On The Road

Last week (March 18 - 24) we were out of town, visiting my parents in north Georgia. The drive takes ten and a half hours, according to Googlemaps. That's not counting the extra time for walks around the dog walking zones of five or six  rest areas along the way. We drove it in two days.

We found out on our trip to Grand Rapids in December that Grace is an excellent car dog. Except for the walk breaks, she slept all the way. With a few brief periods of mischievous wakefulness (she dug out her bag of treats twice) she slept almost  all the way this time. And then came the night in the hotel.

The Hampton Inn in Summersville, West Virginia accepts pets. That means, of course, that other dogs are there. That means, of course, that Grace had plenty of noises to bark at. When she barked at the heat coming on, we knew we were in for a long night. I took her for a walk in the rain  before going to bed, a walk in the mud at 3:30 in the morning, and another walk before we hauled ass out of there at 6:00. Then she was a perfect angel all the way to Blairsville.

Nights at the cabin were much better. Grace slept through the night, and so did we. We did learn a few things about our girl, though. She quickly accepted my parents into her pack. She also quickly found the box in which they keep plastic bottles for recycling. Walks around Smokey Mountain Estates were strenuous and tiring, just the ticket for an overactive puppy.

The most interesting bit of information we learned came during a late evening  walk. We were on our way down White Oak Drive when Grace suddenly froze. She stared  down the road for ten or fifteen seconds, turned around and led me back to the cabin. I don't know what she saw or heard in the pitch darkness ahead - a bear, a coyote or what - but she had the sense to walk away from it.

Signs

Dogs can't read, as far as I know. If Grace can read, she is unconcerned about the rules. The first thing she did during our walk this morning was take a dump beside the "NO DUMPING" sign. An hour later we had arrived at a new favorite destination, the tennis courts at the Meadville Area Recreation Complex. They are four courts wide and completely fenced in with no breaches once the gate is closed behind us. I can unleash her and throw a ball as far as my arthritic shoulder will let me, and Grace can run full bore, chasing down and catching it before it gets to the fence.

All we have to do to enjoy this marvelous freedom is ignore one little sign: NO DOGS ALLOWED"

Toy Surgery

Carmen ordered four plush dog toys from Amazon. The first one we let Grace have was a cat. Within minutes the tail and the ears were surgically removed, followed in a day by a hind leg, the squeaker and all of the stuffing. Carmen threw it away  and offered an alligator to replace it. Same shit, different body parts. The goat's horns went first, and the elephant's tusks led the carnage. Within a week, all four critters bit the dust. The cheap Big Lots penguin didn't last five minutes.