An Adventure - by Lee

Phod looking out the window

Dear Blogville, we are still hopelessly behind in our blog reading, but it is because we had a most wonderful adventure. [Note the pictures kind of suck cause the Lady only took her phone].

After a week of pairing the car with reinforcement, so Phody liked to go in it, Our People decided to take us somewhere cool.

Not so happy as Phod was sitting
on me

They loaded the car with extra towels, they strapped me in and left Phod loose to help prevent him from getting too stressed out. Off we went. 

We were in the car forever [Editor's Note: it was about an hour each way]. Phod threw up 3 times on the way there. He managed to get himself into the trunk, where he did finally lay down.  I was a bit whiney because the ride was SOOOOOOOOOOO long and near the end I got out of my harness. I was excited I knew we were almost at Bruce Pit.

Bruce Pit, for those of you not from the Ottawa Area, is one of 2 huge off leash dog parks. It has big field areas and treed paths. There are always lots and lots of friends there [Our Lady guesses we saw at least 100 dogs]. It is a great place to go.

Phod's first time at park

Meeting friends

I was so excited when we go there, cause I haven't been to Bruce Pit or Conroy Pit (the other really cool dog park) since we moved. I was so excited I couldn't stop jumping. I jumped so high my back legs touched my Lady's elbow (and she is like 5'7). I had a great time. I did run and sniff the other dogs some, but I was far more interested in the squirrels. The 3 times I didn't listen and come right away was because (to the amusement of other dog owners) I was trying to climb trees to get squirrels. I couldn't help it, they were teasing me and I had to try and get them. I had to go on my leash 2 times for a bit because I wouldn't stop trying to get them. My Lady actually witnessed me getting on a low branch to climb. She is sorry she missed getting a picture of this. Overall I had a great time and we got to run and play and sniff for like 1.25 hours. 

We don't know if Phod has ever been to a place like this. My Lady says he was very good. He stayed near by, he checked in, he always came when called. He did sniff a lot of dogs, but didn't really play. One dog sort of scared him and he didn't know what to do. He went up to all the people in the park for pets. He didn't seem to notice the evil, evil squirrels were around. 

Phod in trunk

He road in the trunk on the way home and only threw up 2 times. Once when we were less then a km from home (the last 2.5 km is on a windy dirt road so maybe that is why). He felt bad when he got home and clearly thought he was in trouble, but while Our People have many flaws, one thing they are great at is being understanding if we are sick. Even if it is cause we ate something we should have.

It was such a fun time. My Lady said we will do it about once a month. We were so tired we slept all evening and even slept in until 8 on Sunday!

[Editor's note: Phod was sick a total of 5 times, this is an improvement from the 7 or 8 the last time we went on a big trip. We will keep at it. He will get extra practice this week because he has to go to the vet!]