Traveling with a dog

6/18/2018

The good, the wet, and the hairy.

Baloo is 13 years old. He is an old man dog. We have to help him up into the car EVERY single time. He can hike around with us for about a mile these days and he's about done. He loves the water, mud, puddles, and rolling around in sand, dirt, or old fire pits after he's wet. He has made an art out of being exactly where you need to be all of the time. Doorways and the bottom of stairs are some of his specialties. But if you are a pet owner you know you take all these special quirks with all of the great things too. But here is what we have learned about traveling by vehicle with our dog.

Space

I'm a lover of big dogs. The bigger the better. Life would certainly be easier with smaller pets that is for sure. In the car Baloo takes up a pretty large amount of space. I sat back there with him yesterday. We drove to Valdez to both explore and bring a friend back to Anchorage. Our car is packed to the max so we had to ditch a few things to make room for a person in the back. That's when I realized he takes up at least 1/3 of the space back there. We put a basket on the hitch to put a few tubs on of stuff like extra gas, water, shovel- all kinds of things really. This could all be in the car however if Baloo wasn't so gigantic.

Taking up 90 pounds of sprawled out space...

But he's adorable...

Exploring on Foot

If we did this a year ago our trip would be completely different. Baloo was hiking 8 miles up a mountain, camping, and 8 miles back down. But that isn't life anymore. We are limited to either really short strolls with the dog or leaving him in the car to go just a tad farther. That felt really weird at first. But as time has gone on, Baloo has realized the car and his bed is his home he wants to be in there almost all of the time. He sits whining at the car door and following us around until we let him in when we find a camp spot. It's also not hot- like at all. I'm wearing layers and a coat most days. We haven't ever left him longer than a few hours and when we come back he's as chill as can be and got some uninterrupted beauty sleep. And he's not a leash dog. He's absolutely nuts and we all love each other a lot more when leashes aren't apart of our experiences.

Dog hair

I'm fairly certain he was bred from a line of super shedders. Since he was a puppy I have been unsure how he is not bald. It doesn't matter the season- a-shedding he a-goes. The floors, the seats, my clothes, my pillow, Scot's beard. Basically if hair can stick to it. It's there. At home we toss it into the washer. Here. Hair is just life.

Wet dog

I don't know how many times I have heard Scot say to Baloo "No one likes a wet dog." Except the dog that is. He LIVES for swimming and mud and puddles. His doggy dream. He sleeps in the car because getting a 90 pound 13 year old lab up a ladder onto the top of your car, just isn't a thing. We crack a window throw a towel over it so bugs don't get in and he's just fine. But you CANNOT just throw a wet and muddy dog back into your car with everything you are traveling with. The first night we were right on a river. I've never seen him so sandy in my life. We threw a stick into the water to wash off the yuck and dried him off with a beach sized towel and loaded him up before he had time to get all funky again. But then we were left with a soggy towel for two days. One night it was just too late by the time we made camp we made him stay on a leash the whole time. So far I think my favorite has been letting him play, getting him rinsed off about an hour before he needed to be in the car to drip dry for a while, tying him up so he doesn't get all gross, and then a final towel dry off. Whew. Are we the only ones plagued with this problem? What do you do with your wet furry friends?

Sticks that doggy dreams are made of.

Maybe the dirtiest I've ever seen him. I mean, sand embedded into his undercoat dirty.

Completely exhausted from adventure. Definitely not getting into the car like this...

Leashed up because we made camp at 11 pm and there was a crazy fast running river next to camp. I love this hound... but don't trust him around water for a minute.

Hotels

Okay- so the idea for us, is to not need to stay in a hotel. But things come up, or weather is yucky, you need a shower, or just the idea of having a night off of setting everything just sounds amazing. We got a hotel right before we got the tent- one in Fairbanks when my foot was acting up, and one last night. You are HUGELY limited to hotels that will allow pets. And then the ones that do usually have extra fees, were already expensive to start with, or have restrictions like 35 pounds and under. I don't think "He's just bloated today..." will pass. We found one hotel that had no fees at all- any pets welcome. That was the first night in Soldatna. It was amazing. In Fairbanks we were finding $100 fee plus $150 deposit to $15 fee but again, 35 pounds and under. We finally found a room that was $160 a night with a pet fee of $75. Holy expensive. So last night (we are in Anchorage) we were out of options. Things were booked up and we desperately wanted a shower (I did my hair outside in the rain that morning. I'm starting to get used to this new look I call "You mostly look like you gave up".) Finally we just decided to head to one of the places where there was a weight restriction and just hoped to sneak him in the back. Scot did his talking thing and eventually just told the lady he was over the weight limit and she didn't really care at all. My advice if you are in a pinch, just ask for a room close to the door. They seem to put pets near the exit that is not visible from the desk. All he does is sleep in the middle of the floor so I don't really feel bad about it. Big dogs need hotel rooms too!

A Happy hound

So- there are obviously some extra things to think about or problem solve. But at the end of the day- I think we have one happy hound. When we let him, he's swimming in lakes and rivers, trying to catch mosquitoes, eating our leftovers, and being with his people. He's 13 and we are probably looking at one of his last big adventures. So watching that happy face hanging out the window as we travel over mountain passes is pretty worth the dog hair and extra hotel fees.