For a long time I've wanted to take a cross-country road trip, but I haven't found anyone who both shares my interest in this and has the time to come along. But in October of 2013 Toro the seven year old chi-beagle came into my life via Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, and as the bumper sticker says, "dog is my copilot".
The first hurdle to overcome was Toro's car-sickness. This turned out to be a reflection of his fear of the car (good call, Dr. Bauer). We began a period of desensitization: a few days of sitting in the stationary car in the driveway, feeding a few treats; short trips (a favorite was to Petfood Express, where they have a dog bathing spa and give dog treats); and trips to nearby fun walks. Now he is happy in the car. He rides in the passenger seat in his doggy bed, which is held in place by the seat belt. He even asks to go along when I get the car-key off the key holder before leaving, and we ran many errands together during last summer's kitchen remodel.
The second hurdle was his reactivity to other dogs. Though he is friendly and happy with people (especially when he meets them outside the house), he expresses a fearfulness of other dogs by choosing "fight" from the "fight or flight" menu. Naturally this can be a problem when taking him out and about. He still is having problems with this, but thanks to kikopup on You-Tube, followed by sessions with trainer Stacey Campbell (far more helpful for dog-ignorant me), I've learned how to tone his reactivity down. We are still working on this, but one milestone has been his ability to get along with my friend's dog Bijou. He also did well staying in a motel for a week during the remodel.
Despite progress, I still was uncertain how he would manage on a longer trip. The opportunity arose to try this on several jaunts to Soquel giving lifts to my friend and her dog. On these trips I learned that Toro doesn't much like driving on curvy roads at night via a few recurrences of car sickness on 17 and 92 coming over the Santa Cruz mountains. He shows his need for a comfort stop by panting, which I first thought was a sign he was hot. But pre-planning can take these things into account, and then he gets along quite well.
We put our travel skills to the test in early December with a trip up to Willows, visiting Gray Lodge and the Sacramento National Wildlife Preserve with my friend and her dog. He was great in the car, did well sharing a room at the motel, and enjoyed the walks at the nature preserves. The only problem occurred on the way home when we encountered a giant traffic jam due to the demonstrations in Berkeley. But he was okay even through that.
So road trip, here we come!
