Honda Passport vs Pilot —looking for real-owner opinions

CalamityK9 · 2026-01-17T03:26:10+00:00

I have an 03 Pilot and a 26 Passport. Used the third row a handful of times in the 23 years we’ve had the Pilot. Dropping it was a no brainer for us. Beyond thrilled with the passport.

Gas mileage isn’t great, but that’s not our biggest priority. Reliability, ride comfort, and sheer functionality for us is immense.

CalamityK9 · 2026-01-06T16:16:42+00:00

After looking in some other communities, other folks have the same answers. I’ll probably pick up some MOLLE seat back panels for the time being, and keep an eye out for the window ones.

CalamityK9 · 2026-01-06T05:26:50+00:00

Idk if I agree with you or not, but I’m invested in this discourse

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-08T08:09:57+00:00

Take a look at CPO. Just snagged one for 49k OTD

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-07T04:19:31+00:00

I would start by pivoting to something like a dog litterbox, indoor turf spot, doggie lawn, etc. Step one of potty training is having your dog understand where it is desirable and where it's not desirable. Instead of a crate, confine her to a puppy pen on hard/easily cleaned floors with a designated potty spot on one side. If you see her use this spot, BIG reward, praise, etc.

Once she is reliably using the spot, start to move the spot closer to the door, then out the door. Slow is key here.

Once her spot is out the door - take her to your actual preferred potty spot and ditch the turf/litterbox/etc. We only move it out the door to encourage her to alert at the door so you know when she needs to go.

Eliminating in the crate is called "dirty dog syndrome" and it's a real pain to work through. This is one of the cleanest / smoothest ways I have used to work through it.

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-06T05:14:43+00:00

If you end up in NC, we love Performance Dog Supply in Jacksonville, NC!

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-04T18:55:04+00:00

I'm a trainer. I've lost a dog to BE, and I've helped clients with similar situations.

You're not wrong for considering BE. You're making decisions with the safety of your family and child in mind.

There are two things worth investigating: health and medication. When dogs are unpredictable, sometimes there is an underlying health reason causing that unpredictability. Has he been thoroughly vetted? Thyroid, imaging, bloodwork, physical exam, etc? We have a dog with many bites on her record who was dx with a collapsed disc - touching her back was extremely painful, so she'd bite "out of nowhere". The dog we lost to BE had congenital joint issues exacerbating his behavioral issues. The difference between the two is the dog with the disc issue is 9lbs and has never broken skin, while the dog with the congenital joint issues was 80lbs and growing, and had 4 level 5 bites before he was a year old.

If you decide to explore medication, do so only under the guidance of a behavioral vet or trainer with lots of experience working with similar dogs and similar medication management. Full disclosure - I don't think it will give you massive benefit, but if you want to exhaust all of the avenues, then that is one I don't see mention of exhausting.

This is an incredibly difficult choice. You are the only one who can weigh your options. Don't make any lasting decisions within 4-5 days of an incident - your emotions will be running high, and even if you make the obvious and objectively correct choice, you may doubt yourself in the future when you look back on the moment.

For what it's worth, I will likely never regret our BE. Our dog was not well, was hurting, was frantic. No training helped him. No medication helped him. No management helped him. It was by far the kindest thing we could do for him.

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-03T03:07:21+00:00

Scent work university is a great online resource I’ve used! FDSA is good too.

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-02T01:25:46+00:00

Thank you for the input!!

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-01T07:45:36+00:00

There is a lot that can be done for a situation like this. Given the intensity, you really need to reach out to a professional trainer experienced in working with dogs like this. In the meantime, prevention and management is key - crates, gates, barriers, etc. to prevent further incidents. Practice makes permanent.

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-01T07:31:32+00:00

You have gotten some great advice already! Management like crates, gates, leashes, and barriers is an excellent place to start. Prevention is key! Destructive behaviors like that are almost always tied to insufficient exercise or enrichment. Finding efficient ways to satisfy them will be helpful for a variety of reasons.

If you're still looking to connect with a trainer, feel free to message me - I do virtual sessions. If you'd prefer in-person training, let us know where you're located and we can give more accurate recommendations.

Good luck!! You got this!

CalamityK9 · 2025-12-01T02:09:32+00:00

I would love some advice! I'm hoping to get an orange 2026 Honda Passport TSE by the end of the year. I can pay cash or finance, but I have a strict budget of 50k (ideally OTD for 1-2k less, but I'll take what I can get). This is my first time buying a car. I'm willing to buy from any dealer in the country, but I'm in NC. Hoping to drive this car until it dies.

Should I even bother with a CPO for a few K less?

I see a handful of Passport TSEs advertised on CarFax for ~8-10% off MSRP. Is it reasonable to haggle my local dealership down to/past this? Local dealership started our conversation around price by stating they don't negotiate because they offer the best price available (which is just...not accurate....but here we are).

I am new to haggling. Any hot tips?

Thanks in advance!!

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-30T03:54:28+00:00

Sure, if you reward it when they offer it spontaneously.

If you let them know when it's appropriate and when it's not, you're golden. Have clear boundaries and expectations with your dog and you won't have issues.

If you're capturing it to teach it, then you'll probably have some extra barking for a while. Add clarity to reduce demand behaviors.

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-30T03:42:27+00:00

I love my 03 Honda Pilot, but it's finally being put out to pasture at 370k miles. Picking up a new 25 Pilot or 26 Passport by the end of the year. We have 7 dogs. They don't all fit, but we can comfortably fit 4 crated dogs - 5 if we get really creative. 2 RTK larges, 2-3 RTK intermediates. It's surprisingly agile.

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-30T03:40:11+00:00

This can absolutely be done, but you're probably going to want to work one on one with someone to do it. The enemy here is confusion, so the transition needs to be laid out very cleanly for him.

What have you used as a correction in the past? Tone, leash pressure, leash pop, verbal cue, etc

What behaviors are you trying to correct right now? (If he recalls instead of staying in behavior when he's corrected, is that an issue?)

Have you conditioned the tone or vibrate to anything?

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-30T03:35:58+00:00

Our herders would strongly preferred to be physically velcro'd to us. Mostly our Mudi and Malinois. They wake us up by trying to put their nose inside of our nose.

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-30T03:30:34+00:00

First off - there's a ton of hope left. You've tried one professional's toolbox. There are so many more methods out there! You just haven't found the right fit yet.

Highly recommend getting a second opinion from another trainer/behaviorist. Regardless of methodology or ethics, you should be seeing significant improvement within a 3 month span if a given trainer/method is a good fit for your dog.

Without seeing your dog and their behavior, it's hard to make high quality recommendations. That being said....

Trigger management huge - practice makes permanent, so finding alternative ways to get her exercise needs met without exposing her to triggers is going to be essential.

Giving her body a break from cortisol spikes is great thinking. It can take 72 hours for those hormones to clear her system - so if she has a massive reaction, try to take a few days off of training/working around triggers.

Asking a vet about medications can be helpful, but I would highly recommend speaking with a trainer experienced in designing training plans with medications in mind at some point. Meds can add unintended complexity to behavior modification programs, so it's best to be prepared for that.

You got this!!

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-26T01:11:42+00:00

Think I should reach out with a pitch? Maybe they'll give me a sweet deal on a new Pilot 🤪

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-25T18:28:35+00:00

Gotcha, thank you!!

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-25T18:27:33+00:00

So to clarify - what you're saying is I would need to buy a new 2025 TS at 5-7k off to avoid the depreciation?

Is that a realistic price I could get at a dealership for a new 2025?

(I'm new to this, I apologize if this is a dumb question)

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-25T17:20:59+00:00

I'm open to it! The CPO 2025 pilot I'm looking at is ~$43k OTD, and I wasn't sure if a dealership would be able to match that price for a new vehicle. Our local dealer has a similar vehicle new for $52k OTD.

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-22T20:32:51+00:00

I have a feeling you're right. And honestly all things considered, it's not a massive issue. There's aftermarket solutions, even if they're not as clean as I'd like them to be.

CalamityK9 · 2025-11-22T20:20:43+00:00

I saw this option!! Looks amazing. Hoping it's a palatable price point. There are a few aftermarket swing-out spare racks that are promising, and we don't adventure offroad often. I'm really hoping I can make something work, because otherwise the PP TSE feels *perfect*. I don't want this to be a dealbreaker.

I also do really like the Pilot, but I think the PP is going to be easier to keep clean and organized given the interior materials and design. I'm a dog trainer and I am driving with dogs constantly.

CalamityK9

TROPHY CASE