Tag: traveling
You know what’s great for traveling with a dog? A dog hammock car seat cover. It drapes over the rear seats, so your dog can sit back there without falling into the foot-space below the seats. These covers are also generally water-proof (for potentially wet accidents) and washable (for those same accidents).
They work better in sedans and SUVs though. I have a two-seater with small rear seats. The dog hammock seat cover just barely covers those rear seats. If Mocha’s not careful, he can still slide into the bottom foot-spaces. Or, if I’m not careful and stop short. Fortunately, whenever that happens, Mocha just gives me a goofy look, then returns to the seat. Good ole’ resilient boy.
Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof.
Woof woof bark! Bark! Bark bark bark!
Translated from Dog:
I love playing a game of Hide the Ball. Especially in hotel rooms. Although sometimes the ball rolls out from under the bed, where Mommy and Daddy can get it.
Which means I have to scramble out and get it back, quick! Ahhh! Must get the ball back quick!
Back home, we never let Mocha on the furniture. He abides by those rules faithfully.
When we’re out and about, we don’t let him on the furniture either. He abides similarly.
But this weekend, we decided to spoil him a bit. We let him climb onto the hotel bed. And joy of joys, he loved it. He nestled right between us and fell asleep straight away. It was like having a furry, stinky baby next to us.
Fortunately, he didn’t pick up this habit. Once back home, he didn’t even try to get on our bed.
Good boy! I hope you enjoyed this little splurge!
This past weekend, we took Mocha up to San Francisco and went for a nice run in Golden Gate Park. The little boy loved it. Especially the off-leash area, though the sounds of the city put him on alert a few times.
I guess Mocha’s a country boy at heart; the noisy city just ain’t for him!
Mocha has been a bit of a difficult dog ever since we left him in a kennel. We’re not entirely sure if it’s the kennel’s fault – they have a good reputation amongst other dog owners in the area and I doubt they mistreated Mocha in any way – though the act of leaving Mocha alone for a while may have triggered his anxieties. Since we rescued him from an animal shelter, it’s possible he was abandoned by his previous owners and started to worry when he felt we were abandoning him too.
However, Mia and I are both busy working professionals with busy schedules. At least once a month, we have to travel or leave Mocha alone for most of the day. We hate doing it, but it’s not always possible to bring Mocha along with us, especially when we’re staying with friends who are not comfortable with dogs either.
So for long trips, we leave him with Melvin & Cabbie’s parents, who take great care of him. Every time I watch them wrestle, I see a great big smile on Mocha. It’s so obvious that he loves being with other dogs.
Which leads us to conclude that his recent behavioral problems may be solvable by getting a second dog. Another solution would be more exercise and activity, which we’ve been trying. A second dog, however, could play with Mocha and give him the social interaction that he craves. Also, we’re not always able to give Mocha the exercise and activity he needs because of our aforementioned schedule. Perhaps a second dog could.
Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. A second dog presents its own challenges, such as increased costs, time to find the right companion, additional training needs, etc. We also know of a few more long trips we’ll need to take. We can’t expect Melvin & Cabbie’s parents to take care of four dogs. Placing two dogs in a kennel for weeks would be damn expensive too. And we couldn’t bring our dogs along on a trip to another country either.
So what do we do? Sigh. We don’t know yet. We’re hoping more exercise, training, patience, and love can help the little guy. Hopefully that will be enough.
I have a dog hammock for the back seat of my car. On long road trips, sometimes Mocha likes to rest his head on the edge to try to be as close as he can to Mommy and Daddy. It’s like he’s saying, “What are you guys doing? Can I see?” But then he closes his eyes and falls asleep in that position, just like you see here. Poor tired little guy.
Mocha’s staying with a friend this weekend while we’re away. Being the concerned parents that we are, we asked the friend how Mocha’s been doing.
“All’s well,” the friend wrote. “He had lint on his nose at lunch yesterday. We’ve been walk/running a lot… He is def high energy.”
Not sure how he got lint on his nose exactly, but yup, our little Mocha is definitely one high-energy dog. Thanks for dog-sitting him!
We took Mocha to Big Sur this past weekend. His friends Melvin & Cabbie came along too.
During the trip, Mocha was… difficult. Since leaving him at a kennel, he’s been insecure & nervous, which has manifested as barking at strangers – mostly men, but sometimes women & children too.
At home, this means 2AM barks that wake us and neighbors up. At Big Sur, it meant snarls & growls at our friends. Sigh…
We’ve been trying the exercise, discipline & affection technique that Cesar Milan recommends. We’re also still trying to get him comfortable with a clicker, though he still cowers from it. But perhaps we need the help of a professional dog trainer.
So dog trainer hunting I go. Hopefully I can find a good one nearby. Poor little fellah seems to be pretty insecure these days. I hope some good training will help.
Mocha knows something is up. We’re packing our things and only some of his things – like just enough to be left at, say, Melvin & Cabbie’s place. And no amount of consoling will make him feel better.
We have to take off for a trip and can’t bring Mocha along, so we’re putting him in a kennel for a few days. Poor little fellah doesn’t even realize it. Here he is, looking unsuspectingly happy. Awww. We’ll miss ya boy!
