I live on the side of a mountain.  A small mountain.  Or a big hill.  Well, if you are from Orange, Texas, it’s a small mountain.  If you are from Colorado, it’s a so so hill.  The point being, there is no yard to fence for a dog, be it a real fence or an underground ‘fence’ with a collar for the dog.

Last winter, I traveled extensively. I left my house November 1st and didn’t return until February 2nd.  My main objective last year, was to avoid being home for my first holiday season without Kenn.  I enjoyed my travels, going to Texas, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.

I plan on traveling some this winter, too, but not for as long of time.  This year, I have my little fur baby, McKennzie.  I plan on bringing her with me.  She has been trained to do her business either on a pee pad or—almost all of the time—at the end of my composite deck.  Then I clean and hose it down.  Not ideal, but it’s the best I can do!

It dawned on me about a week ago, that she hasn’t traveled by car very much at all.  Mostly, just to the vet, groomer, or pup sitter.  So the longest she has ridden in the car has been about 20 minutes, and she got car sick!  So last week, I took her on a ‘test’ trip to Bowling Green, Kentucky, about 3 1/2 hours away.  I got some motion sickness meds from the vet, packed our bags (hers was bigger than mine!) and off we went.  I have to say, she did great in the car!  I had the back seat fixed up with her open crate at one end, and a few toys back there as well.

The hotel experience was a different story.  Anytime she heard a voice, steps, ANY noise in our ‘house’, she would bark.  Also, she wanted me to take her out every hour or two up until midnight.  Not to potty the vast majority of the time (although thankfully, she didn’t go in the room!).  She just wanted to walk around and see what was going on.  I found a bark park that she LOVED!  She was scared of all the other dogs until she made a few friends, and then played and ran until she was exhausted!  Then, we would go back to the hotel where she would crash.  For about an hour.  Then the begging for walk times would continue.  The last evening, I just packed up and headed home instead of checking out the next morning.

This winter, one of the places I have rented is a condo.  If she barks, needs walking every hour…. I can’t see me getting a lot of enjoyment out of the trip!  I’ve decided to locate a nearby dog park.  AND a highly rated kennel/dog sitter in the area. Just in case!