Travel Progeny

My travels with dogs

Kahsha at Mount Baker

This is Kahsha on her third trip with me.  After I got her in StL we flew back to NYC where we lived, drove up to Con­necti­cut for a few days then flew out to Seat­tle and drove up to Mt. Baker.  It was week 2 of our time together.  She was so small that I made her a sweater from a men’s crew sock. (This was before you could get dog bags and cloth­ing for them every­where.)  We trav­eled like this together until I had ES.  She is nearly 11 now and although she loves and is very pro­tec­tive of the kids, she lives in fear.  At 6 lbs she was not durable enough for 4 kids under 4 and has moved into retire­ment, along with my father, and now lives with my par­ents.  She is much hap­pier and much less stressed.  I want her to be happy and she is.

Layla and G sleeping

The kids really wanted a dog. They couldn’t fig­ure out why when­ever we went to my parent’s house Kahsha didn’t want to leave.  I always had one.  So, we let Kahsha stay and got a more sturdy replace­ment.  This is Layla when she was 10 weeks old.  No one loves her more than G & H.  It was a chal­lenge get­ting use to hav­ing a big dog– She’s about 75 lbs now.  She’s can bet­ter stand up to the kids, but they are still get­ting use to stand­ing up to her– she thinks she is just kid #5.   Finally she is learn­ing that although part of the fam­ily, she is still in fact a dog.  Finally, she is learn­ing some man­ners– too bad she did not learn before she chewed up 2 seat belts and the cor­ner of my third row of seat­ing.  But she is great for the kids and the fam­ily and the kids love her– usually.

Trav­el­ing with a small dog is easy.  Kahsha and I went every­where together.  She flew on the plane with me under the seat.  She went to any hotel, restau­rant or store whether dogs were allowed or not. Peo­ple never knew.  She never barked– she just slept in her bag until we got out­side.  What I learned trav­el­ing with her is that peo­ple don’t really pay atten­tion to those around them.  She was the per­fect lit­tle travel companion.

Layla

Layla is not easy to travel with.  There is no sneak­ing her any­where.  It is either the 3rd row of seat­ing of my Honda Pilot, hav­ing a trunk, or Layla.  I des­per­ately need exte­rior cargo space.  I always won­dered who those peo­ple were that had a car that seated 8 and still needed roof stor­age.  Now I know– they are peo­ple with big dogs.  I think I want the Thule 688BXT Atlantis 2100.  Oh, the space I will have– even­tu­ally.   Besides the actual tran­sit issues there is what to do once we get there– find­ing dog friendly accom­mo­da­tions, parks, beaches and activ­i­ties.  It’s annoy­ing.  I can­not believe that so many pub­lic places do not allow dogs.  It makes me sad.  It makes my kids sad.  In a world where so many people’s pets are a part of their fam­i­lies how is that still pos­si­ble?  Thank­fully, unlike when I trav­eled with Kahsha, there a lot of online resources to assist those of us trav­el­ing with our dogs.  I’m adding a few of the links that I find help­ful to the sidebar.