The original plan was for our entire family, canine and human, to head out for a short weekend camping getaway. Let’s just say that Ginny’s Aunt Flow stuck around this visit a bit longer than we anticipated. She is still a tad enticing to the boys and taking her to a campground is not a very smart move. Needless to say, I am staying home and keeping several of the dogs with me so our son can have a great birthday weekend. Baby, Dude, Cosmo and Buddy are packed up and ready to head out for their weekend adventure. The rest are staying here with me. I see a lot of playing, bonding and training for me and the dogs and for me alone, record keeping updates and...
Read MoreThe two shadows (Dude and Dewey) begged to be out with us humans tonight as we all gathered for our final campfire of the trip. Dude’s love of the doggie pillow inspired us to place it beside the fire for him to lay on, while Dewey still insisted on being in my lap. The rest of the dogs lay peacefully in the camper, staying warm by the heat of the furnace instead of the heat from the fire. We are all sad to see this very relaxing and fun trip come to an end but with the looming cold front and rain showers expected to arrive tomorrow, we want to get an early start to our trek back home. Tonight is also Rane’s first night sleeping with her new forever...
Read MoreThe campfire is one is the biggest things we look forward to on our camping trips and this one has included nightly ones. But tonight it is a bit buggy and Mosquitos doing not make a good mix with dogs. Especially those feasting the Ocala National Forest! So I turned on the radio for noise, turned down the lights for ambiance and opened the blinds so that could at least enjoy the beauty of the fire. Turns out, it just made them more intrigued to peek out at what we were up to. No barking, whining or scratching, just a peer for time to...
Read MoreSocialization is extremely important when it comes to a toy, companion breed. There is nothing worse than a 5 pound dog with a Napoleon complex! We are using this camping trip as a way to provide some socialization to two of our unique cases. Dude barks at anything and everything. A bag floating in the wind to the huge golden Labrador that is in the campsite two down from ours. While exploring the Rodman Dam this morning, of course, he had to be attached to his favorite human! All went very well on our adventure until a young man and his Boxer came to the spillway to fish. Of course, Dude the Chihuahua bark to get the attention of a dog 10 times larger than him! Dude...
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends – Human and Canine like! We have to many things to be thankful for and spending such a wonderful holiday with those we love makes it that much better. We have ALL finished up our fantastic turkey dinners (Yes, the Chihuahuas had their own home cooked Thanksgiving meal too) and based on this photo, can you tell what we are all doing? Lounging, napping and watching the Lions vs the Packers...
Read MoreOf all of our dogs, Dude is the most insistent to be with his humans. Actually, my husband to be more precise. So during camping trips, he is usually attached to his waist, following him everywhere. With today being Thanksgiving, we have been outside a lot and enjoying the beautiful park. This afternoon, we have been playing several rounds of Cornhole, marking it difficult for him to be attached to a human. He is now attached to the camper, and was given our huge doggy pillow as a place to lay and watch us play. All he had to do was SEE my husband and he was fine. Looks like Cornhole is a new camping favorite of his...
Read MoreI document the habits and quirks of our dogs but in this post, I am going to document one that belongs to our oldest HUMAN child. Whenever he sees a tiny pup and he just go happens to be wearing a pair of shorts with pockets, he slips a puppy in to see if anyone will notice. Of course, he also does it for the totally cute-ability. Back when Dude was a bitty pup, I snapped this photo to capture the adorable cuteness. Today he tried the same trick with our 5 week old Quickster. I gotta say, I think his personality shines through more than the...
Read MoreWe got a late start to packing up this morning. Not only knowing that the rest of our crew are happy and safe with Karen, but honestly, truly enjoying the beauty and relaxation this park offers, we wanted to soak in as much as we could before check out time. The boys – and Rane – were the most relaxed they have been while in the pen during a camping trip. Perhaps it is the sounds of the crashing waves or the salty air? Not sure but it has brought a calm to the crew. Even our STILL broken screen on the door to our camper has resulted in a change of behavior on this trip. No attempts to jump through, simply a head poke to get a whiff of everything this park...
Read MoreOk, now TOTALLY see why there is an 11 month waiting list to reserve a site in this park! IT IS AMAZING!!! And we just so happened to get the site next to the look out point to the beach. We are backed in to our Ocean Front spot and are all in pure heaven! We only have five dogs with us on this trip and the park itself seems to be extremely dog friendly – They are even having a costume contest next weekend for dogs! Every site appears to have at least one canine companion so I see a lot of socialization in our five companion’s...
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