Rookie and Magic came on vacation last week. We’ll have shared our lives with Rookie for 7 years in a little over a week, and we’ve never brought him on vacation before. (He came for an overnight camping trip once and wasn’t really a fan. Pre-pandemic, he’s traveled to visit family for weekends and holidays many times. He’s just never come along for an actual vacation before.) Magic has been on one overnight camping trip about a year ago and tagged along for a long weekend with my sisters a couple of years ago, but she also hasn’t traveled with either of us this far or for this long. We worried a little bit that our decision to bring them both could be a rather large mistake because, as you all know by now, they can be morons.
There were a couple of moments where we did question our choice in traveling companions, but overall, they did OK. Magic has a strict “no touch” policy in the car, and they were a little short on space since her crate was behind our seats/limiting their normal space in the seat hammock. Much of our drive up to Vermont involved Magic periodically growling at Rook because he was too close to her. Upon arrival, Magic managed to perform a “Poopacabra strike” in one of the upstairs bedrooms and also pee on a blanket on the ottoman in the living room of the house we rented. This happened literally within a 10 minute window while we unloaded the car. (Yes, she had been given the opportunity to relieve herself before going in the house, as well as during the drive up.) Justin discovered the poop when he stepped in it and the pee when he went to sit down in the over-sized chair behind the ottoman. Thankfully, she kept all subsequent bodily functions where they belong.
The first morning after arriving, we had to get some groceries for the week. Magic, obviously, went into her crate while we were out. We left Rook free in the house because he does not do well in crates and generally just sleeps. He was a bit stressed though, being in a strange house after spending the entire previous day in the car. He was also on high alert during that morning’s walk because the Mad River Valley neither sounds nor smells like suburban Philadelphia. On a trip in 2015 to Asheville, NC with Flint, the property manager of the house we rented down there contacted us because they thought Flint had clawed up the trim by the front door. At the time, he had never been known to do anything like that, and we argued it. Then one Halloween, he ripped much of the paint off of the back of our bedroom door when we closed him in there while trick-or-treaters came to the house. That made us wonder whether he may have ruined the door at the rental. Anyway, I failed to check the trim before we left, but did note scratches upon our return from grocery shopping. We have no idea whether or not Rook did it. He never has before. (The homeowners know. We told them. They said they’d be using the house this weekend, and so far, we haven’t heard from them about whether or not we need to pay for any repairs.)
After that first 12-24 hours in the house, both dogs seemed to settle in nicely. By the end of the week, Rook wasn’t barking when we’d go out without him. (We also started putting a baby gate up to keep him away from the front door, just in case.) The house had a deck wrapping around two sides, and we all spent several afternoons enjoying perfect weather, napping and/or reading out there. We spent one evening down around the fire pit. At one point, I went to untangle Rook’s leash, and he took the opportunity to take off into the brush at the edges of the property. Magic ran to chase him and broke the buckle on her collar. Thankfully, it still closed and held together well enough to keep her ID tag around her neck for the rest of the trip, but we definitely couldn’t attach a leash to it. (She now has a nice, new September/fall collar thanks to Amazon and its two-day Prime delivery.)
We chose Vermont as our destination for this trip because we both just wanted to relax, unwind and forget about work and everyday tasks for a few days. We went on a couple of hikes, one much more difficult than we anticipated, one very easy, and one short with a gorgeous view at the end. We also took several strolls along the dirt roads surrounding our rental house. Down every one of them, we encountered free dogs that would come charging off of porches or just trot down the road after us. On our first walk around the house, we ran into a woman walking her lab and her cattledog, off leash, not even wearing collars (although the cattledog did have an Elizabethan collar on, so kudos to her for using it, whatever it might have been for). Her comment was, “I’m not used to seeing anyone else on our walks.” For the most part, both Rook and Magic handled all of the free dogs remarkably better than I’d expect them to, but it may just be they weren’t expecting to run into all of those dogs either.
I do think that both dogs’ favorite part of the trip was Ben & Jerry’s. They each got a doggie treat from there to enjoy while the humans all tried to gulp down our own ice cream that seemed to be melting from the instant it crossed the counter and into our hands. We ate them in Adirondack chairs overlooking the plant. I joked that, apparently, if you want these two on their best behavior, you just need to feed them Ben & Jerry’s because they were so caught up in that ice cream that neither of them paid any mind at all to the yapping Poodle behind our chairs, even after they finished lapping up their treats.
By the drive home, we had both taken some time to rest (although maybe not quite as much we had planned). We definitely got much more quiet than we have at home. There were a couple of other things we had hoped to check out while there, but that just means we’ll have to go back another time. Magic didn’t seem as grumpy with Rook on our long trek back, which was nice. I also refused to let her back into our own home until she pooped outside, so that made unloading the car less stressful for us arriving back home. We’ll see if and when they get to come on a trip in the future, but I wouldn’t entirely rule it out. I just might make sure the bed is bigger in the next rental because Rook takes up a lot of room. I might also consider some trazodone for him during the first day or two.
“Dogs love to go for rides. A dog will happily get into any vehicle going anywhere.” ~ Dave Barry
