![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On the Road, By Jack Puppyyap....
Jul. 30th, 2018 08:54 pmIt had been a busy weekend. Both of us were pretty hurting from work outdoors and other aggravations of body parts. So what, then, is one to do?
As I mentioned last time, I thought a Rochester friend's annual deck party was this past Saturday. Fortunately, I caught the error of my ways before heading there on the wrong day- and despite the mixup, Eleanor and I got our wires suitably uncrossed for Sunday afternoon and I came to the back, leash in hand, to take Pepper on her first-ever Thruway adventure.
She didn't want to go.
Had to be coaxed out from under the patio table and then, to a lesser extent, into the car. I'd gotten gas and ordered the food I brought ahead of time so she wouldn't have to wait needlessly, and we were on the road by 2:30 and at Scott and Lisa's little patch of Brighton almost exactly an hour later.
She was not alone.
That's Sadie, their pup of about the same age, leashed near their backyard kiddie pool. She barked up a storm when Pepper came in; they sniffed and snorted and play-bowed a few times, but with both on leash and a yard full of people, they couldn't really go full-on Crazy Dog. Eventually, Pepper got tired of listening to her yapping at her, and said her goodbyes from a distance (but not before helping herself to some very nice dog food Sadie had been kind enough to drop on the deck).
Nor was she alone in the dropping of food. We spent most of our two-plus hours near the grill, and Pepper eventually settled into stealthy mooch mode, ready to go for anything that either hit the ground or was offered to her:
We took a few walks round their neighborhood, to help her acclimate and also to minimize turf battles over accidents in Sadie's yard. Out front was the car that blew away ours in the coolness department the instant it arrived:
(There's JARVIS, up the street a bit, sulking;)
I don't think I'd ever seen a Morgan before. This one's a three-wheeler, one of the motorcar company's specialties.
After a few goodies from the grill (mine on a plate, hers on the deck;), we began the drive home. Pepper was perfect the whole way there and back- not a whine or a bark, and most of the drive was spent with her schnozz cradled on the edge of the lap. Once home, she was so sociable, she proceeded to breach the ratty old wooden fence between our yard and the new neighbors' (they'd had a patio party of their own while the dog and I were away, so maybe she smelled more leavings). Earlier today, she did it again, so we've put up some temporary countermeasures to keep her in.
This was a good first step. Next I'll try something that will be closer to 2-3 hours in the car each way, so we can learn the clues between each other on when we need to stop en route. The ultimate goal is to get her to visit Emily and Cameron with us (in a rented larger car, most likely); Alexa tags that as a nine-hour drive, so it's something to work up to
As I mentioned last time, I thought a Rochester friend's annual deck party was this past Saturday. Fortunately, I caught the error of my ways before heading there on the wrong day- and despite the mixup, Eleanor and I got our wires suitably uncrossed for Sunday afternoon and I came to the back, leash in hand, to take Pepper on her first-ever Thruway adventure.
She didn't want to go.
Had to be coaxed out from under the patio table and then, to a lesser extent, into the car. I'd gotten gas and ordered the food I brought ahead of time so she wouldn't have to wait needlessly, and we were on the road by 2:30 and at Scott and Lisa's little patch of Brighton almost exactly an hour later.
She was not alone.
That's Sadie, their pup of about the same age, leashed near their backyard kiddie pool. She barked up a storm when Pepper came in; they sniffed and snorted and play-bowed a few times, but with both on leash and a yard full of people, they couldn't really go full-on Crazy Dog. Eventually, Pepper got tired of listening to her yapping at her, and said her goodbyes from a distance (but not before helping herself to some very nice dog food Sadie had been kind enough to drop on the deck).
Nor was she alone in the dropping of food. We spent most of our two-plus hours near the grill, and Pepper eventually settled into stealthy mooch mode, ready to go for anything that either hit the ground or was offered to her:
We took a few walks round their neighborhood, to help her acclimate and also to minimize turf battles over accidents in Sadie's yard. Out front was the car that blew away ours in the coolness department the instant it arrived:
(There's JARVIS, up the street a bit, sulking;)
I don't think I'd ever seen a Morgan before. This one's a three-wheeler, one of the motorcar company's specialties.
After a few goodies from the grill (mine on a plate, hers on the deck;), we began the drive home. Pepper was perfect the whole way there and back- not a whine or a bark, and most of the drive was spent with her schnozz cradled on the edge of the lap. Once home, she was so sociable, she proceeded to breach the ratty old wooden fence between our yard and the new neighbors' (they'd had a patio party of their own while the dog and I were away, so maybe she smelled more leavings). Earlier today, she did it again, so we've put up some temporary countermeasures to keep her in.
This was a good first step. Next I'll try something that will be closer to 2-3 hours in the car each way, so we can learn the clues between each other on when we need to stop en route. The ultimate goal is to get her to visit Emily and Cameron with us (in a rented larger car, most likely); Alexa tags that as a nine-hour drive, so it's something to work up to