I knew that something was going on! My humans had been collecting things in the living room, and I even smelled yummy snacks!
Then Friday morning, one of my humans woke up early, like he was excited about something. I was surprised to see one of my other humans, already awake.
I was only a little confused when one human went back to bed and the other went to work. But not before he came home after forever and dropped off the car seat sling cover. I hadn't seen my human in the forever of five minutes.
My morning was fairly routine, except that the human who went back to bed didn't get up until after my other humans were already awake. That was very unusual.
Then I heard the most exciting sound! My missing human was coming home! And the rest of my humans started running like a bunny that I chased! It was going to happen soon, I could feel it.
I watched as the bags my humans fussed over all disappeared. And that was when I started worrying. Were my humans leaving me? Were my humans taking me back to the shelter?
They tried to reassure me with a treat, but I showed my concern by not eating it. Well at least until one of my humans sat on the floor with me. I ate it sitting right next to him. It was delicious!
I knew I was going too when someone helped put my car harness on. It's not my favorite, but I dealt with it.
I was set to get in the family wagon. And I tried to just as soon as the door was open!
I was confused when the human I was walking slid the seat forward and flipped up the 3rd row seats -- I didn't even know that could be done! But sure enough I was getting a seat all to myself. I could walk around, or sit, or lay down. It was like heaven. And then I discovered I could rest my head on the human shoulders sitting in front of me.
Everyone piled into the car after making sure I was happy and comfortable. And we were off!! I didn't know where we were going but I was going with my people!
My alpha human dove for a while until I signaled to my communications human that I needed to stretch my legs. He thought I needed to potty, so we had a nice little jaunt smelling interesting poop. I was offered water, but I was too fascinated by the new smells all around me.
As soon as my humans wised up, we all piled back in the wagon continuing on into the unknown.
Now that I wasn't distracted, I wanted some water. My human wised up to it, and I drank. It took a couple of tries, but they figured out how to make sure that water didn't spill while Alpha continued driving.
I was just starting to settle in when my humans pulled into a shopping center looking for a water bottle squeeze bowl to make it easier for me to drink without spilling ... to much. Alas, that didn't happen.
After a few tries, he gave up, and we were on our way, once again.
The car ride got boring, so I settled down and went to sleep.
When I woke up, of course, I absolutely had to see where we were and what new smells I might stumble upon, so we pulled over again. This time, I had a much wider area to range, and I tried to push the boundaries as far as I could.
The wind was blowing, kicking up dust with each gust. The heat was oppressive. I started panting as soon as I was out of the car! My humans braved all that just so I could go sniffing around. I found this really cool area, about a hundred yards down the road. I started heading for that, while my other humans moved the car.
I tricked them. Right before the car passed me and Alpha, I decided that the clearing across the street was much more interesting than that other one. So my humans turned the car around and met us at the new clearing.
They hoped I would potty, but nope. Not gonna happen anytime soon. But I didn't tell them that. It worked so much better with them not knowing!
I had ranged as far as my humans would let me. I got to check out the clearing. It had a sharp drop off that looked like it would be so much fun to slide down. My humans thought otherwise. Didn't mean I didn't still try to sneak down. If not for that pesky leash. Instead I dragged my communications human down toward that other really cool spot that I hadn't checked out yet. But he turned us around and I finally consented to get back in the car.
I drank more water, while enjoying the cool air. I'm glad my humans figured out how to let me have more than a sip of water at a time. I stared out as many windows as I could until watching cars go by got boring, and I flopped down again.
The next thing I knew, we were slowing down, and stopping, then going again. Obviously, my humans needed my supervision, so I stood up and whined at them. Apparently they listened, because all the sudden we were parked, and communications human was getting me out of the car.
While Alpha checked us in, I patrolled the parking lot, ensuring it was safe from gophers and birds. I am proud to say that I made the area secure. Without me, I know that the hotel would have been overrun by varmints!
Of course, after a long trip like that I had to make sure my humans received enough exercise, so I made them take me on a bazillion walks before bedtime. I explored the grounds, dragging my humans behind me in my excitement at new smells. There were new smells everywhere! Nothing was familiar to me.
And the hotel room. It did not smell like home at all. I looked everywhere for anything that smelled familiar, I mean, besides my people.
I wandered around, I sniffed. I whined. I barked, but only once. I am a polite dog after all.
Finally three of my humans went to bed. I was a little confused because usually it's the one that stayed up who goes to bed early, and I go with him. So I stayed up too.
When it was time for me to go to bed, I hopped up, and made myself comfortable between Alpha and yummy nibbles human. When I started getting crowded, I pushed against whoever was crowding me, after all, I needed my beauty sleep!
My people tried their best to make sure I had the time and space to go to the bathroom. But, I've never done it while on leash, and I didn't plan to today either!
We piled in to the car and our first stop was a good smelling place. It had these arches out front. I looked around for other dogs, but didn't see any.
A delivery human brought out breakfast, and I had Alpha's eggs. They really didn't last long.
After that, we drove around checking out some neighborhoods to see what life was like outside of the strip.
We went back to the hotel room, and everyone took a nap. Apparently when I don't sleep well, no one does!
Later, we headed back out in the car again. This was the most I have been in a car in forever!
When Communications human helped me out of the car, I could smell new people, and dogs! It was more dogs than I have been around, ever. There was Annie, her people called her a bit of a bitch. She barked at me for the first hour I was in her home, even though I respectfully sniffed her butt and even offered to groom her. I don't understand little dogs sometimes.
Then I met Teddy. He is this adorable little schnauzer. I really enjoyed playing with him. He reminded me of a cat. They are about the same size after all.
Then there was Charlie. He was a great whirling mass of fluffy black, pink tongue and sharp little pointy baby teeth! He came bounding up to me and sniffed. I wasn't sure how to react since I had Annie yelling at me. So I did what any good dog does when she is a bit overwhelmed, I snarled at him. For a puppy, Charlie listened quite well. After Annie stopped all that yapping, I had great fun running about with Charlie as we chased each other from one end of the house to the other.
When I knew that my humans were all distracted, I snuck out into the yard and peed. Oh the joy of that simple release. One of the humans we were visiting saw me, so I knew that my humans would know soon.
My humans spent the evening talking and laughing while I spent the evening sniffing, licking and playing. By the time we left, I was ready for bed.
We headed back to the hotel, and everyone was asleep shortly after we got there.
My humans got up one at a time. And I made sure that they took me out each time they went to smoke a cigarette. I had so much fun trying to go help the staff of the hotel, even if my humans kept pulling me back.
Finally, everyone was awake, and we all went back into the room. My humans were acting all funny, like they were cleaning or something. It was weirdly fascinating. Soon, the room was bare, and we were back in the car.
I was ready this time. I made sure my humans made it out of the city, then I laid down and snoozed.
My humans stopped at the same place they did before with the little fenced in park. There was some other dog there, but their human wasn't very social, and dragged my potential new friend out.
Oh well, as soon as they left, communications human let me off my leash and I wandered around sniffing everything. I had fun. My humans got their exercise going back and forth to the big building that was really far away.
Before I was quite done sniffing around, treat human put the leash back on me, and to the car we went. He made sure I was settled in, and then settled himself, along with play human. When communications human and alpha came back, off we went again, and back to napping I went.
Something caught my attention. It woke me up. I smelled something familiar. What was it, home? It had been forever since I smelled that smell. I stood up and announced to my humans that we were almost home. I pranced around, and danced. Each step I took I just knew was bringing us closer to home.
Excited I tried to let alpha know that we were getting close. Then I went over to communication human. I still couldn't get through. Sometime's it's frustrating being the only one who speaks dog fluently. I laid down with a hrumph. They would realize they were close to home soon enough. I certainly didn't need to tell them that.
But we were almost home, and I was even more excited. I didn't understand why my humans weren't just as excited as me. But that's ok, I was excited enough for all of us. Then I felt it! That magic bump that only my house can give the car. We were home! Communications human exited the car, and then moved his seat forward so he could get to me. I lunged for the exit only to be brought up short by my infernal seatbelt. He attached the leash so he wouldn't get lost, then undid my seatbelt. It's the only thing that I find highly suspicious and quite unfair. Why do humans get opposable thumbs?
Anyway, philosophy later. I was overjoyed when communications human took me in to the back yard and took off my harness. One last look back to make sure my humans weren't going to wander away, and I was off to the bathroom. I'm not quite sure when it happened, but one of my humans opened my door, and I went back into the house, found my comfy seat in the living room and promptly went to sleep.
