Road Trip!

Last Friday, August 21, we loaded Paz into the car and headed to Dallas to watch Kate play a preseason soccer game. Paz's crate no longer fits in our car unless it's broken down in the trunk, so to keep Paz safe, she wore a car safety restraint just for dogs!  Diana had suggested this as a way to travel with Paz when her crate just wasn't an option.  It's a special harness that allows Paz to sit up and look out the window or take a snooze on the car seat.  We had her wear it around the house a couple of times before the trip and she didn't seem to mind it at all.  Paz had no trouble running around or walking while wearing the harness; actually it was really easy to walk her while she was wearing it (no pulling on the leash!) so that was a plus.  

Paz is great traveler; she basically sleeps the entire time she's in the car unless it's meal time or "take a break" time.  She was full of energy after her 3 hour nap when we arrived at Kate's place- thank goodness for the long lead!  Paz was able to run all over the place at Kate's and we were able to keep her out of trouble.  She was thrilled to see her beloved Kate!  We were able to stay for several hours before checking into our hotel.  

We were a little concerned how Paz would react to being in a hotel room, but she took it in stride.  We took great pains to make sure there were no surprises lurking anywhere in the room before we turned her loose.

She loved jumping up on the bed, which she doesn't have access to at home, and watching TV!  She also had fun jumping in and out of the bathtub.  Bedtime was no problem; we put her crate together in one corner of the room and she crawled right in.  The biggest problem we had was the cricket invasion at the hotel.  Every time we took Paz outside for some exercise or to "take a break" she devoured every cricket she could find, and there were thousands of them.  I'm sure this is really bad karma or something, as crickets are supposed to bring you good luck, but they seemed absolutely irresistible to her! 

On Saturday morning, we drove about an hour from the hotel to watch Kate play soccer.  Paz wore her vest to the field, climbed all over the stands and the practice fields, and tried to run out onto the field to see Kate and chase soccer balls.  Paz had a few new fans by the end of the game.  We had a really good time and Kate played a great game!  Later that night, we crated Paz up and took Kate out for a real sit-down dinner.  We were afraid Paz might bark while we were gone; apparently all went well as there were no messages from the hotel management asking us to pack our bags to check out early!

Sunday morning rolled around and we had to load up to drive home. Kate was pretty sad to let Paz leave!  Paz didn't seem ready to go either, and ran all over on the long lead before we could get her in the car.  She was one tired puppy and slept for almost the entire trip again!  Paz is such a great traveler, and this trip went so well that we'll definitely be taking Paz with us to watch Kate play again!