After suffering a whitewash in the 1985 championship, Scotland made a number of changes to the side in 1986, which resulted in Dods losing his place to Gavin Hastings. Hastings would keep him out of the international side for most of the rest of his career, although he did play throughout the 1989 Five Nations and his performances won him a call up to the British and Irish Lions' tour of Australia that summer. He played in five matches on the tour, scoring a total of 66 points, although he was not selected for any of the tests. In 1988 Dods captained a Scotland touring team to Zimbabwe which won all its five matches, although the two internationals were not given full cap status by Scotland.