Training Skills to make travel easier

The biggest things I focus on when preparing my dog’s for travel are more to do with how they FEEL being in new environments so it is easier for them to take direction and be safe away from home, but here are a few of the specific skills I work on to make travel safer.

1) An automatic wait at all doors, including their crate doors. Having dogs that always wait for a verbal release rather than leaping out the car door or feeling like you have to worry each time you open the hotel room door brings great peace of mind.

How do I teach an automatic wait?

• From day 1, I reinforce my dogs as I open doors before they have a chance to run out.

• Then I reinforce for coming through the threshold on their verbal release cue, if they break through without waiting, I do not punish them, I just don’t reward and we go back in and try again.

• I teach them from the start to wait at a threshold until they hear their name. This way I can take them out one at a time if needed with ease.

• I am CONSISTENT, I give a verbal release every time they get out of the car or out of a door.

2) Stay/wait is the cue I use the MOST during travel. While a come command is what I consider the most important skill to teach, during travel my dogs are almost always on leash! Even though they have great recalls, I error on the side of safety and prefer to use leashes to make sure they are safe. So I don’t use it much.

• Stay while the elevator door opens, I don’t know what is coming out of it, or if anything is right on the other side of the door opening, so I have my dogs sit stay or stand stay behind as the doors open.

• Stay while I pick up your 💩. Much of the time I had both dogs on leash as I picked up after them, it is so much easier if they both stand still until I have done so.

• Stay while I open their crates to give them water.

• Stay while I open their crates and get their leashes on.

• They both have to step out of the crate and wait as I put their harnesses on before they exit the car because I can’t reach in to put it on in the crates.

• Stay while at the counter of a hotel or restaurant as we wait to be served.

• There is a lot of waiting while on the road, so patient dogs with solid stays make all of those moments easier.

3) Accepting a tether. Many dogs are not able to be safely tethered without trying to chew through the leash. To be clear my dogs are NEVER tethered unsupervised, it is in my opinion too unsafe as your dog is limited in defending themselves if loose dogs run up, if wild animals approach them, if shady people approach them. So we use tethers at times when we are hanging out in a spot with them and need our dogs to hangout as well and we want our hands free.

• When hanging out in camp, having dogs ok with a tether allows me to tie them to my chair and have my hands free to eat snacks, hold books, prepare food, etc.

• When eating out, having dogs that are ok with a tether allows me to eat with both hands with my dog’s tethered to my chair.

• I use a harness with a tether so they are not able to lunge against their necks.

• I often tether my dogs to the back of the car as I brush off the sand/dirt, or dry them off before getting back in the car.
  

4) Load up. Having dogs that happily and willingly hop into the car on cue makes all those stops so much easier! Even for dogs that maybe cannot jump all the way in, I teach them to put their front paws up and let me boost them the rest of the way. I work from the start to make the car a favorite place! We play many games to make getting in and out of the car a fun engaging with me experience and not a bummer end of the fun event.

• My dogs are reinforced 100% of the time they get into the car.

• I don’t rush it, when they get in I don’t just shut the door and drive away, I give them some pets and love for getting in their crate, I give them a drink of water, I give them a few treats.

• I practice at home or at trailheads that getting in the car doesn’t mean the fun is over, I give them treats and affection for getting in, and then let them back out.

• I want my dogs to see their car as a safe space and a haven, not a bummer.

• This can take a lot of work for a dog with a negative association. It took me months with Julia using the portable stairs to help her feel comfortable getting in the car.

5) Leash walking skills. I never expect my dogs to be great at loose leash walking when we travel. It is incredibly difficult for them or us to keep our focus to create a constant loose leash. You see here my leash walking set up when we travel, I use a harness and a double clip leash so I can clip on to the back of the harness and one to either the front of the harness like you see with Leo or to a collar like Julia.

• When traffic and space allows i hold the lead so any tension hits the back clip

• If I need to control them as something exciting goes by or we navigate a busier space I hold the leash so the collar or front clip has the tension

• I’ve trained the dogs that back clip tension is fine, that collar or front clip tension is a cue to orient to me

• For Julia this gives us two points of contact so if she slips her collar she still has the harness on, or the other way around

• Both dogs had 2 harnesses along, these ones pictured are their “city walking” harnesses, it’s not about them being more effective or not, it was simply one was the getting wet, muddy, sandy one and the other was dry and more socially acceptable 😂

• I use both retractable leashes and regular fixed length leashes. I never use a retractable around traffic, using those where I might normally let them off leash - like at the beach, in a field on a dirt road. I want a fixed length leash anytime I am going to need to guide my dogs.

6) Leave it. SO. MANY. GROSS. THINGS. were left alone.

• Dead birds and parts of birds

• Dead seal

• endless species of 💩

• Half eaten pizza

• Chicken bones

• Unidentifiable things that might be food, might be barf, might be plant material???

There are many more skills we used, but those are the skills we used the most! Other helpful skills:

• Letting me wipe your feet

• Place (a wait with a physical spot)

• Tuck (laying under a table)

• Touch (using to redirect Julia during distractions)

Traveling with a reactive puppy

3000 miles, 7 hotels, 6 National Parks, 2 campgrounds, busy cities, major tourist attractions, all with a reactive dog

First of all it’s important to say that not all reactivity is the same, and while Julia is reactive, it’s an easier type for us to deal with. She is not afraid of the things she reacts to, she is excited by them. They trigger her by exciting her and then frustrating her when she can’t instantly resolve that excitement. Her reactive triggers are now down to just dogs or very fast moving things (cars, motorcycles, bikes, etc) with dogs being the biggest trigger (she will react to all dogs, but only some fast moving things). She is triggered because she wants to engage with them and is not able to, we did have loose dogs run up to her and she was not only fine but like YAY, finally. She is also little, which makes management a lot easier and makes others feel less threatened by her so it’s not nearly as stressful as it is with a bigger dog that people judge you more harshly for having.

This photo is a great example of the difference between a reactive dog and a neutral dog’s ability to rest. Julia only truly rested in the hotel room or tent. Where Leo was able to truly sleep just about anywhere.

Things we do while traveling to make it easier on her and us:

• We researched ahead of time to find places to stay where things would be easier to manage. For example when we visited Santa Cruz we picked a hotel that was away from the chaos of the beachfront, that had very easy places for her to walk without seeing dogs or cars, in a place that allowed her to fully rest.

• When we reserved campsites we looked for the ones on the edges away from the action.

• We planned the trip with breaks from the busy cities and busy parks with quieter more remote areas so she could decompress.

• When checking into hotels we requested rooms that were close to exit doors so it was easier to get her out.

• We always had a plan, if the hotel only had valet parking we stopped first and organized things so I could just easily get the dogs out.

• I set up her crate with access to quick crate covers to use when in busy areas.

• We ended up having to sacrifice certain things, like choosing to sit in our car and eat take out when the patio area would be too much for her.

• At each place we visited I used google to find parks that allowed dogs or used Sniffspot to find places where the dogs could stretch out away from all the action.

• When visiting National Parks we always visited either early in the morning, starting before Sunrise, or later in the evening so we could both avoid big crowds and also have cooler temps for the dogs.

• I prioritized her mental health over experiences and/or photos, etc. Many times Michael would say “should we try to get a photo of Julia here” and the only time I said let’s do it, was when the conditions were right and many times we abandoned the situation as soon as we saw she was getting worked up.

• For the collaborations we did with hotels, it’s clear Leo was the model for the job, Julia only joining in photoshoots when she opted in.

• One of us was ALWAYS with her! She either went with us or one of us stayed with her. Many times I would stay with the dogs at camp or in the hotel so she could rest and Michael would go explore, or the other way around. This way she was not sitting in the car getting trigger stacked seeing dogs walk by, or getting anxious staying in a new place.

• I prioritized her rest! This was not easy with my must see and do everything husband. One of the things that was interesting to see, even on big travel days when they were in their crates in the car for most of the day, they were still tired at the end of the day, so while you might assume oh well they spent all day sleeping because they were in their crates, they don’t full rest.

• As the busy days stack up, the management needs to step up. Even Leo who can handle with ease walking through hundreds of people in huge crowds, I can see as he gets tired he becomes more concerned about things he would normally not even notice. So after a busy day we made sure to give her more space and seek out quitered areas to walk.

• The dogs set the pace. If they need a decompression walk, we are seeking out a quiet park instead of a tourist attraction. If they are spent, I am eating in the room so they can sleep, even if I am surrounded by world class restaurants that allow dogs.

• We advocate for them! On a daily basis people asked if they could pet the dogs, I always said “you can pet Leo the golden, Julia may or may not be into it” 9 out of 10 times she would move in for attention to join Leo as she loves people, but I never said yes, I let her decide. When we did things like the train ride, we were in line and on both sides of us were toddlers that could not stand still that kept shrieking with excitement and I said to Michael “nope” and I moved to the end of the line and asked a group of quiet adults if we could smoosh between them, which they excitedly agreed to. When people headed towards us with their dogs to say hi, we said no thanks and moved away and otfen Michael just scooped her up in his arms. (again she is excited not afraid).

• We let go of perfect. I accepted that she was going to likely backslide a bit on her dog reactivity as we really pushed her limits. So yes, she sometimes reacted to dogs. When we stayed in LA the hotel was one block from a dog park, and the park next to the dog park was the only grass to be found. So yes, she was over stimulated every time we took her out to potty. Again, if she was afraid that could be very devasting to reactivity training, but since she is just super excited it wasn’t causing any long term damage.

• There was so much good! She got so much more confident and comfortable with people! She LOVED exploring and investigating and it really expanded her world. She was comfortable with walking on new surfaces, hearing all sorts of new sounds, seeing all sorts of people, her environmental confidence shot up. She got so much better about cars, motorcycles, skateboards, etc.

• I have a reflective space blanket and magnets, anytime we stopped I was able to cover her side of the car to not only keep the car cooler, but also cut down her vision to triggers.

• I had a huge stash of chews for her to help bring her energy back to more balance after very exciting days. First thing we did in the campground was set up the dog spot and give them a chewy as we set up camp.

• We worked as a team, if we saw dogs we would put Leo as the buffer as we passed so she could see him calmly passing. I would let him know when there were dogs or fast moving things coming so Michael had time to get treats ready.

• We always made sure to have treats on us and ready.

• I bring familiar things from home, I put the same sheet or blanket from home on all of the hotel beds and on our sleeping bags in the tent. I brought their favorite toys that smell like home.

You notice Nick is not along for this trip. Part of being a guardian for a dog with big feelings is knowing when something is truly a benefit for a dog or not. Nick CAN do all of these things, we can bring him, he can manage, however there is really little about a trip like this that he would enjoy. He is not a fan of meeting strangers, he doesn’t like so much time being leashed and physically controlled, stress increases his tremor disorder. Nick LOVES the people we leave him with and honestly acts like he’s going to the best sleep away camp. He is so much happier and less stressed being cared for at home.

Julia is still so young and insecure, and she sees me and Leo as her safe space, so I felt like she would be a lot more comfortable and less stressed going with us rather than being left. I also understand her issues are mostly related to her excitement and that more experience will help her. Taking a reactive dog on a trip changes a lot about how you can explore and what you can do, but it can be done. But know that you also don’t have to! Many reactive dogs are so much happier being left with people they love rather than going with you.

Also know that even if you don’t have a dog with big feelings that travel can bring that out!! As a dog gets tired they can have emotional reactions to things they are normally ok with. Just like us, dogs can get tired and cranky, and if you keep putting them in stressful situations you can create negative associations to things that then stay with them as fears. So if you recognize your dog starting to get more sensitive use these same tips! You can still advocate for a friendly happy dog when you can see they are tired and don’t need to say hello to someone. Our neutral dogs need just as much rest and consideration as our dogs with big feelings!

Emergency Preparedness

In 2020 we found ourselves going from enjoying a usual morning in the garden to fleeing for our lives from a wildfire storm in the matter of an hour.

I’d like to share with you what we had prepared for that made the following days easier to manage, and what we learned from the event that we would do differently if such a thing should happen again.

First of all, strike from your mind the thinking “that could never happen to us”, as with climate change what was once normal and possible has been tossed upside down. We too once thought because we lived in town surrounded by highways and open lands we would never face a wildfire, those happened in the forest, not in town. Fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, heat waves, winter storms and so on, natural disasters come in many forms and are happening with more and more ferocity.

If you have pets, have you considered how you will handle events like evacuations or sheltering in place with them? What preparations you need to make to do so? Have you thought about what an evacuation with them would look like? What would you take? Where would you go?

Our local threats are primarily wildfires and earth quakes. Though heat waves and winter storms are also a consideration. So I keep evacuation supplies on the ready and also shelter in place supplies.

Here is what I know that you don’t know until you experience an event like this: your brain will struggle to make simple decisions once your body and mind switches into fight or flight mode. Simple things like deciding what you need to bring if you only have 15 minutes to pack will scramble your brain instantly. Because your brain will not want to accept that this is actually happening. I clearly remember standing in my doorway thinking “what else should I grab” and at the time my head was completely blank, after I could think of a dozen things I could have grabbed on my way out the door. What made it into the car was what was in my evacuation kit. So now I have lists: what to bring if I have to leave immediately, what to bring if I have more time to pack, listed in order of importance.

What we did right:

• I had my cat carriers easily available and ready to go and had worked with the cats on being easy to load on my own.

• I loaded the cats into their carriers first thing so I knew no matter what they were ready to go.

• I had a tote with a weeks supply of cat & dog food and water.

• I had a portable fire safe that contained our passports, important papers, valuables that was easy to grab and ready to go.

• I had a portable file box that had all of our important papers: home owners insurance, etc.

• I had my cameras & laptops all in one place and easy to grab.

• I had all of those things in one area of our house so when it came time I didn’t have to run around looking for stuff, I knew where it all was.

• We left as early as possible to get ahead of the worst of the traffic.

• We knew where we would go.

• We contacted one family member and asked them to contact everyone else to let them know we had gotten out.

• We checked in on all our neighbors that were home to make sure everyone was able to get out.

• The moment we knew our home had been destroyed we contacted our insurance company and got things going before they were flooded with claims.

What we learned:

• We did not really understand our home owners insurance policy and what all it covered, we learned later that for only a couple hundreds dollars a year we could have opted for a 2 year recovery plan instead of 1 year. In the case of a natural disaster 1 year is pretty unrealistic unless you have the best builder ever as a friend like we did that moved heaven and earth to get our home built in 6 months in the middle of a disaster. All the infrastructure of the town had to be replaced and we had to wait 6 months to even get going with the permit process. You need 2 years!

• We did not have a complete home inventory list so had to rely on memory and photos to catalog everything we lost, which was grueling and very emotionally triggering. We did not understand that though our policy said we were covered to a certain amount that we would have to show them the inventory of what we lost to collect those funds.

• We were lucky that our agent had helped us have a pretty good policy despite our lack of understanding as we made out a lot better than many of our neighbors. For example we had a replacement cost policy that bumped our payout over our maximums due to the fact the costs had risen so drastically with covid and material shortages, so those extra costs were covered. Many of our neighbors that did not have that coverage ended up having to take out building loans to cover the extra costs.

• Everyone kept telling us “don’t worry, this is what Fema is for, you will be taken care of”, nope. We did not get a penny from the government even though we lost everything. Not a cent. We spent hours and hours knee deep in paperwork but everything was denied. If you are ever looking to support national charities that do help: Red Cross and United Way were the most available and easiest to get help from.

• You need multiple plans on where you will go. The entire routes south were out, luckily we were able to go to our friends to our west, but there were no roads open to go south at all so I learned we need places to go in multiple directions incase the place I planned to go was inaccessible.

• If your plan involves hotels, have the # on the ready and reserve immediately. Our neighbors ended up sleeping in their car because all the hotels that took pets were booked up immediately within a 3 hour drive.

• Have some clothes packed. I was lucky that we had taken a trip the weekend before to the beach and I had not yet pulled my duffle bag out of the car, otherwise I would have only had the clothes on my back, so at least I had a change of underwear! Michael had only the clothes he was wearing until we were able to get to a store later.

• Be prepared for things to shut down! Our car was almost out of gas, luckily we were able to stop on our way out, but a short time later the county sheriff issued a stay at home order and everything shut down so they could keep the roads open for emergency services. Thankfully our friends we evacuated to took us in and fed us and had everything else we needed that we did not have. This taught me that 1/2 a tank is empty and this time of year I keep my gas tank full!

• You have to be stronger than you ever imagined you would have to be. The insurance companies, the mortgage companies, landlords for rentals, working, rebuilding… the world keeps spinning even if yours has just blown up, and somehow you are expected to make so many decisions and ford all this red tape, don’t expect that to be made easy for you. It’s not. The people helping you are at work, even if they are good at what they do, they are still at work and have a job to do even if your world is upside down, do not expect them to understand what you are experiencing.

• Lists! Lists! Lists! Keep lists ready to take over when your brain gets fried by fight or flight instincts and fear.

  • Immediate evacuation lists

  • Packing lists for evacuation with notice

  • Packing lists for be ready notices (the longer warning you have the more you can move to safety, don’t wait to get the things that matter most to you out)

  • Lists of accounts and numbers you need after! Have your insurance information easy to find!

  • Home inventory! At minimum video everything in your house!

What’s in our emergency kit:

• Cat carriers, lined with potty pads, always kept in the same place ready to grab & go

• Dog leashes & harnesses - including slip leads near every door

• Dog booties

• Food and water bowls

• Disposable cat litter boxes

• 3 days food for all of us

• 3 days water supply for all of us

• N95 masks, goggle and leather work gloves

• Jeans, long sleeve shirts & boots

• headlamps & flashlights

• Power bank

• Garmin Inreach

• glow sticks

• Change of clothes

• Toiletries (travel toothbrush, tooth paste, soap, etc)

• first aid kit

• File box with all our important papers

• Emergency lists- important phone numbers, places we can go, lists of things to take with us if we have time

For sheltering in place we also have an additional 2 weeks supply of food and water, fuel for our camp stove.

The great thing for us is since we camp, hike and backpack we generally have on hand everything we need, and we are able to keep rotating things as we use & replace the food and fuel.

Some helpful websites for building your kits:

Ready.Gov

Cal Fire

Julia goes to a dog show

I wanted to take a moment to share abour Julia’s first trip with us, joining as I brought Leo to a dog show. I wasn’t sure how she would do, especially given she just learned how to move on a leash. When she arrived she was so frightened of a leash that she would flatten on the ground like a pancake when you put one on her. She was also terrified of new people. So going to a dog show packed with people and staying in a hotel seemed like a big jump. I decided in the end that it would have been more stressful for her to stay home than facing all these new things. I knew she was comfortable following Leo most anywhere, and I knew she was comfortable and felt safe in a crate and figured between those two things we could navigate the weekend.

What I did NOT expect was that she would basically turn into a new dog! Something happened inside her little self when she realized she was coming on a trip with us. When we got out of the car at the park next to the hotel she ran around on her long leash next to Leo with her ears up, her head high and her tail wagging. She was curious, happy and confident. The show grounds and hotel is right next to an air field, airplanes taking off and landing, she glanced over, looked at Leo ignoring the sound she dismissed it. We took a nice long walk, she saw ducks, bicycles, joggers, skateboard, kids, dogs, cars and she trotting alongside Leo like she does this everyday.

I left her and Leo in their crates in the car while I checked into the hotel and set up the room with her familiar things: I brought a folding soft crate with the bed from the crate she sleeps in at home, their favorite toys. Then I left them in their car crates while I set up our grooming spot at the show. I let Leo and Taylor say hi where Julia could watch but had her stay in the crate while they said their hellos so Leo could say hi to Rose and Taylor on his own. Rose had about an hour or so of grooming to do on Leo’s feet and ears so while he was on the grooming table I brought Julia in. There was only about 10% of the people and dogs that would be there once the show started and I didn’t want her feeling worried being alone in the car. But again, she was totally ok. She sat in my arms or on a grooming table for about 15 minutes as she took everything in. Leo being the most chill dog again she looked at him, he was relaxed and so she was too. We had taken a long walk so she was tired, so I put her in a crate next to Taylor and she curled up and went to sleep.

After that we headed back to the hotel, which required her riding in an elevator. Literally a week ago I couldn’t get her to walk in my front door at home, yet she trotted right in the front door of the hotel into the busy lobby and then right into the elevator like she’s done this all her life. She was a little unsure when it started moving but again Leo was unphased so she decided she was too. She met Taylor in the room and they instantly hit it off. She is basically a female version of Leo and she was in heaven having a new bestie. Julia is a little beastie when she plays and Taylor did give her one “correction” (just a quick bark) when Julia grabbed at her cheek like she does Leo. It was great seeing how she took that, and then adjusted her play with Taylor after that, watching that she was be gentle with her teeth and keeping an eye on Taylor to make sure she wasn’t over stepping.

Julia handled hotel life with ease. She went to the door when she needed to go out, rode in the elevator with lots of dogs and people she didn’t know, didn’t have any accidents. She slept quietly in her crate next to my bed each night. Each day during the time I needed to show Leo she slept in the car crate (it was very cool out so I could safely leave her in the car). After Leo was done I then took her into the show for some socializing and she was a champ even without Leo! I knew I couldn’t properly handle both of them in all of that chaos and see to both their needs at once. She IS a snarky little b!tch if someone shoves into her personal space. She snarked at a Flatcoat who surprised her when she was sitting on my lap. She made little ugly faces (subtle quick snarls) anytime she saw another dog eating bait after Rose gave her a taste of what they were getting 😂. She was sure that all treats should be hers. Another person let their PWD stand over her completely ignoring her body language asking for space. So I scooper her up and out of there as I saw her little requests being ignored. I have no doubt she would have snarked at that dog had I not as I saw her eyes going hard. But she was completely comfortable around all the chaos, being among all those dogs and she was happy to meet all sorts of new people. I kept the times in the show buildings short so she didn’t have time to get too over excited or worried. She loved watching the agility dogs and was like a whole new dog watching them run. I have NO doubt after seeing who she was inside the arena that she can handle a trial environment when and if we decide to do that together.

We took long walks in the park every day with Leo. That was her favorite time. She was sparkly and so happy to experience all these new things. At one point a group of small children ran over and asked if they could pet the dogs. I said they could pet Leo but not Julia since I could see she was unsure and they all surrounded him at once, he was in heaven with all those tiny hands petting him. He sat there smiling with his tail wagging, so then Julia decided she was missing out on something so she joined the party. She loved watching the ducks and has decided they are weird looking cats that probably need to be chased.

Things I did during this trip.

• I mostly managed everything and I very much modeled Leo’s behavior. What do I mean by that, well I mostly just left her to take things in without putting any expectations or pressure on her. I just showed her that everything is no big deal.

• When people wanted to say hi I didn’t have a big production about it. I just let Julia decide whether to put herself close enough or not and if she did they could pet her.

• I managed everything rather than training, by that I mean, if I saw other dogs were getting in the elevator with us I would just pick her up and move us over to the side and set her down behind me, where she could watch and feel safe. I walked her on a harness and 10ft lead so she always had room to move away from anything that concerned her.

• At the hotel instead of expecting her to focus and go potty where there were dozens of dogs being walked, we walked away from the hotel to a nice quiet spot where she wasn’t distracted.

• So I went out of my way to just put her in successful situations but didn’t try to adjust any of her behaviors.

• I set up the car, the room and the grooming area to provide her with safe spots to rest.

• I walked her away from the show in the nice big open park where she felt confident and happy.

• I never once made her sit, or walk on a loose leash, or stay, or look at me. I just guided her like Leo does and let her make her own choices.

• I didn’t feed her a single treat all weekend (she got night night cookies obviously) but I didn’t use food to have her meet people or feel comfortable around dogs.

• I didn’t worry about things, if I saw big dogs I thought she might be worried about I picked her up and moved us past. I never said “it’s ok” or modeled any kind of I might be worried behaviors. I just channeled the Leo, it’s cool, we are cool attitude.

• I wasn’t upset with her when she was snarky or made ugly faces, I accepted this is who she is right now so I just was sure to help protect her personal space and moved her away when I saw she was tense.

Things I learned about Julia on this trip

• She is snarky and needs to learn it’s ok if other dogs also get treats

• She is super smart and learns a lot through observation

• While she is slow to meet people she doesn’t have stranger danger, she is just inexperienced. She very much enjoys being pet and likes people

• She can take a correction from a dog and learn without getting upset

• She is possessive and we will be working on resource guarding (I knew this, but seeing how cranky she was seeing dogs getting treats she wasn’t that far away showed me the level of her ideas of possession)

• She is ready for more socializing
  

Tips for Traveling with dogs

My biggest tip? DOG TRAINING of course. Having a well trained dog makes training much less stressful.

Tip 1: Train your dog!

Helpful behaviors to teach specific to traveling

• STAY/WAIT. Not only does this help with safety: while you open doors for loading and unloading luggage or camping gear from the car, hotel room doors, etc. But it also makes getting “the perfect shot” for photography much easier.

• COME. This is truly the most important cue you can teach a dog. Even though we keep our dogs on leash when traveling, accidents happen and knowing your dog will come back to you if you drop the leash, they slip their collar, the door gets left open, etc is the best peace of mind.

• LOOSE LEASH WALKING/HEEL. Exploring new areas on leash is far more pleasant if your dog doesn’t drag you around. For my pups I use a harness for walking and the harness has the ability for the leash to attach to their back or chest. The chest attachment is their cue to walk by me and not pull, the back clip is their cue they can pull and do what they please. Using “heel” when we navigate a busy park or restaurant when I need them to leave everyone else alone and stay right at my side.

• LOAD UP. Having your dog know the cue to go to the car and load up is so convenient. On that cue Leo jumps in the back of the car, or puts his feet up at the side door so I only need to boost his bum up. It’s so nice when I’m heading to the car with my arms loaded with luggage to say “load up” and have him just head to the car and wait for me to open the car door, keeps him from wandering around.

• GO POTTY. Having a dog that knows the cue to potty can make it so much easier for everyone during travel. Many dogs are very habitual with potty habits and in strange places often struggle to go potty when they are distracted and can’t find the perfect spot. Saying “go potty” always helps my dogs to understand that this spot we are is the option they have to find a spot to go and helps them more comfortably travel knowing they have “done their business”. So teaching them the “go potty” cue is very helpful for travel.

Hyatt Place Page/Lake Powell, A fantastic pet friendly hotel we stayed at in Page Arizona on our trip to the Grand Canyon.

Tip 2: Finding pet friendly accommodations

Sites that can help:

Bring Fido

Pet Friendly Travel

Go Pet Friendly

These sites often offer reviews or more detailed information about a hotel’s pet policies, but you always need to check, sometimes they have changed since that site reviewed the hotel. My go to is generally googling “pet friendly hotels” in the areas I want to go, then I go to the reviews and check out what people personally experienced staying there. Then I will go to the hotels site/socials and see what their pet policies are. Often we call because with many sites they make it really hard to find the details when trying to book a room. It can be really tricky because it is not always easy to find a hotel’s policies as they tend to really bury them in their site. Often even if it says “pet friendly” under their amenities they often have restrictions to what that means: size of dog, how many dogs, what rooms they allow you in, etc.

I find that when it comes to hotels there are hotels that:

• do not permit dogs

• allow dogs- have some pet rooms available, often not their better rooms- often they put you in smoking rooms, the loud rooms nearest laundry/ice machines, etc.

• pet friendly- a step up from the hotels that just stuff you in less desirable rooms. Often have a few extra touches- like some treats for your pups. But often still have restrictions like what rooms you can book, sizes of dogs allowed, etc.

• cater to travelers with pets- they roll out the red carpet for you and make you feel truly welcome and not like an inconvenience. These are the gems! They often have dog beds and special touches for your pet, some allow you to leave dogs in the room (they give you special cards to hang on the door to alert staff and take your cell # so they can contact you if your dog is distressed). Many have resources for the area: local pet sitters, some have a pet concierge that can advise you on local pet friendly dining, hikes, parks, etc. They go out of their way to help you have the best experience on the road with your pup! Though they often cost more we generally seek out these places knowing we will likely have a much better experience.

Pet Policies:

• Check for size restrictions

• Check for restrictions on numbers of dogs

• Is it a pet fee or a deposit? One you get back, the other you do not.

• Is it a one time charge or per night or per pet?

• Expect to pay from $25-100 for a standard pet fee.

• Are there room restrictions?

Have pets that exceed policy limits???

• Make your dogs a resume. I used to put together a folder with my dog’s obedience titles, reference letters from my vet saying I was an ultra responsible dog owner, pictures of my dogs being good dogs. Many times asking to speak with a manager and showing them our dogs were well mannered pampered companions and offering to pay a deposit worked to get us rooms that were often not available traditionally.

• Ask if you can speak to the manager and see if they have any flexibility to their policy. You would be surprised how accommodating some places can be if you simply ask nicely.

• Only get dogs that look the same so they have no idea how many you have 🤣, obviously kidding.

• Please do not decide to get around it by pretending your dog is a service animal. People with service dogs often deal with businesses not believing them because of so many people breaking the rules by pretending their dog is a service animal, please do not do this.

THe best of the best:

BEST FRIENDS ROADHOUSE AND MERCANTILE.

Our FAVORITE pet friendly hotel we have ever stayed at! An onsite fenced in dog park with a splash pad, onsite dog bathing spa with everything you need, fire pit, outside tables for enjoying a meal outside with your pup, with high quality accommodations! This place is the bees knees! If you ever get the chance to visit if you are in Kanab UT do it! AND if that wasn’t enough, staying here helps the Best Friends Animal Society, their sanctuary is just a few miles away where you can take a tour, and if you are not traveling with your own pet, you can opt to bring a pet from the sanctuary to spend the night with you!

Best Friends Roadhouse

Cypress In, Carmel California

Feels like every pet lover ought to visit this gem that Doris day was a joint owner of. We visited many years ago with Butters and had such a lovely experience. Carmel is one of the most pet friendly towns to visit! Nearly every shop invited us in, the beach was basically one big dog park. Maybe not the easiest place for a reactive dog, but we sure had a wonderful time.

Cypress Inn

Hotel Chains:

Stay Pineapple!!! Each one of these we have stayed at has been the best pet friendly travel experience. Not only do they allow dogs, they cater to them! They have many perks that make you feel not just welcome, but like a special guest. If a place we are traveling to has a Stay Pineapple option we definitely choose them! We have stayed at both the Seattle and Portland locations and had a BLAST.

Staypineapple

Leo at the Hotel Rose Staypineapple

LOGE Camps & Hotels. Being outdoors & dog lovers this is the best of both worlds! A group of hotels that cater to outdoor lovers that travel with their dogs. Not only are the pet friendly, but they offer a big variety of activities you can add on to enjoy.

Pup it up at LOGE Camps

There are many pet friendly hotel chains, however not all locations always allow pets so you need to check the location you are visiting to see if they take dogs. We have always had good luck finding comfortable consistent rooms from: Best Western, Holiday Inn Express, Hyatt & LaQuinta.

There are definitely many more great options out there, I am just sharing places we have had personal experiences with!

Be sure to let hotels know that you choose their establishments because of their pet friendly policies!

***TIP the room cleaning staff!!!*** Leave a tip of $3-5 per day, leave it each day incase the staff changes each day, leave it in an easy to spot location like on the desk or bathroom sink. Have them clean your room each day! The hotel itself these days post covid often don’t always offer automatic cleaning each day, help out the cleaning staff by requesting it, you are paying for this, take advantage of it! And again help the cleaning staff who are usually working for minimum wage. The more rooms they clean the more they get paid, leave them a tip, even though you get charged a pet cleaning fee they don’t give this directly to the cleaning staff.

Tips for making your hotel stay more comfortable for you and your pet!

• Bring a blanket/sheet from home, not only does it help your pet not make a mess of their linens, it also makes your pup more comfortable having something that smells like home.

• Crate training is a wonderful way for many pups to learn how to settle down and rest in a hotel. Leo slept in his soft crate next to the bed the first few times we stayed in a hotel while he was getting used to the sounds of sleeping in a hotel.

• If your dog likes cozy sleeping spots bringing their bed from home can also help them feel more cozy and secure.

• White noise. I often run the room’s ac fan or have the TV on when my dog’s are first getting used to a hotel room for the first time. I have also done things like put a towel or blanket along the bottom of the door as often dog’s are unsettled hearing/seeing people moving around just outside their door.

• Set up your dog’s essentials (water bowl, food bowl, crate/bed) in as similar of a location as possible so they learn quickly where their things will be. Every hotel we stay in I put their water bowls in the same spot: in the bathroom on a towel by the tub/shower.

• Bring some toys!

• Don’t leave them alone! Even if they allow you to, wait until you are sure your dog is comfortable traveling before you leave them alone. The first time we left Leo we set up one phone on FaceTime so we could watch with the other phone to see how he did. We just left for 10 minutes and watched to make sure he was ok (he was fine).

• Bring water from home or used bottled water if possible. Dog’s can have a very sensitive GI system when stressed, and travel can be stressful so try to keep their diet and water the same.

• Keep special treats and foods to a minimum and never give them something they have never had before or you run the risk of having a sick dog. Dog’s can be very sensitive to fatty rich foods and get diarrhea or even worse pancreatitis. So make sure any treats you give are ones you know they have enjoyed before and keep them to a minimum.

Bring some toys for your dog! Leo also suggests getting more at each stop 🤣

AirBNB & Vacation rentals

Sometimes the best option is to forgo the hotels and find a vacation rental instead! In general when traveling with a pet we have found that you need to be staying in the same place for at least 3 or more days for a vacation rental to make sense. Usually between the normal cleaning fees & added pet fees, staying for just a day or two it ends up being more in fees than you would pay for a very nice hotel. Always be sure you check the final amount due before booking as those fees can be sneaky, so often the advertised rate is before all those fees that often end up doubling what you owe. But if you are traveling with a group, have dogs that exceed hotel size restrictions or have multiple dogs sometimes it is the best option.

If you plan to stay in an area for more than a few days this is usually the best option as many places have fenced yards and offer a lot more living space for your pups to enjoy. Also being able to rent an entire home or cabin can be much less stressful for reactive or anxious dogs.

On a tighter budget?

Tent Camp!

Our amazing private camping spot in Monument Valley that we found using the Hipcamp app.

It’s not as easy as it used to be, as now it often means committing to a trip 6 months to a year in advance to reserve camping sites.

But there are some tricks!

• check out state and county parks, they often don’t have online reservations and are often first come first serve.

• dispersed camping! what is this? camping on public lands that do not have developed campgrounds. There are apps like DYRT that can help you find spots.

• private campgrounds. Often you can find privately owned and offered camps, not just commercial operations like KOA, but using apps like Airbnb, Hipcamp and dirt you can find camping offered up on privately owned lands.

We love camping and it’s often how we make trips more affordable, we mix it up between hotels and camping. When we were younger and hardier 🤣 we always camped, and back then it was a lot easier before online reservations became a thing, and it made travel a lot more approachable for us. It can still be done, but takes a bit more work finding spots, especially post covid.

When tent camping for travel keep it simple, take only what you need as likely you will just be sleeping here and moving on. His bed is his crate pad on top of the blanket we use on hotel beds. Sandwiches with warm cup of soup only need to be able to boil some water. Cereal for breakfast with hot coffee or cocoa, again only need to boil some water. That way the only kitchen stuff we needed was our backpacking stove, a small pot and some mugs, all of which fit into the camp pot.

Budget Hotels:

There are many budget friendly hotels. Age has a way of making a person more fussy and willing to pay more for a goodnights sleep, but for most of our early adulthood the only places in our budgets were the least expensive hotels. Red Roof Inn and Motel 6 are two chains that are almost always pet friendly. Look for locally owned options, often they are more reasonable. Also check out private campgrounds for pet friendly cabins, many have started to add little tiny houses for rent onto their grounds for just such purposes.

• Ask for upstairs rooms which are usually quieter.

• Ask for rooms not next to elevators or ice machines as those get the most traffic.

• Factor in meals, does it include breakfast? Does it have a microwave and fridge so you can eat in the room instead of a restaurant? Sometimes you can go for a little more expensive room and save by eating in.

bring your own food!

• You would be surprised how much you can save by bringing as much of your food and drinks from home, or stopping at grocery stores along the way instead of eating out or using convenience stores for drinks and snacks.

• We saved so much money on our last trip eating most all of our meals from our cooler and drinking what we brought from home. Having a little backpacking stove meant we could even whip up hot cocoa and coffee on stops.

seek out free fun activities

• hiking, walking, exploring new places is fun.

• road side attractions break up the drive and give you a place to stretch your legs and have a picnic

want to find good local pet friendly hikes? Ask people! Especially if you stay in a pet friendly place, ask where locals hike with their dogs. Pop into a pet store, buy some treats and find out where locals think is the best hike to take with your dog.

Buy Yearly passes

• We didn’t pay for a single park entrance! We have an annual National parks pass that works on all our federal hiking trailheads and National parks. By the time we took this trip we had already used the pass enough times to pay for it. So the annual pass cost $80, we visited 6 National parks in the past month which would have cost us $210 if we had paid per visit. And that is not counting the times we saved $5 per hike or day use area over the course of the year. Also many places offer discounts if you have the annual pass, like our local lake charges $10 per day for a pass, they have an annual pass that only cost me $27 after they discounted it due to our annual National park pass. Also almost all national forest campgrounds offer a discount if you have the annual pass.

Car Traveling Tips!

• CRATE TRAINING!!!!! Having a safe secure high quality crate not only gives them a safe spot to snooze, but it can create a traveling routine to just chill out and rest in the car. Be sure to choose a safe high quality crate that can survive an accident and be sure to secure it in your car using straps and tie downs. (Seeing multiple photos of this crate surrounded by crumpled cars sold me on it). While it is more fun having a dog out of a crate so you can more easily interact with them, it is simply far less safe. So many dogs are lost in accidents because after the accident they get frightened and run away, even ignoring their owners calls because they are in fight or flight mode and just race off without any thought.

• Seat belt your dogs if you do not crate them. True story many years ago a person I know was killed in a car accident by her dog’s flying body hitting her head when they crashed. Secure your dogs and things.

• Use sunscreens and fans to keep your dog’s cool in the back of the car. A comfortable dog will be a less stressed dog!

You can see I’ve put a screen up between his crate and the window and have a fan blowing on him. That white box on his crate is a temperature gauge, I can tell you at times his crate which was directly behind my seat, and our car has rear ac vents, was still up to 10 degrees warmer than it was in the front of the car if I wasn’t running the fan. The fan pushed a lot more cool air back and quickly cooled his crate.

Here is the temperature gauge reader, his number is the “outdoor” one. In this case he was cooler than us as the sun was on my side of the car and my window wasn't shaded like his was. I was also able to use this gauge when we went into a restaurant or store without him so I could monitor the car temperature.

• Schedule regular stops so your dog can get out and stretch their legs and decompress.

• You can use apps like Sniffspot to find places to visit or what I do is travel with my atlas and I look for fun stops along the way where we might see something neat. Like the Sand Mountain we discovered was just a spot I saw on the map at a time that made for a good pit stop. “Rest stops” are my last choice for a stop with dogs, why? They are usually right on the road and loud, very busy spots that many dogs find stressful. So I like getting further off the road.

• Acclimate your dog to travel gradually! Start with shorter trips closer to home to get them used to the car travel and staying in a strange place.

• Again keep treats to known things and minimal so you don’t upset their stomachs.

• Placing a towel or sunscreen over their crates can help create a cozier den that also lessens them seeming arousing or scary things out the window and act like “hooding” a bird, and often helps calm dogs in their crates.

Additional research for travel tips!

• Research Dog daycares options before you go, even if you don’t plan to use them it is nice to know it’s an option. Again I google search “dog daycare (and the name of where I’m going)” and then I read though the reviews. Then once I find a few options I call and talk to people as well as checking out their socials, and see if I can see what the dog’s in their care look like, do they look relaxed and happy or stressed. I ask about their policies: are the dogs free playing together all in one area or are they separate in kennels (I prefer separate in kennels), how often are they walked or taken out, how many people oversee their care, what happens in the event of an emergency? Or maybe does the hotel you are staying at have pet sitter recommendations and you can hire someone to come stay with them. Calling local Vet clinics, pet stores, dog groomers can also be a resource to ask who they recommend locally for pet care.

• You can also check out the Rover app, but always be sure you vet people and don’t just trust what someone posts. Get referrals, set up meet and greets and trust your gut if something doesn’t feel right. When traveling go with safe over fun, so I would 100% prefer hiring someone to come stay with my dog in my hotel room than send them with someone who is going to take them to play with other dogs, what if the dogs don’t get along, what it they are not careful and let my dog off leash, go with safe and secure over fun! If leaving them someplace see the facility and inspect where they plan on keeping your dog.

• Use your socials. If you are on FB and IG ask people! Let people know you are planning a trip and do they recommend anything or anyone in the area? I found several of the places and the daycare we used with Leo by doing just that.

• Research emergency vet options in the areas you plan to travel! On our trip in my phone notes section I had a list of Emergency Vet locations and phone numbers. You never know and an emergency is just that, so you don’t want to only then be starting your research to find help. Know before you go where to get help if you need it. Carry records of your dog’s vaccinations and any important medical information.

• Know the local risks! I just talked to someone who had no idea what foxtails were until their dog was at the vet having one removed from its foot. I spent our trip being on the lookout for snakes, cactus and foxtails. Do the local waterways have toxic algae blooms? Are ticks an issue? Find out what you need to be aware of while in that area.

Leo’s Ruffwear Travel Bag with all his gear.

Dog Travel Gear

think about your adventure and bring only what you need, but be sure you have what you need!

Leo has some extras as I was trying hard to keep his coat in show shape despite all our adventures. So I brought what I needed to keep him clean and groomed.

Here was this trip’s list of essentials:

• Ruffland Crate.

• 6 foot leash, for all parks and public settings where leash lengths are not allowed to exceed 6ft. I have attached to the leash handle a poop bag holder with plenty of bags.

• Flexi Leash. For potty breaks at hotels and rest stops it is hard to beat the convenience of a retractable leash. I know a lot of people hate using them, but for travel it is so much easier than a long line in my opinion.

• Travel food & water bowls. I like the sea to summit collapsing bowls, they fit in his travel food bag perfectly.

• Food- I use kibble + a freeze dried raw topper.

• Water- I bring water from home or use bottled water.

• Tie out long line for camping.

• Flat Collar with ID tags that he always wears.

• Harness for walking/hiking and tying out when camping.

• Treats, lots of high value treats. I like freeze dried when traveling, they seem to hold up really well with the big temperature changes in the car, they are high value despite being dry and don’t need refrigeration once open, couldn’t get more dry or stale in the desert 🤣.

• Toys, a couple tennis balls and a big stuffy are on his essential list!

• Brush/comb for getting burs out of his coat after hikes. (I also brought coat conditioner to protect his coat while doing so)

• Pet wipes. I like using these to clean his feet if he’s walked in a sketchy rest area, and also if his feet are filthy before we go into hotel rooms since he gets on the bed with us. And they came in handy on the trip as one morning he urp’d on himself as he was too excited to eat breakfast and then barfed some bile on his feet. Earthbath Grooming wipes

• Waterless shampoo, see above barf incident. So nice having the things you need to clean up a mess on the go. Earthbath - Grooming foam

• Natural flea & tick spray - Wondercide I don’t like using monthly flea & tick treatments. They creep me out and are often horrible for the environment. So I use a natural spray before we go and then each evening or after a hike use a slicker brush (they catch the ticks in their fine teeth better than other brushes) and/or a flea comb to check them for fleas & ticks.

• Paw Balm

• SO MANY POOP BAGS. I stuff a roll of poop bags in every door, in every bag, in jacket pockets, in the glove box, in his bag, in my daypack. Basically they are always within reach so there is never a moment I am not ready to grab that poo.

• An old empty wide mouth Nalgene bottle. This is my poop vault if he poops in an area where there are no trash cans so we can have it not stink up the car or my backpack. I bag it and pop it in the old bottle and it keeps the stink at bay until we can get it to a trash can. PACK IT OUT!

• A battery operated fan for his crate. also his temperature sensor and monitor. Because we were traveling to the desert and I knew we needed to watch the heat.

• Extra sun shades for his crate.

• First aid kit.

• Vaccine Records.

• Needed adventure gear- selected by the adventure.

We brought his Ruffwear Float Coat since I knew he would be swimming in some bigger water, like here in the Colorado River. I love that it has a leash clip ring on the back of the harness so I could let him swim with a long line on for safety.

Here he is wearing his Dog Booties fleece booties. I like the fleece booties when I just want a little extra protection from the hot ground. For the more intensive hiking we use their cordura nylon booties. For extreme protection (like running on the salt flats I use the Ruffwear Grip Tex boots . I know that is overkill, but… dog boots are in general not great and each one has a pro and a con for each situation…. and the ones from dog booties take up no space and are very light.

Definitely don’t leave home without his Silvershade Mesh K9 Cooler the ONLY cooling coat that works effectively when dry!

Feet & Heat

I try very hard to keep my gear to a minimum, the backpacker in me knows how to pair things down. BUT when taking a dog on an adventure I ALWAYS prioritize keeping them safe in the heat and taking care of their feet! While hiking in the desert I was constantly checking the ground, on this hike he was fine until the last 10 minutes of the hike when the ground had heated up. We test it with the back of our hands, if it’s uncomfortable for our hands, his boots go on. Also much of the time we were popping in and out of the car, I had on my sandals so each time I slid my shoe off, stood for a bit on the ground and determined if it was too hot or not for his feet.

Once a dog’s foot pad is injured it changes the whole trip for them, so I work hard to keep their feet happy. Each night I checked between his toes for foxtails, checked under his feet for foxtails and to see how his pads were holding up.

I used his cool coat and fan to keep him cool. Once a dog starts showing signs of heat stress it can be very dangerous, so I play it safe and constantly checked to see how he was handling the heat.

Leo with all his gear loaded up! These Ruffwear Travel Bags were a splurge, but I absolutely love them, they made keeping his things organized so easy!

You can get by with a lot less! You can travel on a budget. It is really about finding the adventure that fits your lifestyle and budget. We traveled for many years minimally. The more we have adventured the more we have dialed in our system to make it as enjoyable for all as possible. These are things we have found along the way that make our experiences on the road easier and more enjoyable.

Coming soon… Our adventure to the Southwest US in more detail…

Visiting National Parks with dogs.

Leo in his Junior Ranger hat at the Grand Canyon entrance

There are a lot of limitations to traveling to National Parks with a dog, however it can also be an extremely fulfilling fun adventure if you know what to expect before you go.

First of all, know what to expect as to where you can go in a park with your dog. It is fairly straightforward, they are generally permitted on paved developed spaces like look outs, paved walkways, campgrounds, etc. As the Ranger at Bryce told me: “paws on pavement”. Some parks have more paved paths and walkways that allow for a lot more exploring than others and some permit dogs on more trails than others. For example at Grand Canyon & Bryce Canyon we had many areas we could explore along the rim as most of it has been made easily assessable for all. While Zion & Capitol Reef had fewer walking paths for the dogs, they also provided immense experiences being able to drive through the park with our car.

The best resource to. see where your dog will be permitted in the park is on the National Park Website: National Park Service

• search the park you plan to visit

• under the tab “plan your visit” select “basic information”

• then select “pets” and it will let you know where dogs are permitted in the park.

But absolutely having a dog with you is going to limit the areas of a park you can explore in most National Parks. I strongly suggest if you do go National Park adventuring with your dog that you take a buddy with you so you have someone who can hold your pup as you take turns seeing some of the parts of a park you don’t want to miss. Rarely were the conditions right for us to be able to leave Leo in the car as the parking lots were usually jam packed and finding shade was a rare event. So we had to have him with us the entire time. We took turns going into the stores and visitor centers, hiking some of the trails we didn’t want to miss. This often meant long periods of time just sitting and chilling with Leo while the other person adventured. I still enjoyed this as Leo loved meeting people and was very good about hanging out.

Environments like this are not easy for dogs that are not naturally social. While most people were very good about asking permission to pet Leo more than a few times at each park people just started petting him. He had little children run up and wrap their arms around him surprising both of us, he had little kids bark at him as they walked by. He had multiple dogs just come up into his face as their owners were so distracted by the views not even noticing us. These are the reasons why we did not bring Nick, because I would not have been able to enjoy myself as I would have had to be on constant guard to help him manage those situations while Leo just can. Yes, I still advocated for him, but the reality is that in a park with hundreds of people all around you, it is almost impossible to see everything coming whilst enjoying the park yourself. Not only do you need to be aware of helping protect your dog from unsolicited contact, it’s also important to be aware not everyone likes dogs and some people are afraid of them. So part of my job was also watching people and being responsible and respectful giving those who showed hesitation lots of space so they did not need to pass by him if they were worried.

Can you spot me hiding? In all the photos that look like he might be off leash, I am actually right there. I might be hiding behind him, behind a rock, or standing right next to him just out of the shot. Don’t take your dog’s off leash in a National Park!

Tips for navigating:

• Visit during off seasons or hours if possible. We visited before the school season ended, in just a matter of a couple weeks the crowds would be much bigger than what we experienced. For the Grand Canyon we got up early and visited in the early morning before most people arrived.

• Utilize local day care options so you can board your dog as you explore the park. Many of the parks have quality day care options outside of the park in nearby towns and the Grand Canyon has a daycare in the park at the South Rim.

• Bring a friend/family member to help you manage your pup so you get to see somethings and go in places they cannot go.

• Have a plan for how to keep your dog safe if they do not like being touched, use treats to keep them tucked in close to you, don’t get yourself boxed in a corner at a look out, hang back and wait, often the crowds come and go in waves as the shuttle buses drop off, if you wait a moment the area you want to move into might clear out giving your dog more space. But really I would strongly consider if this is the right adventure for them if you will both be stressed the whole time.

• The further you get from the park entrances often the areas get less busy, so maybe forgo the busy popular sections and go to the further areas first.

• Research dog friendly areas near the parks so you can exercise your dog before and after going to the park.

Bryce canyon NP:

We found this to be a really fun park to explore with Leo. There were many view points where he was permitted. The high elevation meant it was not as hot as some of the other areas we explored. There were many great hiking trails that he was not permitted on, so we did take turns hanging out with him while the other person explored. He was permitted on the paved trail between Sunset and Sunrise view points which was a lovely little hike packed with views, it’s only a half mile long but it did make for a lovely walk we could all enjoy together. We stopped by the visitors center and picked up his Bark Ranger tag for his collection.

Parking at this park was frustratingly hard. Many of the viewpoints took 5-6 tries to find a spot to park. So be prepared to spend more time than you wish looking for a spot if you visit during prime seasons.

Looking for a dog friendly alternative nearby? Check out Red Canyon, part of the Dixie National Forest, just a few miles west of Bryce Canyon. Dogs are permitted on leash on the hiking trails.

We stayed in Kanab, UT at Best Friends Roadhouse OMG! The BEST hotel I have ever stayed at with a pet. Not only are pets welcome, they are adored and catered to! There are no pet fees. There is an onsite fenced in private dog park with a splash pad, an amazing pet wash station with everything you need to give your pup a bath after a day of hiking, a fire pit and outside tables where we were able to hang out and enjoy the desert sunset color filled skies. They gave us great recommendations of where we could eat in town that had outdoor patio areas so Leo could join us, as well as information on dog friendly hikes we could take before heading to our next destination.

Zion NP

This was the hardest of the 4 parks we visited to get a lot out of while having a dog with us. The main scenic drive of the park is only accessible via the public shuttle which dogs are not permitted on. The area around the visitors center was the best area for Leo as it had nice walking paths and decent shade.

The Pa’rus trail was the only trail in the park dogs are permitted on, but look at the ground near this sign, the whole trail was lined with foxtails and I was terrified the whole time that he was going to sniff one up so I spent the whole time trying to keep him safe which made for a very unenjoyable experience so we ended up turning around pretty quickly. I’m sure during other times of the year this would be a great dog hike!

The plus side, the drive in and out of the park was filled with spectacular views that definitely made it worth the visit. But to really see the best of this park, probably best to find a daycare option while you explore.

Grand Canyon NP

Grand Canyon had the most options for us to explore with Leo! He was basically allowed almost everywhere except for below the rim, on any shuttles or in any of the buildings. There were many trails along the rim and viewpoints that we were able to explore together. There is a dog daycare in the park Grand Canyon Kennel at the south rim where we could board him if we wanted to hike without him and one of the hotels inside the park Yavapai Lodge has pet friendly rooms.

We visited during the week before school let out early in the morning and had a great time. By the time we were ready to leave the visitor center the parking lots were jam packed and it was getting very busy. I definitely suggest visiting early/off season so you can spend more time looking at views and less time looking for parking.

We stayed at Hyatt Place Page/Lake Powell in Page Arizona as we also wanted to check out Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend while in the area, and our original plan was to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, however we missed the opening date by a week as the late season snows kept that side of the park closed. The hotel was so lovely! Super welcoming to us with our dog, they do charge a $75 pet fee and their policy says “2 dogs under 50lbs” but they were not only fine with Leo, they were super welcoming and made us feel like special guests. They gave us a welcome gift with treats and toys for Leo and treats for us too! Leo was allowed to join us on the patio so we could enjoy a drink while watching sunset which the hotel is situated perfectly to watch.

We were also pleasantly surprised to find The Page Rim Trail passed right by the hotel! So each morning and evening we were able to hike on the 10 mile loop trail without even getting in the car. Be sure to check out our next post that will cover the other adventures we had exploring this area with Leo in more detail.

Capitol Reef NP

We loved this park! It was our favorite of the trip, probably because it was much less crowded than the others and you could explore so much of the park in your car meaning Leo could go with us. Unfortunately where you can hike with a dog is very limited in the park.

They are allowed on the trail between the visitor center and the campground and in the open orchards. But walking in the orchards proved not to be an option for us as the ground was so uneven with irrigation trenches and the grass seed/foxtails were just too big of a challenge to comfortably walking.

That being said there are many options for hiking outside of the park! The Dixie National Forest, Fishlake National Forest & The Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, BLM wilderness areas are all around this area so it was easy for us to find nice hiking to enjoy with Leo.

We did not take advantage of it as instead we opted to take turns hanging with Leo at the hotel while the other went hiking, however this dog daycare got rave reviews by the locals I asked: Color Country Animal Welfare - dog daycare

Lodging: We stayed at Red Sands Hotel They charge a $50 pet fee and only allow pets in some rooms.

Crater Lake NP

This park is closest to us and we have done many times as a day trip. As with many of the National Parks, they are permitted on all the paved lookouts, on roads (when free of snow), in the campgrounds and picnic areas. There are also 5 trails in the park where dogs are permitted, be sure to visit the website for details of which trails they are permitted on. In the winter when the park is snow covered they are permitted within 50ft of the plowed parking area at the rim.

Outside of the park you can find many dog friendly hiking areas! Some of our favorites: Tokatee Falls, Mt Bailey, Rogue River Gorge and Union Creek.

The lodging inside the park does not permit dogs, though the they are allowed in the campgrounds. Nearby Diamond Lake and Union creek have some pet friendly cabins.

Redwoods National & State Parks

Be sure to stop by the visitors center and find out about the BARK Rangers program! Ask the ranger about where to go with your dog and they can guide you to the roads where you can walk through the Redwoods with your dog. Dogs are not allowed on any of the trails, but the dirt roads meandering through the trees was definitely well worth it.

The BARK Rangers program is available at most National Parks, but we had our best experience with it at this park where the Ranger came out to meet Leo and did a swearing in ceremony. It was so cute and sweet!

Perhaps the best part of visiting the Redwoods with a dog is how close you are to the Oregon Coast!!! One of the very best places to visit with a dog! You will find plenty of options for places you can stay with your dog along the Oregon Coast.

Bark Rangers

What is the Bark Rangers program?

It is an oath you take as a pet owner to follow the following rules:

B. Bag their poop and dispose of it properly.

A. Always on a leash.

R. Respect Wildlife.

K. Know where you can go.

Most parks now have Bark Ranger dog tags you can buy to collect as you visit with your dog. Some also have things like bandanas and other park specific swag you can pick up for your pup.

What National Parks have you visited with your dog?

Which is your favorite?

Is your dog a Bark Ranger?

Home for the holidays

A guide to help keep your dogs safe and

happy through the holiday season!

Know your emergency vet contact information! The holiday season is a very busy time for emergency vet clinics as many pets ingest things they shouldn't or sneak out through left open doors. In the US, The ASPCA animal poison control # is good to keep handy! ASPCA poison control website 1-888-426-4435. They do charge for a consultation, but having used it when one of our dogs had eaten an entire container of hot chocolate, I can say it was well worth the cost! Many emergency clinics these days are hitting capacity on holidays so be sure to know ALL your options, including surrounding areas.

While on the subject of Veterinarians, be sure to remember them in your holiday gift giving! Remember positive reinforcement goes a long way to helping a very high stress occupation to feel more appreciated.

Proactive, Prepared, Prevention!!!

Do you know how many clients I see who’s dog’s stranger danger anxieties were triggered during holiday visits??? Too many to count is how many.

The classic set up is a young or adolescent dog, overwhelmed and over stimulated by it’s suddenly very busy home, and someone thinks it’s hysterical that the dog freaks out over something and continues to scare the dog for laughs. All you need to is see all the TikTok videos of dogs being traumatized in the name of fun. What these videos don’t show you, is the long term damage done by those events and how long it can take to get a dog over something that stressful. So be ready to tackle Uncle John when he starts chasing your puppy around in his Santa hat ;) No matter how awkward it is to stand up to your in-laws who think you are overreacting, do it! Trust me on this one, that is a lot less stressful than a lifetime with a dog now terrified of strangers.

To prepare for these things ahead of time think about:

• Where can I create a safe quiet place for my dog to rest away from the commotion if they are struggling? A bedroom, a crate, a baby gated off room, maybe in the car if the conditions allow?

• How do I keep my dog from stealing or being given food? Many visitors don’t think it’s a big deal to feed your dog some of their food, but not everyone is aware of what is dangerous for dogs, and even things not dangerous can still cause issues. Rich fatty foods keep vet offices filled with dogs with pancreatitis after the holidays.

For a list of foods to avoid giving pets again you can check out the

ASPCA poison control website: List of foods to avoid feeding dogs

• Especially check snack foods for xylitol!!! Many foods can surprise you that have it, mints, candies, baked goods, so when you bring them into a home with dogs during the holidays when dogs are more apt to score something be sure you keep these well away!!! and let your guests know that it’s extremely toxic to dogs so don’t let them give any snacks to them. Ideally just don’t let this stuff into your house.

• Even if your dog is usually very good about leaving food and trash alone, be safe and keep your trash away from where dogs can get into it, and keep your dogs away from the food areas while people are eating.

• If you want people to be able to share goodies with your dog have a container of treats or kibbles available for people to give rather than sharing off their plates.

• Prepare and stock up with frozen stuffed kongs, chews, food puzzles and enrichment games for your dog so you have ways to keep them entertained.

• Take a walk before the festivities! Starting with a dog that’s been for a walk makes a big difference!!! Plus it’s a fantastic way to introduce your dog to new people in a much lower pressure way.

• Supervise or keep separate small children and/or visiting dogs. Even if it seems like everything is going well, at the times you can’t keep an eye on how they are doing, just put your dogs up in a safe space. The classic line is “everything was going so well, I don’t know what happened but out of nowhere….” dogs can squabble over food, toys, beds when not used to sharing with each other. They can get tired and trigger stacked and snap at children. Be safe and supervise or separate!!!

• When in doubt, no. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.

• If your dogs seem overwhelmed easily leave them home if that’s an option. When I visit family as much as I love spending time with them and they offer us to stay with them, we get our own hotel or airbnb whenever possible so the dogs have down time. If that’s not affordable, fix up a nice quiet space for them in another room with a crate, some nice music on, and take some breaks with them in that space if they are not able to rest alone.

• Dogs need a lot of rest and on normal days they sleep a lot, during holidays when you have guests this often ends up meaning your dog doesn’t rest adequately. Which can result in the same sorts of issues you see with overtired children. So make sure you provide your dog with opportunities to rest and quiet safe spaces to do so.

Christmas trees & Decorations

Plan on where to put your tree if you put one up, thinking about your dog’s normal traffic patterns. Is their tail gonna clear the bottom of the tree when they run by tails wagging to greet people at the door? Considerations:

• For very young puppies, maybe getting a small tree up can put up on a table

• Can you put an exercise pen around the tree when you can’t supervise

• Use a baby gate to keep them out of the room with the tree unless you can supervise

• Be sure to put only non-breakable safe ornaments at the bottom of the tree

• Consider not using easily breakable glass ornaments

• Don’t use easily edible dangerous items like tinsel (especially if you also have cats)

• Expect gifts put under the tree might be considered enrichment games for the dogs, so keep easily damaged things up high until you are ready to open them

• Regularly check the cords for the lights, incase someone has chewed on them

Activities

• It’s really fun to turn present opening into an enrichment game for your dogs! I save the used paper each year to use for the dog’s presents the next year. Honestly I generally just take toys they already have and wrap them up in the old used paper, with a few treats under the paper and let them have that fun. Limit how much tape you use, and supervise them while opening. If you scatter some treats between the toys and the paper that can help focus the dogs off the paper that like to eat paper.

• Again, when in doubt, no. But it can be so much fun taking your dog along for family festivities! But if you can’t properly supervise them and be ready to sit things out that overwhelm them, then it’s best to leave them home.

• Parades, festivals, tree lightings, etc these all sound like awesome things to bring a dog along to, but more often than not the dogs are not having any fun and are stressed. Do them a favor and take them along for the fun outdoor things like hiking, snowshoeing, walking, playing in the snow, then leave them home to rest while you go to those busy events.

• Fun easy games to play with dogs!

  • Monkey in the middle: give everyone a handful of treats, spread out into a circle and call the pup back and forth and feed treats one at a time. Have people drop the treats on the ground in front of them as the pup arrives to discourage any jumping up. stop if the pup is getting too over excited. (limit to 5-6 calls)

  • Hide and seek: either with a toy or a person. One person holds the dog while the other person hides their toy or hides with their toy. (make rules about what places are off limits so you don’t encourage the dog looking in places you don’t want them).

Introducing visiting dogs

For most dogs they are going to have an easier time meeting a new dog on more neutral territory with an activity. So I suggest introducing new dogs on a parallel walk, depending on the dogs, if I have dogs that are worried or I am not sure how they are with other dogs I will start with the dogs on opposite sides of the street and we walk together in the same direction until you see them start to pay more attention to their surroundings than on each other. Then I gradually decrease the space between them until we can walk side by side. Then we all walk into the house together as a group. (*Not all dogs do well with this, a dog that has a lot of leash frustration reactivity can have a hard time walking next to another dog and can get more frustrated.)

If that’s not an option than introducing in a safe fenced in space outside, and I keep leashes on, but drop them so if we need to separate we have an easy way to do so.

If that’s not an option, having a baby gate up so they can meet through a safety barrier as you see how they respond to each other.

***If a family member is bringing a dog that your dog has not met yet, first greet each other without the dogs!!! Put your dog inside and come say hi without them so when you bring the dogs into the scene the people have all said their hellos and now you can focus on the dogs.

*Trust your gut! If it feels tense between the dogs use gates and crates to manage them.

Advocating and protecting your dog with stranger danger fears

• **All of these are based on the idea your dog is just anxious/fearful and not aggressive. If you think your dog maybe aggressive towards visitors, just keep them safely put away from guests using crates and secure kennels. Then work with a veterinary behaviorist and/or a professional reward based trainer to work on their issues with people rather than risking it with your guests.

• Have a plan! (If you are in the academy look up the “making friends with a scared dog” pdf in the Reactivity module. You can print this out to hand to your guests!)

• Let your guests know ahead of time how to act around your dog, and do not assume they will remember all of this! Make a little sign for the door, be prepared to coach them. *Use positive training for your visitors too ;)

• If that person is staying overnight, do know that dogs often freak out again after getting used to someone and then that person goes to bed and then moves around the house in the night or morning. Expect your dog might bark at them if they are surprised by them in the night, I suggest using a baby gate or closing them in the room with you at night.

• The general suggestions that help most stranger danger dogs that you can tell your visitors:

  • Don’t sustain eye contact, it is ok to glance normally at the dog, but if they look in your eyes, look away.

  • Don’t try to touch them at all until I give you the go ahead. Sometimes dogs will approach to investigate and smell you when they are not actually coming to say hi, so I’ll let you know when he’s ready to be touched.

  • If I tell you it’s ok to say hi, don’t reach for them, let them come to you, if you have to move to touch them, they don’t want to be touched, so only do so if they put themselves close enough to touch.

  • Worried dogs make friends with people who play hard to get and don’t pressure them faster than they do with people actively trying to make friends, so just play it cool.

  • If my dog approaching you makes you uncomfortable let me know and I can call them away so you don’t have to tell them to move.

  • Try not to make sudden movements without preparing the dog: you can do this a few different ways, you can tell me so I can help my dog as you move, you can take a few treats and toss them away from where you plan on moving.

  • If my dog barks at you, stand still, I will come get them, they don’t want to hurt you, they are telling you to stop moving or telling you to stay still.

• Triangle fetch or triangle training games for making friends.

  • If you have someone who is comfortable and you see your dog is wanting to maybe warm up to them, but is still unsure, triangle games can help a lot.

  • You stand next to the person, if your dog loves to play, hand that person the dogs favorite toy and have them throw it for the dog. The person stands still and stays quiet as the dog gets the toy, when the dog returns you get the toy from the dog and hand it back to the person for them to throw again.

  • After a few tosses have the person start speaking as they play “go get it” “yay good dog” and low pressure things like that, NOT -” bring it to me” or “come” or anything that puts the dog in conflict.

  • If your dog doesn’t play with toys you can play training games. Again you start standing next to the person.

  • You give all the treats to the person, they stand still and stay quiet.

  • You ask the dog to sit.

  • When the dog sits, the person tosses a treat to or behind the dog (tosses, not hands)

  • After a few reps if you start to see the dog looking expectantly at the person after you give the sit cue, have them start adding in some low pressure talk “yes, good dog”.

• This is all about associations not interaction or contact. The goal for stranger danger dogs is not contact, the goal is comfort in proximity to strangers and feeling safe.

Advocate for your dogs and just totally

own that crazy helicopter dog mom status.

Yes, I am over the top about my dogs and happy to be up here thank you very much, now step away from my dog before I tackle you. 😂

You can ask my sister last year at Christmas I told her “I will put you in time out if you do that” as I saw her about to feed Leo from her plate during dinner.

Her: "You are so controlling”

Me: “Yes, I know, now be a good girl and step away from my puppy and put down that pie crust”

Introducing Leo!

His fancy show dog name is Trillium’s Ice on Fire. But his real name is Leopold Stotch “Leo” which if you know our history and look that up it makes a bit of sense that I sort of named him Butters again 🙂.

First of all let’s talk about the selection process.

We started with temperament testing each of the puppies to get a sense of their personalities, how they handle novel situations and how they compare to each other on certain things like bringing toys back vs keeping them vs not having an interest in them.

Then a conformation grading was done, basically they “stack” the puppies like you see show dogs standing, and they looked at how the puppies bodies are put together.

Because Leo will lead a very active life and will experience a lot of new things I was looking for a confident, outgoing, stable puppy, a good problem solver with a sound well put together body.

As for pack dymanics Leo was the typical middle of the pack puppy, happy in the middle of things, not too pushy, not too soft. The thing I was drawn to the most with Leo was how he played. He had a certain level of focus with it that was different from the others. He focused completely on the game and tuned out everything else around him. His body also had the best structure.

Personality wise I really loved another one of the puppies more, but Leo is the puppy that ticks all the boxes for what we need. This is one of the wonderful things about working with a great breeder is how they match puppies to their best homes taking everything into consideration and not just those first moments of liking something.

Our first week home.

We had a 5 hour drive to get home, Leo was pretty upset for about 5-10 minutes being in the car and leaving his litter. But then he settled in and slept the rest of the way home. Again at bedtime he cried for another 5-10 minutes and then settled in and slept most of the night. I’ve been super pleased with how well he sleeps. He’s good about taking his naps all day long and great about settling in at night.

The first order of business is getting on potty training, he’s been a super star, we have (knock on wood) had no accidents in the house so far. He’s even starting to stand at the door sometimes when he needs to go out. Though sometimes he just wants to go out to grab pieces of bark to chew on 😂.

He has lovely focus and when we play training games for his kibbles he is all in. Like typical Goldens he likes his food so his motivation is easy. He is a great player, though like many puppies he also gets pretty chompy and wants to grab my hands or clothes more than the toy. We keep working on redirection. It is easy to tell by his energy level if he is ramping up and about to crash.

I’ve used his lunch meal to work on conditioning his name. I say “Leo” randomly during the day and give him bites when he responds. I also have been conditioning him to a clicker and taught him his first trick - wave & shake hands.

He and Emily are good friends, though she is not really playful since she is 11 so mostly he snuggles up to her when he wants a cozy nap spot. He and our male border collie Nick we are taking a longer slow introduction approach because he has shown a lot of discomfort and uncertainty around the puppy. This is not unusual for adult dogs, they don’t all love little puppies.

We went to the vet for his first check up. He was given a clean bill of health and he was a very good boy. He didn’t get any vaccines this appointment as I wanted him to have a happy easy positive visit to meet the staff and Vet.

Besides working on his name recognition and his tricks we also worked on introducing the leash. Working inside, using treats and making it fun to have a leash put on.

Most of the week has been spent playing, and directing his mouth off of things and onto toys instead.

Preparing to bring home the next Hiker Pup!

Preparing for Puppy

These are the things I do before bringing my new puppy home to help make the transition as easy as possible.

Decide where the puppy will sleep and be during the day if I cannot supervise. 

• Sleep at night in a crate next to my bed, I find having them as close to me as possible helps keep fears and worries minimal, though it means working through some of their initial objections and desires to be in bed. I have a blanket on the crate incase I need to cover the door if the other animals moving around makes it hard for them to settle. Once my puppies are potty trained and not chewing inappropriate things they earn the freedom of choosing where they sleep.

• During the day a crate set up in my office if I need to leave or baby gated into the office with me if I am working.

• Will be crated when riding in car.

• Having their crates set up where they will be used I can start immediately getting them settled in.

• Having a breeder that introduces the puppies to crates is a huge head start!

Photo: Trillium Goldens

Setting a feeding routine. 

• Feeding at similar times each day helps with potty training as it helps get their bowels into a routine schedule that makes it easier for you to predict when they will need to go potty.

• I will feed two meals per day - breakfast and dinner.

• What most people would feed for lunch I will use to reward behaviors and for conditioning.

• The first focus will be learning the routine of being around all the other animals during feeding time and learning where their bowl will be and how to leave the other animals alone while they eat. I will do that by having a designated area and having them on leash. When possible I will have my husband help by having him prepare & deliver the food while I reward the pup for wanting patiently.

Setting a potty routine.

• Out after waking up

• Out after playing or anytime they disengage during play

• Out after any meals or chews

• Out at least once an hour during day during first weeks, unless they are asleep

The first vet check

• The first visit will be scheduled before the puppy comes home and before they need their first vaccinations so the first visit is lower stress and more of a meet and greet.

Photo: Trillium Goldens

Puppy Proofing

• Cat safe rooms

• Pick up all things we don’t want chewed on

• Secure cords

• Pick up unnecessary rugs

• Put cat toys up high or in cat room

• Baby gate stairway

• Check yard for hazards

Get supplies 

• Find out what food breeder feeds and get 2 week supply

• Gather many puppy toys- Kongs, nylabones, durable toys, interactive toys, balls, tugs, tugs with long handles, big stuffed toys for the bewitching hours, food puzzles, safe chew options.

• 2 or 3 crates - smaller one that fits next to the bed, larger one for office downstairs for during the day absences, either use by the bed crate of get 3rd one for the car.

• 3 Baby gates: office doorway, top of stairs, bottom of stairs

• Puppy collar & leashes - 1 very lightweight long leash (10ft or longer) and 1 lightweight short leash (4-6 ft), Non-slip flat buckle collar with ID tag

Photo: Trillium Goldens

Make a plan for introductions

• One of us will come in house to say hi to our dogs while the other stays with the puppy letting him potty in front yard. Let the animals all smell the puppy via our clothing and a blanket that was in with the puppy.

• Switch places and let the other person greet our dogs, they will take our dogs outside to go potty.

• While dogs are out going potty bring puppy in and let him explore the house a little bit.

• Have cats in cat room with baby gate up when bringing puppy inside, hold puppy and let cats see he is there.

• Once puppy has explored and feels safe, pick puppy up and let dogs in one at a time, Emily first.

• Once puppy and Emily are comfortable bring in Nick (he will be on leash, behind baby gate at first). If everyone seems relaxed let Nick in room. If things seem tense keep gates up and keep separated. (This is because Emily is very experienced and predictable with baby puppies, Nick has no experience so we will play it safe with him)

Make plan for first night

• Make sure puppy does not get over tired, have some quiet time in office away from other animals.

• Have everything done and everyone ready to be in bed before putting puppy in crate. Have Michael prepared to sleep downstairs if he cannot rest properly with a restless puppy.

• Take puppy out to potty last thing, before crating.

• Have nightlights by stairs for late night potty visits.

• Have an early morning puppy proof playtime area set up where puppy can play while I am barely awake and can get away with sleepy supervision. (Probably in my office or the garage)

Bang!

A post from the Academy blog regarding preparing for the 4th of July:

It’s 4th of July weekend in the USA and so I wanted to take a moment to add an extra post this week to talk about preparing your dog’s for the fireworks and possible events so you can all be prepared to support your dogs.

What is important to know is that sound sensitivity can develop at any age, so don’t take it for granted that your dog did fine last year and assume that means they will never be concerned about the noise. I have lost count of the number of friends I have watched over the years brag and brag about how bomb proof their dogs were only to see them suddenly dealing with terrified dogs. So as their caretakers we should always be proactive in helping them deal with loud noises and always on the look out for red flags that they are perhaps unsure about what they are hearing.

WHAT TO DO ON THE 4TH (AND OFTEN THE DAYS LEADING UP AND AFTER CAN BE LOUD AS WELL)

• Prepare food puzzles and chews- stuff & freeze Kongs, etc.

• Talk to your vet about having anti anxiety meds on hand incase your dog is struggling to cope.

• Stay home with your dogs!!! Don’t leave dogs unattended.

• If your dog is fearful keep them on leash when you take them outside to go potty.

• Make sure your dog is wearing a collar with accurate ID tags - the 4th of July is the number one day of the year for pets going missing in the US.

• Take your dogs for a nice long walk early in the day if you can so they are well exercises before the noise begins.

• Close windows & doors, close blinds and curtains so they are not seeing the light flashes

• Try to keep them in an interior room with the least windows.

• Turn on a loud movie or tv show to create white noise.

• Fans also make a nice white noise machine.

• You can try Thundershirts (and you can search google for DIY body wraps you can make using large bandages)

• If using medication give it to them 30-60 minutes before you anticipate the noise starting.

• It is ok to comfort your dog if they are frightened, you will not “reinforce their fear”. You can hold them, pet them, massage them or anything they show you is welcomed. Though some dogs will prefer to hole up alone and not want you to cuddle them, respect that as well.

• Many dogs like a closet, bathroom or dark room with no windows to hide in.

• You can try herbal and natural remedies, but please consult with your vet to make sure they won’t interfere with any of the medications you might also need to rely on. Natural remedies can be very hit or miss as they might work well for some dogs so your friends swear by them, only to have them not help you at all. So you might try a trial run with any supplements or medications you plan to use to see how your dog’s body responds to them.

Your attitude matters!

• As I said, it is ok to comfort your dogs if they are frightened. You cannot reward or reinforce fear, no living being wants to return to feeling terrible just for a treat or a cuddle, the only thing that reinforces sound sensitivity is the scary sound stopping.

• However your attitude while doing so can be felt by your emotionally sensitive dogs. So if you are angry, frustrated, worried, etc your dog is not going to feel comforted by knowing you are also unsettled.

• Imagine yourself the pilot of the plane- look pups it’s just a little turbulence, we are ok.

• Remember to take deep breaths, stay calm and upbeat, carry on as if everything is fine.

• Do not scold or correct your dog, even if they do dumb things because they are terrified, so if they are bolting to the end of the leash and pacing the house, don’t get angry at them, it is not their fault, they are scared.

• Singing a song, playing with them, have a dance party, but don’t over do it if it’s clear they are too bothered to engage with you, but trying doesn’t hurt.

Prevention for puppies and dogs not yet afraid

• Take them for a nice long walk early in the day.

• Have a stuffed kong or food puzzles that you give them as the action gets started.

• Pair the sounds of bangs with good things: bang- feed a treat- bang - feed a treat. bang- throw ball- bang - throw ball.

• Only take measures if you see dog alerting and taking notice, if they are ignoring it and seem completely normal just carry on as usual.

• Still take the above environmental measures to minimize the volume of the noises and drown out some of the further away ones.

• Stay upbeat and act as if it’s all totally fine.

• Again, do not leave your dogs home alone, do not take them out by people setting off fireworks, keep them on leash, make sure they have a collar with ID tags incase they get spooked.

Hiker Hunger is real

Now that we've hiked a thousand miles I thought I'd take the time to talk about the foods Emily & I have found to work the best out on trail. I think the very best testament to their success is that Emily hasn't lost a single pound on trail despite logging between 20-35 miles a day! She never has issues with her feet, coat or and health issues. Her energy levels stay up with and above mine. 

I couldn't be happier with how well the Carnibars have worked for feeding Emily on trail! They are super easy to feed, I just open the pack and rip them up into bit sized chunks, no fuss no mess. Having them individually wrapped does produce more waste than I'd prefer, but the bars are so rich and meaty that if they were not they would be impossible to keep fresh and not messy. Having them wrapped also means they can be inside my food bag without making everything smell like kibble.

Emily eats two packages of Carnibars a day, providing her with 1000kcal, which is more than double the calories she would normally eat off trail. With the high quality and digestibility of the Carnibars she hasn't lost any weight and maintains her high energy level no matter how many miles we cover each day. There are 4 flavors and I mix it up so she gets a different flavor with each meal. 

It didn't take me long to stop carrying her First Mate kibble and exclusively feeding the Carnibars on trail. Not only because of the weight savings, but because there were days she wouldn't eat her kibble and I had to add dehydrated beef or something else to get her to eat it. But she never seems to tire of the bars. I do keep feeding the kibble when we were in town, and I send extra baggies of it and offer her all the food she wants while we're off trail. 

Her treats on trail are Zukes Beef Jerky. It's her favorite and they provide the highest kcal to weight ration I could find in a super convenient treat. In each resupply box I have a bag, which I put into a snack sized ziplock which easily fits into my pack's hip belt. That way I can give her snacks easily all day long. 

Long Distance Hiking with Dogs gear set up!

Here’s a video showing the things I’ll be bringing on the hike specifically for Emily!  

T-shirts now available!

You can now buy your own Hiker Pup t-shirt. 

All net proceeds go to the Freedom Service Dogs Fundraising Campaign, so not only do you get a cool shirt, but you get to help rescue shelter dogs and help people in need! 

Click on the shirt to order! Different colors, styles and sizes available.

Only $19.99

Two weeks!

Eeek! It’s almost time to go. And I am SO behind on getting everything done. Luckily all my gear is set, all of Emily’s gear is set, all of Emily’s food is gathered. Mostly it’s my food and getting all the logistics of sending the resupply packages left to do.  

This past month has been a devastating one as Butters, my 12 year old Golden Retriever suddenly passed after a brief cancer fight. The costs of his surgery gobbled up my hiking budget. The trauma of losing him gobbled up my motivation. And the grief I am feeling is overwhelming. 

I had so many plans of making the fundraiser fun and exciting for people to be involved in, but now I am scrambling just to get myself out the door and onto the trail. Hopefully I can sort these things out on trail and get some excitement generated for the campaign. Right now I have no excitement for anything.  

I am not sure if I’ll have the funds now to pull this off but I am sure going to give it all I’ve got to make it happen! I will be eating lots of ramen and instant mashed potatoes.  

7 weeks!

We're officially 7 weeks from the start of our journey! What? Wait? How did that suddenly happen??? Wasn't it JUST 6 months away? There is a huge to-do list, but I'm steadily knocking items off the list everyday. I am both a master procrastinator and a killer multitasker so luckily one off sets the other just a bit;) 

Emily is half way through all her vaccinations for the trip. She's finished her Rattlesnake series and next week we begin the Leptosporosis series. So far she has handled the shots like a champ, though she is no fan of going to the Vet and all these visits with pokes are not helping matters. 

Waiting for her last Rattlesnake Vaccine. 

I've almost completed all the gear purchases. Down to just a few items: umbrella, rain pants, a food bag and dry sack for my clothes. Yesterday I got the last of the big ticket items, my Garmin InReach, I worked long and hard to figure out ways to get all my gear as inexpensively as possible and this one was almost impossible to get a discount on. However a good friend and client works at REI and was kind enough to give me a Friends & Family coupon and woohoo it worked for the InReach. It took lots of patience and research but I was able to find discounts on almost every single gear item for this adventure! 

I'll be doing a post dedicated entirely to the gear we're bringing once I get the last of it together as well as a video! 

Emily's gear list is much smaller and lighter than mine:) Good thing since I have to carry it all.

Training hike up to the top of Wagner Butte in the snow.

Between filling my work schedule as much as I can to make as much dough as I can before leaving and all our training miles there is little time for anything else. I'm working hard to get my body healthy and in shape before we begin. We hike every chance we get and on our days off do long mile days. I'm pretty lucky that we live right by the PCT so many of our training hikes are on the actual trail. I feel like I've turned a corner on my health! I've been on a food trigger elimination diet for a month and my head and neck are doing so much better. And that weight the steroids blessed me with has come back off. 

I still have my issues with certain things, but I've gotten pretty good at learning my way around and through them. I'm not about to let them get in my way of chasing this dream. I have been amazingly blessed with some incredibly supportive people in my life and these past few months have really showcased just how lucky I am to have these people in my life. 

If you are not already following us on Instagram and Facebook be sure to as I'll be doing most of our on the trail updates via Instagram and campaign updates on FB. (hit the buttons at the bottom of any page on the website and it will take you there.

Next up: FOOD! 

Gearing up...

It seems like we've hit that point in the planning process where time speeds up and suddenly it feels very close and a sense of planning urgency has hit. So a few updates!

• The blog has been quiet as I spent all of November down stuck in bed battling some severe neurological episodes that took a lot of time, $ and strength to bounce back from. It set everything a bit behind schedule but I am quickly getting back on track.
• I've almost completed my gear kit, just a few more items and once they are here I'll do some posts and videos about what I'm bringing.
• I am still launching the fundraising campaign but am further behind on getting that going than I had hoped to be by this point. But luckily I work well under pressure.
• Hard at work getting my training going, lots of daily miles, and big weekend miles.
• Resupply plan is nailed down, hiking with a dog means relying on mail drops as finding her high quality food is not as easy as meeting my needs. 
• Be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGYyaTsk41auYBUeCQTbSGA  I am doing Training Videos every Tuesday 10 minutes or less! 
• We're now Honey Stinger Brand Ambassadors!!! 

Why I'm hiking ~ Part 2

Part 2 - My mission to bring awareness and education on safely and responsibly bringing dogs into the backcountry.

The reason I started this site was because as soon as I started researching thru-hiking I found that when it comes to long distance hiking with dogs there is so very little information available, and there are VERY strong opinions about why you shouldn't. I was amazed to discover I could find out every little detail about a person hiking, down to how much toilet paper you'll need, but basically nothing about how to manage a dog's needs on trail. And what little I did find when people posted questions looking for help, primarily all of the answers were negative comments on even considering it.

While seriously considering all of these negative comments, as I wanted to be sure to really carefully take into account all I would be asking of my dog by taking on such a challenge, I noticed that most all of the reasons given not to, are things one can actually manage or train a dog to negotiate. Things I have already trained my dog to do long ago, just to make her a more pleasant dog to adventure with.

When I adopted Emily I knew that most of our time together would be spent out in the wilderness and for her safety and mine I taught her:

• Bomb proof rock solid come command! You can see my earlier posts on how I train a dog to come off of anything. 
• Stay on trail, unless released, or if going around people, horses, etc. Even when we hike with other dogs that race off the trail into the woods, she will just stay on trail and run parallel to them watching what they are doing. This means she doesn't get into things like poison oak, she gets less ticks and burrs, she doesn't disturb the vegetation or wildlife.
• She is "housebroken" to the trail, she requests to leave the trail and uses the bathroom off the trail, and obviously I keep her free of parasites, remove the waste or bury it depending on where we are.
• "Follow me", she is trained to walk just behind me off or on leash so that when negotiating thoughtful terrain, passing people, walking in groups, etc she can be kept under tight control. I always follow leash laws, but having the ability to have her under just as effective control without the worry of a leash for us to trip up on means we can safely negotiate a variety of circumstances far more safely.
• Automatic return to heel. She is trained that when she sees a person or animal to come to my side rather than run up and approach on her own. We can quietly and safely pass people and animals without disturbing them.
• Settle, she is trained that when I stop she stops and lays down with me. She doesn't wander or leave camp or rest spots, she just sits while I sit.
• Leave it, she is trained not to eat anything except what she's given. She doesn't eat poo or other gross things. Though I do allow her to munch on fresh grass.

The positives of having a well trained, well mannered dog in the backcountry are too many to list! 

• Her nose! When hiking on trails that have become a bit more challenging to follow, whether covered in snow or fallen debris, her nose always seems to know where the trail is. That training of staying on trail generally means if the trail is tricky to follow I can usually rely on just following her. It never ceases to amaze me when I've been walking on a snow field, then hit a bare patch and see she is walking directly on the trail still, she's often more accurate than GPS.
• Her nose! She nearly always is aware of wildlife long before I am. She has three distinct alerts, and my friends are amazed when they witness them. She has a deer alert - perky, ears up, body forward. A bear alert- a very low quiet growl that only I can hear, she slinks to my side, ears are pinned, and she stares intently at where it is (pictured above- I didn't realize as I started to take this photo a large bear was about to meander into the meadow). A Mountain lion alert- best described as she gets the heebee geebees just like I do and she freezes, all her movements are in slow motion, and if you insist on going on she stays where she is looking at you as if you are completely insane. We usually are able to spot the wildlife and move thru without disturbing them since I get such an advanced warning. 
• Her smell, having a dog in the tent and camp means we rarely have little rodents coming to raid our food bags and if they do, they have their work cut out for them getting past her. 
• Early warning system, with her sense of smell and better hearing, it is a comfort knowing little will be sneaking up on us.
• Warmth, having her little body sleeping next to mine always makes me warmer.
• Company, there is no better company than a dog. She never interrupts my conversation and always seems interested in my topics. She is very easily entertained and asks very little. 
• With Em and her service training to assist me through my health issues she is indispensable. 
• The list really goes on and on! 

Nothing means more to me than my dog's safety and well being!

• With almost 20 years experience as a Veterinary Technician I am well aware of the importance of prevention, first aid and a knowledge of how to see the early signs of trouble. You will not see me reviewing or product testing any dog backpacks on trail! I know how even a small increase of weight increases a dogs risk of injury and places undo stress on their joints and bodies. Much of the training I have done to keep her on trail is to decrease risk of injury & disease. You will see me reviewing cooling coats, no restrictive harnesses, collar lights, etc. 
• Feet! Feet! Feet! Having a trail running dog that logged most of my ultra marathon training miles with me I have volumes to say on feet. We live in volcano land so we have trekked countless hours on hot rough rock.
• Breed selection. I have much to say on picking the right breed (or mix of breeds) to go adventure with.

I welcome the opportunity to help educate and discuss with dog owners the reasons why "letting a dog be a dog" is not the best approach to back country adventuring with dogs, and how wrong folks can be about thinking training takes anything away from a dog. You will never hear me yelling at my dog, see me getting frustrated and blaming her for anything. You will never see me using corrections or scolding her. All of her training has been done using our bond and love, communicating with each other, to teach her how to move gently and thoughtfully in the wild. If anything she gets more opportunities to "be a dog" because I am well aware of my responsibility for her well being and education, so she can do so safely. 

Thanks for reading! I look forward to offering all the help I can for those wanting to improve their dog's training and decrease their dogs environmental impact while adventuring! 

Fits (socks) like a dream

An often overlooked gear item is a chart topper for my consideration, socks! When it comes to adventure, keeping feet healthy and happy can make the difference between a day of agony or a day crushing miles. Before I started running ultra marathons the idea of spending time, energy and money on sock consideration never really entered my thought process. However once I started hitting the big miles I immediately found out the importance of a well made sock and happily paid for a sock that would make those miles pass by with more ease. Suddenly after a certain point you can feel any flaw in a sock, the way the seam rubs on your toes, the way they bunch up as you move, the lack of padding, etc. A great sock is a sock that after double digit miles you still don’t notice at all. 

When we first started hiking and adventuring Smartwool was our go to sock, and for years and for our needs they go the job done just fine. They were a game changer back in the day, suddenly a wool sock existed that was pleasant to wear instead of the scratchy and bulky predecessors. But in the past couple of years something seemed to change and what were once super dependable socks suddenly started to wear out far too quickly for the price tag they carry. 

A pair of Darn Toughs and a pair of Smartwools with similar use, you can see how the heels of the smartwool are already worn almost completely out.

Which lead us to try out Darn Tough socks, which have pulled into the lead among outdoor adventurers, a company that stands behind their product with a lifetime guarantee of which we have yet to need use of since all the socks we’ve purchased from them are still on active duty. Darn Tough makes an amazing product, a comfortable wool sock, but with the durability that the Smartwools were lacking. So for a sock company to impress us and be considered taking command of our sock drawer instead of our Darn Toughs is going to take a lot! 

We may just have a contender with the Fits socks! As luck would have it, just as I was looking into socks for my thruhike, to see if I wanted to start stock piling Darn Toughs or see about a bulk buying program, I kid you not, that very same day, a representative for Fits Socks, just happened to walk into the Inn my husband runs. My husband had just days before completed his Quad climb of Mt McLoughlin and upon hearing that and discovering my plans to hike the PCT next year, they asked if we would test out and let them know what we think of their socks. You have to love that in any gear company, that they care enough to put their products in the hands of people they know will go out there and put them to the test and let them know how they perform, knowing they will get honest feedback. 

As I told Michael it doesn’t matter if gear is free if it doesn’t work. That’s why those of us doing these epic adventures look to those we trust for intel on gear, or get out there and test it ourselves rather than rely on advertising. I hope with this endeavor I can be one of those people you can rely on for intel as I share with you what works for us and doesn’t. 

So what did we think? So far we'd say we're quite pleased with their socks! We purposely headed out this weekend to do something that would provide a more reliable test than just a simple wear around town comfort test. We chose Mt Bailey (a mountain summit with a 3,200ft elevation climb) a 10 mile roundtrip hike, anything less than that doesn't really test a sock. We headed out in light snow, wearing our usual trail runner sneakers instead of boots, as that’s what I’ll be trekking the PCT in. I tell you nothing tells you faster how a wool sock performs than putting them on and promptly getting your feet wet and cold. I wore the lightweight hiker crew sock, and Michael wore the midweight hiker crew sock, I was wearing my Altra Running Lone Peak 3.0’s, he was wearing his Salomon XA Pro 3D. 

On the ascent our feet were pretty much wet within a couple miles, but our feet stayed nice and comfortably warm inside their cozy wool socks. Even the lightweight’s I had on kept my feet comfortable, though I was moving, and my body working hard to climb so I was generating a lot of internal heat. But I was super pleased to see that these socks could work for me in these conditions that my feet will find themselves in often while hiking the PCT. I switched out my socks for the descent because I wanted to compare the lightweights with the midweights, so after we started down I swapped out, oh my gosh the wonder and joy that is a warm dry sock in those conditions, heaven! 

As we descended I noticed something interesting, the way this sock hugged my foot! Usually on a descent even with my Darn Toughs I occasionally have to reach down and pull up my socks because the gravity of the descent starts to make the sock start to slip forward and bunch a bit in my midfoot, so I have to pull the socks up at my heel to get rid of the wrinkles that start to bug my feet. I never once had to adjust these socks, they stayed right where they belong. I guess I never noticed the way that slight slipping of the socks, as it is very subtle, affected my traction, but my feet felt much more secure. It was a funny moment as I described what I was feeling and Michael agreed that he noticed a big difference in that as well compared to other socks and suddenly I got it, “ohhhhh, that’s probably why they call them *fits* hahahahhahahaha”. It was very cool though, to feel that and recognize it legitimately, when I wasn’t even looking for that. Sometimes it’s good to be a little slow on the uptake for a solid objective review;) 

The midweight was very comfy and cozy and kept my feet very warm despite my shoes being thoroughly soaked. I think they will make a great backup second sock to hike in, and a good sleeping sock option. Most everything else about the sock is hard to tell apart from the Darn Toughs, they have the comfortable seemless toe, they are padded in all the same important places. The Fits stocks are designed to more properly fit your calves, however I’ll be honest, I almost never pull my socks up over my calves, they prefer to be naked and free, so usually I just let the socks bunch up above my ankles so I can’t really comment on that feature. 

Oh and another great feature if you are an adventure couple like we are, the sizes are color coded with the stitching at the toe so we can easily tell apart mine from Michael’s. Oh how many arguments this will solve, “My socks shrunk!”, “hey, those are my socks, you are going to stretch them out!!!”. Yeah, so many of our Darn Tough socks look EXACTLY the same, and the way wool sort of crunches up when you wash them, makes it a bit of a challenge sorting out who’s who’s. 

So all in all, we are super stoked about these socks and look forward to taking them on lots more adventures! I’ll withhold my complete backing until I see how they hold up to repeated uses/washes and lots more miles so I can be sure they don’t deteriorate as quickly as the Smartwools did. But our initial assessment of these socks is they seem to be great, they Fits like a dream, stay put, keep our feet comfortable and warm and as you want in all socks, you hardly notice they are there. 

Team Hiker Pup, Dawn, Emily & Michael

Why I'm hiking ~ Part 1

Over the next few weeks while we prepare to launch our fundraising campaign I want to take sometime to tell you all a little about us and why we are planning this adventure.

I have four driving goals in sharing this adventure with others:

• To inspire and show people the magic of dogs, especially rescue dogs.
• To use my passion for dog training and knowledge of dog behavior to demonstrate how people can raise & train their dogs to be well mannered adventure companions that also “leave no trace”.
• To use my passion for adventure to fundraise for an amazing organization that helps not only to rescue dogs, but people too.
• To use my story to help empower women to take on adventures of their own.

I’m going to start today with the last on that list, because it is the story of how I came to this place where I am ready to take on the chart topper of my list and for some folks it maybe a bit of a surprise to know where I was when this story began.

Many years ago I was on a walk in the woods with my dogs, and I came across this sign on a trail. It listed the mileage from this point north to Canada and south to Mexico and I first learned of the Pacific Crest Trail. I stood there shocked and amazed, what?!?!?! from this spot I could walk all the way to Canada or Mexico. I knew instantly I had to do that someday.

That dream became this fantasy that just lived up there in the ethers, something to day dream about and distract myself from the sadness and depression that gobbled up most of my time. Because you see, when I stumbled across that sign I was what I considered to be the furtherest thing from someone who could actually hike across a country. I was overweight, approaching middle age, and a two mile walk left me exhausted and spent for the day.

I can still remember the moment, the cracking point. I was standing in line at the bookstore, my arms loaded with self help books promising to solve all my problems and reveal all the secrets to success. I stared at the cover of the magazine, an Outdoor adventure type magazine, with a picture of this girl, rock climbing. I was so angry. My belly boiled as I thought about my life, and how if it had not gone the way it did instead of how it should have, that could be me. That’s what I came into this world as. A spitfire that climbed up everything, fought my way onto all boy baseball and football teams, got into fights with any boy telling me I couldn’t do something. Always sporting bloody knees and scraped up elbows, most at home in the mud. But along the way, life happened, abuses, chaos, hardships and here I found myself, life half over and not at all living the life I had once dreamed of. I existed. But I did not really live. 

I don’t know why I did it, perhaps desperation shoved me over the edge, or maybe I finally found some courage and strength. Maybe it was just a crazy passing thought that for some reason I quickly acted on before I lost track of it. As I stood there looking at the cover of that magazine, I decided, maybe I’ll just pretend I am. Why not? I’ll just go down to the gear shop, act like I know what I am doing and pretend I am an outdoor adventurer. I’ll buy somethings so I can play the part, if only for myself to enjoy a bit of a dress up game. I walked into a gear store and perused the racks, walked the aisles looking at all of this stuff I had no idea what to do with. Tiny stoves that looked complicated and confusing, so many shiny little things that I had no idea what one did with. 

I quickly scanned the clothing racks and felt a deep chocking shame seeing I was 5 sizes over the biggest anything they carried in this store and quietly slunk away from those sleek technical textiles. After a bit I settled on my purchases, a pair of hiking boots, some fancy super expensive wool socks and a trail guide book for the area. I spent a lot of time at book store magazine racks pouring through the outdoor section, gazing at the covers, thumbing through the pages looking at images of the real adventure people, that I obviously could never be, often walking away even more depressed. But I kept on pretending anyway. 

That spring I set out to pretend to be a hiker. I’d pick out hikes in the book and drag my husband out into the wilds. All summer long we picked away at the “easy” hikes, then into the more difficult ones. For my birthday that year he bought me a Camelback and to that I added trekking poles, still a long away from being able to actually buy any clothing that would help me look the part. It was always such an awkward thing to experience, feeling like an intruder, an impostor as I gave store owners money. But I kept at my delusion and made plans all winter long on what hikes I’d do come summer, the audacity to add mountain summits we could hike up without technical skill to the list. Even venturing out a few times on snowshoes! 

I discovered something that next year, I actually could do all those things that the media images led me to believe only tiny super fit young people could do. And I started to see other people all shapes, sizes and ages out there also doing these things. Oh how I wished I knew that sooner, that I could belong in this place, even at my size. Really advertisers, can’t you risk just showing a few normal folks of varying sizes out there? We all like to buy clothes, and man would it have boosted my hopes those early days when I needed it most. All summer long we chipped away at my list, the peaks got higher, the trails longer, the difficulty level increasing. And something amazing started to happen, we started, passing those young, tiny, people dressed in their technical textiles on the way up summits. 

Wow, middle aged overweight folks can actually not only do these things, but maybe even do them well. Over the next few years, it happened, I actually became the person who could be in those magazines. I became a rock climber, peak bagger, backpacker, real outdoor adventurer who can walk into a gear shop and buy clothes off the rack! But what I want you all to know, is I was able to be all of that from the beginning, (well except for the buying clothes off the rack part) I just didn’t know that because society and advertising just subtly washes our brains to think otherwise. I fit into the technical textiles now, because sinking into the adventurer role shaped my body into a smaller size, but even at the larger size, I was doing what I do now. 

I want you all to know that, because so often other women talk to me now, don’t know the me I was and I can see that look and hear that tone in their voice as they set themselves in a different category because they don’t climb mountains or run marathons. I want women to know I wasn't always this and I didn’t change because my body changed, my body changed because I changed, I started taking on my dreams and challenging myself with that old lady overweight body. It’s so easy to get caught in the space of thinking you can’t do something because you don’t fit the mold of what the examples you are shown, but I am here to say, you can. And you just might be amazed to learn all sorts others, just like you, that don’t fit the mold already do that thing and you just might find a whole new set of best friends just waiting to be discovered when you step into that dream of yours. And you just might be amazed to learn what all you already are and just haven’t discovered yet. 

This past year I received a very large wake up call and reminder that somedays are not infinite. That the dreams that matter the most to you, need to be at the top of the priority list. Because as I sat there waiting to have MRI's with a diagnosis like brain tumor floating around the room, which thankfully was not the case,  all I could think was why, oh why did I leave this sitting there all those years I was healthy and able? 

And I want to share a couple important things I learned along the way. When I was younger I was thin here or there, I would do the usual crash diet, work hard, starve myself, all those times I thought the answer to all my problems was my size. That if I just looked the right way, all my sadness would leave and I would find my self worth like a pot of gold tied to those size 6 pants. Yeah, that never worked. There was no bag of self worth waiting with the tiny pants, and no matter how thin I got it was never enough to fix the holes in my soul and so each time I'd return to eating away my feelings only to end up even heavier in the long run. 

To be real honest here I also have to share that something else really big always happened each time I lost weight, and it wasn't until this last journey that began 8 years ago that I was equipped and ready to face it. As a survivor of sexual assault it was absolutely terrifying allowing myself to be considered "attractive". Each of those early times the weight came off and the male attention started I had no idea all the self protective behaviors that triggered inside of me. I was always far more comfortable in the invisibility and dismissal that comes with being overweight. 

(photos by Lauren Trantham, The Women's Photographer)

What I wished I knew earlier and wished was better understood, it's all the same me, I mean obviously I change, I grow, I evolve. But my heart has always felt all the same joys and all the same hurts no matter my pants size. My hopes and dreams, the same. My fears, insecurities and past emotional scars, all the same no matter what I look like when the rest of the world gazes my way. Sure, it is physically easier to climb a mountain hauling less of me up there, and I feel better in all my athletic endeavors the fitter I am, which ultimately is why the weight came off and mostly stays off. 

I now seem to have a revolving ten pounds. When life sends me health issues, or hammers away with many emotional challenges the 10 comes along to keep me company. At first this used to freak me out, just sure that meant I was on my way all the way back to square one. It took me a long time to make peace with that, to be know I'd be ok even if that was the case, that I would still be worthy of love since as I said, it's always still me in here, no matter how the outside ebbs and flows. But my natural state of being is that little spitfire that wants to eat mountains for breakfast so as I am able to again, the 10 slips back away. And these days, I am actually finally ok with it. And that self love, that's taken me so very long to find, well it keeps me from crashing off those 10lbs with a crazy fast diet. It relaxes, knows the weight will fall away with the steps I take. It takes in the healthy food happily and without judgement. 

It's taken so much work to peel off the traumas, to sift through the confusion society sends women's way about who and what we are supposed to be and look like, to discover who I am and what I want, to find a sense of safety in an unsafe world, to realize what self worth even looks and tastes like. I wish that all wasn't so hard, trust me, climbing mountains is easier than all that;) 

Thank you for reading my words and sharing in my journey if you made it all this way :) 

All the foods...

We headed off this weekend to adventure and field test several new food options for the both of us, as well as our cool weather gear.

First up food for the lady on the other end of the leash...

I've been excited to check out the service Trail Fork has to offer. I love the concept, give them the details of your adventure, your height/weight stats and they formulate your caloric requirements and send you the food for the day to meet those needs. As someone who prefers to spend my time out in the wilds and not in the kitchen it sounded like a perfect fit! 

Our box arrived stuffed with tasty meals for the day along with some yummy beef jerky chews for Emily, easy to see these folks are dog lovers! The meals sounded delicious: Coconut Granola for breakfast, Unwrapped Burritos for lunch and Coconut Chana Masala

And they sure lived up to my hopes & expectations. I really only had one complaint and that was the portions were just too much for me, but hey, too much food is not a bad problem to have especially when it tastes so good.  In fact, I never even got to try the Coconut Chana Masala and have it left over for our next trip because the Unwrapped Burritos were so much food I ate it for lunch & dinner! 

The Unwrapped Burritos included everything except the tortillas, which you don't even really have to use as it would make a terrific rice bowl even without the tortilla. This meal blew away any previous chili or bean based backpacking meal I've tried, it was seasoned to perfection. One could even kick it up to out of this world level if you packed in an avocado and some spinach to add. The package made two over stuffed burritos and I still had a third of it left.  

The Coconut Granola was also a flavor packed bag of deliciousness! Just added a bit of water to rehydrate the milk powder and bam, one of the best packaged granolas I've tasted. Loaded with pumpkin seeds and almonds I was fueled for a long busy day adventuring! Once again I could not finish it all, and had a third of it left over. 

Some folks might not like the bags being compostable and not able to be used as an boil in the bag option so you do need to use your cook pot. It takes a bit of guessing to sort out how much water you'll need to boil as the instructions don't tell you how much, leaving it up to you to adjust to your preferences, but only having one pot available meant a bit of guessing, but it all worked out ok. Personally I am a big fan of cutting down waste and appreciate the environmentally conscious packaging and don't mind a wee bit of work to keep trash out of the landfills.

Final word: I'd happily use this service again, I found the prices fair for the amount and quality of food compared to other packaged backpacking food. I loved the food, it's flavorful healthy and delicious.

Now to the important part, the Puppers food! This trip we tested out Halo's Freeze Dried Kiblets. Of all the freeze dried options we've tried out so far this one certainly re-hydrated to the best consistency for her preferences. It didn't turn into chalky mush or watery soup with floating food bits like most of the others we've tried have. And she dove into it with gusto which says a lot as she's a pretty dainty selective eater. 

Like most dehydrated/freeze dried options it's hard to find something affordable to feed exclusively for the hike. To meet her needs she would ideally get 2 cups per feeding which would provide her with 694kcal per meal for a total of 1388 for the day and that weighs in around 2.5ozs per meal. What makes it rehydrate so well, it's fluffy texture is also a bit of a negative for backpacking as it takes up a fair amount of pack space. With a bulk purchase I can get the price down to about $2/oz - but that's still cost prohibitive at $4+ per meal. 

Final word: I like this stuff and so does she! I'll likely use this to cut down the weight of her kibble, using a mix of this, her kibble and the Carnibars to feed on trail as treats and powerbar like on the go meals.

Updates:

The Halo freeze dried kiblets, well it seems like maybe they are not making these anymore :( The company has not responded to my emails and inquiries regarding whether or not they will be offering it again or not. Such a bummer, I really liked the idea of using this with her kibble to lighten my load. Back to the drawing board...

After a long day of mountaineering I was able to make use of the leftover unused Trail Fork Meal, their Coconut Chana Masala. As with the other two meals the favors were just delicious! I even offered a taste to my mountaineering mentor who never uses prepackaged backpacker meals because how they usually taste and he was impressed.