothing, mostly. If you skipped a month, the next box arrives as a regular box with a new theme and a new lineup. Favorites do return, though the assortment changes, so do not expect last month's bag to turn up again on cue.

Check the skip list while you unpack. If anything changed while you were away, contact us and tell us which pet the change is for, and we will update the proteins to skip. That works at any time, so a trip is not a deadline for it.

Then settle back into the routine you had. One open bag, one spot, the same hand. If you want more ideas for living with a monthly box, the guides hub has the rest of them.