On the Road with Freki, et al

This weekend, we took to the road with the three dogs. It's a long drive back to visit family, so we broke it into two legs with an overnight stay in a hotel that welcomes dogs.

We weren't sure what Freki would think about being in a strange place. After all, though she has accompanied us on several day trips, she has spent every night since she came to live with us at our house.

Ben and Dixie, on the other hand, have no problems acclimating to new places and are rather well-traveled.

As you can see from the photo, Freki fit right in. (They slept in their crates, but we allowed them some 'people time' on the bed for a bit.) Thank goodness it was a king-sized bed!

We tried to make the trip as stress-free as possible by bringing their blankets, food, toys and even water from home. Freki is used to sleeping in her crate at home, so it was both a safe and familiar place for her in the hotel room. Of course, we made numerous potty stops along the way, let them spend as much time loose in the room as we could, and made several long trips outside before bedtime to stretch their legs.

They did very well. There were only two barking episodes in the hotel room- both short-lived. One, when Freki tripped/jumped over Dixie and Dixie voiced her displeasure, and once when Dad knocked on the door with his hands full of dinner. Hopefully the people in the next room weren't bothered.

Bless their canine hearts, the dogs endured their crates for the long travel hours with hardly a whine. There were a few unhappy glares the next morning when they were asked to 'load up', but the second leg of the trip was shorter, and they were soon able to romp and play.

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Now we are doing the family thing, visiting friends and getting a bit of Christmas shopping done. Freki is enjoying her visit very much, and even helped Dad cook up a batch of bruschetta last night

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