Traveling with your Furry Friend... or Husband.

[Ray Eklund]

Most of you know we have two Blue Heelers. From Spring to Fall we find ourselves traveling paved interstate highways and two ruts with trees for guardrails.

Our back seat holds two Pet Porters. Blue always rides on the driver's side, and Dingo on the passenger side when getting into their Pet Porter. What we call their "binkies" are knit items we find at Goodwill type of stores placed on the porter's bottom. They enjoy riding in comfort snuggled into their binky blankets.

Above each window is a hook for hanging a shirt of clothing. We hang a shirt covering the window, so neither can stand up in their porter and look outside the vehicle. They are not distracted or agitated by seeing people, other vehicles or ranch livestock milling around the truck. Often they are so quiet, my wife needs to look into the ventilating slots to see if we might have forgotten to put them into their Pet Porters from our last stop.

If, for any reason, we have to stop quickly... they are contained. A Pet Porter might rock forward but the front seat backs prevent much movement. The risk of an accidental injury is ZERO from our many years of traveling this way.

Blue is smaller and needs help to climb into her porter. Dingo use to go with ease, but with his rear ACL injury he might need some assistance getting in and out this year. Both use to jump out by using the lower door jam as one step, and the pavement/ground as the second.

There was an article in the newspaper this weekend in Las Vegas with $500 safety restraints and other similar things. IF we were in a head on collision... even these would not save ourselves or pet(s). You love your pet, but you must also keep rational about their safety. I cannot imagine a seat belted dog on the back seat.

Over 40 years ago, while working for the State of Wyoming, several of us were going to inspect some timber logging sites in NW Wyoming. Along one two lane State Highway was a late model Cadillac off the side of the road next to a small river crossing. We stopped, not knowing when or what had happened. There were no occupants.

Upon closer examination was some curly white fur. A miniature poodle. The impact was so severe, the small poodle was forced in between the bottom of the back and the seat, barely to be seen. Of course, dead... but a reminder that even pets can be lost in an accident. It made a life long impression on me.

I will prefer a pet porter for travel in a pickup truck, or car back seat. They are in different sizes and slide over the blanket on the seat cushion to prevent wear. At times when the young daughters were acting up... I was... tempted. But, resisted and we all, pets and family, lived happily ever after.

[McDave]

Lupe is a very gracious traveler. She cheerfully vacates her front seat to Nancy whenever Nancy travels with us, and mainly sleeps in the back seat of the truck while we are on the road. But she still is a border collie, with all that pent-up energy, so we make sure she has a good walk/run before and after our daily travels. In the trailer, she has three places she can be: in her bed under the table if she wants privacy, on the couch on a sheet we have put there if she wants to see outside, and in our bed at night if she can weasel it. Actually, when we first go to bed, everyone is in agreement that the humans go in their bed and Lupe goes in her's. But after my 4 AM bathroom break, in the pitch black, I can feel blacker than black eyes boring in on me, saying, "Is it okay now, Dad?" Usually I give two pats on the bed and up she goes in between us until morning.

I got Lupe when I decided to retire a few years ago. Lupe was very patient with me during training. Whenever I would try to exert my will over her, she would simply sit down and not budge until I thought better of it. When she finally convinced me to work together with her as a team, I found that there was nothing she wouldn't do for me or me for her within reason. Of course, dog reason and people reason don't always intersect, but they do often enough for our purposes. For example, it suits both of us for her to be off leash, but we both understand that she can't be off leash if she runs out in traffic or bothers people. So she will run up to the end of the block and wait for me to get there and tell her it's okay before she crosses at the corner. If another dog or person comes along, I can tell her in a low voice from a half block away to lie down, and she will lie down and not notice the other dog or person until I get there and tell her it's okay (or not okay, as the case might be). I realize this might be anathema for some people, and believe me, it wouldn't have worked on any of the other dogs I've had in my life, but it works with her.

When I decided to retire, I wanted to travel. However, you would never have heard of me on this forum if it hadn't been for Lupe. I would have just travelled by air or car and stayed in B&B's or hotels. But I wanted to travel with Lupe, and I didn't want to go through the hassle of finding pet friendly accommodations. Hence the Airstream.


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