Dog Days of Summer

Travel has been restricted by physical capability, but I finally felt that I could do this and took off for a couple of days. However, although I feel comfortable leaving Mia at home alone, Daisy is another matter. Fearing the worst if I left her alone, I decided that Daisy would travel with me. The RAV easily accommodates her canvas casita, as well as a bowl of food and a container of water, and since Daisy will settle wherever I put her little afghan, it was a done deal.

There is one hotel in Goleta that advertises it welcomes pets as guests, so that’s where I booked my 2-night stay. I should not, however, have assumed that welcoming pets as guests also means accommodating their needs. When I arrived and finished registering, I asked about the doggie area. Actually, they don’t have one, but I was welcome to take my dog to the back of the back parking lot, next to the freeway, where there was a bare 10x10 dirt area behind all the landscaping. Nope; not fenced, so Daisy has to be on a leash. Nope, not lit, so the late night potty routine would have to be completed before the sun set. Nope, not convenient when Daisy wakes up and 5 am and has to GO, NOW!

My complaint about the lack of pet accommodation led to the suggestion that I could take Daisy into the fenced pool area … where she was free to poop and pee … as long as no other guests were in the area at the same time. Wow. I was speechless. When I found my voice, I expressed health concerns about humans using the pool area after it has been used by family pets!! I would never sunbathe or swim in my dog run at home, so I was willing to bet money that paying guests would not like to spend time in the pool area if they knew that dogs were encouraged to use it as a potty place.

The room was pet friendly, but not so much the human: bare linoleum floors, with 2 wooden chairs, a plastic table, and a raised platform bed. No dresser or area to put the suitcase/unpack clothing, but lots of bare linoleum. I didn’t have to worry if Daisy used the floor in our room as a potty place because there was no way she would be using the pool area, and I was uncomfortable with the back parking lot area in the dark.

Perhaps I am not consciously aware of how much time Daisy spends going in and out of the house, but it did not take too long for me to realize how spoiled I am by the convenience of a 24/7 doggie door. We walked to the back bare spot a couple of times, as well as the full acreage of the shopping center surrounding us -- and this was the first hour after our arrival. I figured out very quickly that this was not going to work for me physically because there was no place to let Daisy off the leash to run and I am not yet physically able to walk her as much as she needed to be walked. I went on-line and found a nearby doggie park, so off we went to a really nice park, surrounded by huge oak trees, shaded benches, and lots of room for many dogs to play in peace.

I was surprised to find the park empty, and Daisy must not have been willing to run around by herself because she perched on my legs and sniffed the air. Finally, about ½ hour into our park experience, another owner showed up with a dog. When I questioned the lack of animals, she explained that “technically,” the park is only open from 8-10 AM, then from 3-8 PM, because the residents of the surrounding homes fought hard when this property was donated by a dog lover to become a protected dog park, but they lost. The only consession to the residents' concerns about "dogs barking 24 hours a day" is the restricted usage hours. The good news is that the sign posting all this info is completely obliterated, so my arrival at the wrong time was blissful ignorance.

The second day of our quick trip, Daisy had a great time at the doggie park the several times I took her there. She played with other dogs, then leaped onto a bench and sat next to me for a while. Yesterday, before driving back home, Daisy and I went to the park for an hour or so, arriving at 7:30 AM. However, not only did she not do her business, but she perched on my lap for at least 45 minutes!! It was a relief when another dog arrived, but after Daisy shared personal greetings, she ran back to my lap. When another dog arrived, she growled at it from my lap and that’s when I knew it was time to hit the road.

After a long drive that Daisy enjoyed soundly asleep in her canvas casita, we drove back into the garage to the sounds of Mia’s excited barking. I closed the garage door, let Daisy off her leash, and told her to go find Mia, but Daisy refused to leave the car!! She crawled back inside the casita, curled up, and seemed determined to stay there, so I picked it up with her inside and carried it into the house. She still would not come out, and when Mia sniffed at the open door, Daisy growled at her. It was at least an hour before Daisy came out, and then only to pee in the middle of the living room carpet. My best guess is that she was literally pissed at being back home. She refused to have anything to do with Mia or me until it was time for bed last night.

The main lesson from this little vaca is that many travelers take their pets, but I will not do so again. First, I was not aware that there are few, if any, rest stops between PS and SB. The last one I saw was an hour from home, in Cherry Valley; after that, I had to find an off-ramp with chain food outlets and landscaped planters so Daisy could at least pee. Next, the physicality of having to take Daisy out a dozen times a day because there was no fenced place for her did me in: I could barely get out of bed this morning and am so sore that I have aches where I didn’t know I had body. Additionally, even though I broke the trip into two, 2-hour segments, my back locked up tighter than a drum, making movement challenging and painful. I finally realize that I’m not ready to take off for the two weeks I planned, but need to up the physical exercise and strengthening activities before I plan another trip.

And, it goes without saying, leave both dogs at home.