Act 19: My Vacations are Going to the Dogs...

For a long 4th of July weekend (and because I needed to go somewhere that is even hotter) Steve and I took a road trip to Georgia to visit my parents.  I've done this drive two or three times before, but this time we had a little company... DOGS!  Steve's 3.5 year old Siberian Husky Satchmo and my almost 3 year old German Shepherd Dean :-)  I've never traveled with dogs before, except bringing them home or driving 20 minutes to the dog park, so we were all in for a new experience.  Through the kindness of Steve's mom, we got to drive her Ford Flex down to Georgia.  This meant we could fold down the third seat and the boys had plenty of room to stand, sit, lay, and move around.  Much better than being in my tiny car!  I've never seen a reason for me to have anything larger than a little car since I don't have kids right now but if I ever needed a reason, this would be it.  It worked out SO well.

I was excited about the trip, but I also had some serious reservations about how it would go since so much was going to be new for the dogs (and the humans).  As I mentioned before, they don't do more than 20 minutes stints in the car.  This was 15 hours!  But they were angels!  They just laid down in the back and stared out the window or slept.  Couldn't have been better.  I was a little worried about the leash too... let's face it, the fenced-in back yard has spoiled me.  I don't walk the dogs.  And when I do they go crazy and pull me all over the road.  Not fun for anyone.  I was hoping this trip would be like a leash boot camp that would whip them into shape.  1 point for me!   The boys took to the leashes wonderfully.  The pulling was far less than at home, possibly because they didn't know what in the world was going on.  It was soooo much fun to take them on walks with my mom and sister :)

At my parent's house they got along well with my sister's chocolate lab and were very well behaved.  Moreso than at home actually!  They had plush toys (usually off limits) on the trip that went 5 days without being torn up.  This is a world record for these guys.  First day back home though?  Two of those same toy, dead.  Stuffing everywhere.  Apparently when things are different from the everyday routine, the boys are on their best behavior.  I'm not opposed to this.  Makes me more willing to take them places!  They even got to go on my parent's boat and had a blast sticking their heads out in the wind and watching the wake.  Turns out though, they're not exactly swimmers.  They can if they have to, but they need a push off the dock first :-P

The rest of the trip included golfing, more boating, and LOTS of card games with the family.  It went so well that I'm hoping to make the same trip every couple of years, dogs included.  I might even consider taking the dogs on other trips with me... but that would depend on whether I could find a hotel that would allow 2 big dogs, weighing 65 and 78 lbs, in one room with me.  Might be a tough find!

The boys were tuckered out after a morning on the lake!