Jasper, Onyx and I are traveling. Sort of. We’re no longer mobile, having landed for an extended stay in a Best Western hotel about 100 miles from home. I’m here to work on getting back into shape after knee surgery.
The dogs haven’t had the benefit of travel or socialization in their short lives (Jasper is 13 months old, Onyx is 6 months). About six weeks after Jasper came to live with me the meniscus in my right knee tore while I was walking him one evening. Several months later I had surgery on both knees. Two months after the surgery Onyx came along. Because of the painful condition of my knees for the better part of a year I’ve been unable to take them to classes, dog parks, or even for walks. My health and physical condition are now rapidly improving. Not only am I looking forward to being more active with the dogs, they are my inspiration for continuing to work so hard to get well.
Jasper is off his game here on the road. Poor guy didn’t know there are different rules for different places. At home it’s okay to bark when someone approaches our property. Here it’s not. If he hears someone ‘lurking’ around, it’s okay to growl and carry on. Here it’s not. If he’s outside at home at 1:00 in the morning and he sees or hears a ‘bad man’, it’s a-okay with me when he lets out a blood curdling war cry. When he hears someone outside our hotel room window at 1:00 in the morning and lets loose with a 100 decible bark to sound the alarm of imminent danger I do not have quite the same appreciation for his hard-wired gift of protection.
Now that he has claimed the hotel and grounds for his own, no one and no thing escapes his diligent eyes and ears . He growls and barks at children, men, women, cars, the security guard, the housekeeping and maintenance staff, other dogs, and voices coming from the parking lot. At home he is rewarded for being a good protector. Here I tell him to be quiet for the very same reasons I reward him at home. My son was kind of screwed up for a while so I’m really hoping to get it right with the dog.
Onyx is pretty much a wash & wear dog. As long as her rank and status of Princess of the Known World is respected, she’s good to go. Being Princess means she gets to settle in the back seat of the car first. Being Princess means it’s okay if she takes her half of the seat out of the middle. It also means that she can take all of the special chew toys I’ve given both of them here at the hotel and stash them under an end table in the farthest corner possible where no human or male dog can ever get them. And it’s okay to parade around the room with one of them in her mouth to show just how good it is to be Princess.
I am hoping that as we have more experience traveling together Jasper will come to understand that different places have different rules. Of course, there are no rules for the Princess of the Known World other than to oversee her subjects with grace and parity.
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