What do dogs think about road trips? Have you ever wondered? I, as a hound, can tell you that we find the whole car and travel thing to be very odd. Bailie and I don’t really understand the whole concept.
I enjoy going anywhere Mom wants to take me. Being a back seat driver is my thing. On occasion I will lie down and take a nap, but no matter how many hours we drive I love looking forward to see where we are going. At stoplights, I enjoy staring at the folks in the car next to us. Usually, it makes them smile or laugh. New places mean new adventures.
Bailie on the other paw is a nervous mess. She doesn’t particularly like car rides, but she doesn’t want to be left behind at home either. When we saw the dog communicator last spring, we learned that some dogs are just uneasy if their paws are not on solid ground. Did you know some dogs can’t live in a high rise because of their paws being “up in the air?”
One thing we find odd about traveling in the car is no matter how far we go, or how many hours we sit in the car, we always end up getting out at a place with long hallways, and lots of doors. Mom picks one door and we have a small room with a bed, TV, and a bathroom, that is it. Why? Couldn’t we have just slept at home? Do humans enjoy sleeping in strange places with people around them making noise at all times of the day and night? Travel and these rooms are truly exhausting for dogs.
Bailie says that when she was younger, before I was born, she would ride with Emma, and sometimes Katie too, for two whole days in a car! They would also stay in these strange places with the doors and hallways. One time she ended up in a place called Las Vegas with a whole different climate. She also tells me stories about a place called Florida. The main thing she remembers is the endless hours in the car.
These days it seems like we always drive somewhere to go sniffing. Sometimes we drive about five minutes, other times more like hours and hours. Not only do we drive for hours, we then spend an entire day sitting in our car in a parking lot after spending the night in one of those strange rooms. Why can’t we just sniff at home is a question we ponder. Along the way, Mom finds it fun to stop real quick to take photos with bizarre things like this giant pink elephant. Bailie and I don’t see the purpose, but humans seem to find it to be a fantastic idea. We go along with it to keep Mom happy.
We have a lot of dog friends around our area, but we really don’t get how they seem to find us when we drive for hours. When we went to Iowa two weeks ago, in the middle of nowhere, we ran into several of our friends. They were all there to sniff too. None of us dogs could make sense of it all. How did everyone know to come to this place?
In August we drove really far for Bailie to do sniffing and ran into a bunch of our friends at the sniffing location. After Bailie finished, we drove until late into the night, stayed at a place with the halls and doors again, and the next morning we were sniffing out rats. Amazingly, we ran into a lot of people we know from home at that place too. Poor Bailie also had to do one of those silly photos humans like. Why do humans do these things. We dogs don’t mind, but we have no idea how this all works. Sometimes it is like Mom is a whole different animal from what we are!
Last weekend it happened again. We drove for many, many hours and when we arrived we met friends from home again! We even went out for a walk along the flooding river with them. How did they know to find us where we were?
My conclusion is that humans and these cars must have some special powers or something. We will keep riding along and enjoying seeing all kinds of new things, but we have no idea how it works. The photos with weird stuff are also a true puzzle for us! Any dogs out there have answers to any of our questions?
Road trips are really odd in a dog’s mind, but we do enjoy them. Today we are joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop! Visit some other blogs to see what they are thankful for.
I don’t care for car rides anywhere so you gals are much better at it, but it is a mystery. Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Humans seem to love these cars. They are always hopping in and driving off.
I just love this post. How brilliant! All good questions
Thank you. We just don’t understand it all, but we are always ready to go along anyway.
Madison! I have the same questions! I love to be with mom but what is it with thise drives and strange places to stay!? My brother Dash asked the same questions. NowChester doesn’t seem to like the car too much. I think he might be like Bailie. Why aren’t his paws on the ground, he seems to be asking. We loved this post!! Have a great day. Your friend Lilly
Thank you. I think all dogs wonder about the magic of cars and why things are the way they are with the car. Hopefully Chester will start to like the car better, but Bailie says she was never ever a fan of moving vehicles. CBD helps her at least. Have a fun day.
Torrey loves road trips. She is so excited to get in the truck, and so curious and excited to se where we are now. She loves going back to favorite places, but also seeing something new.
I love them too, and I remember when we go places we went before. I just don’t understand why we sleep in these strange places and how my friends end up in the same places a lot of times.
wow you saw a place what really has pink elephants? how great is that? we both love car rides… but we want to be no backseat passengers and we scream at people, cars, trees, dogs, bikes, grass, nothing when we pass by…we think the mama likes that a lot because she said to da Phenny: OH MY GOD!… that’s a compliment, right?
We make lots of noise if we see other dogs out walking, otherwise we are real quiet.
You have traveled so much more than me. I have never been in one of those long hallways with doors. I did go on a long trip last fall, but I was not happy with the people I met. My mom was so disappointed. I did get car sick once when she let me eat some of her chicken sandwich and we were on hills and curves. She had me in one of those super safety belts like you have. I did get into a BIG thingy once and we actually left the ground! I was very little and was in a cute little carrier like thingy. I was absolutely quiet and did not have any accidents! Humans make us go through so very much! XOXO, Sparkle
All the containers they have that move are so odd. Emma was in a metal tube twice in her life. She said it was scary, but she survived. We furry ones have to trust that our humans know what they are doing.
This is hilarious. Great post! Audi (my pup) is alwayyyys down for a car ride. “Going with” is one of her top priorities. Which always makes me wonder where she thinks I go when she doesn’t get to go with. She can’t understand the concept of a job or grocery shopping…my theory is that she thinks whenever I leave without her that I’m out on a walk or going to the dog park or doing one of her favorite activities and THAT’S why she’s so obsessed with “going with.”
We never really know where you go when you leave without us. It’s a shame we can’t go to stores here because that would be a lot of fun. I love to always be included and if I am not, I sit in the front window and look sad when my mom pulls the car out onto the road.
I love road trips but I never get to go to the fun places that you girls get to visit!
I will say, we have been to some fun places, but some super weird ones too!
We haven’t had any road tripping dogs for a while, but our Kobi and Maggie used to love getting into the car to go to our camp! That’s what is so wonderful about dogs….you go along with things even though you have no idea what it’s all about, just to make your humans happy (we do have some crazy ideas – LOL).
I love to look out the window and wonder where we are headed. Mom usually tells us where we are going, but it really doesn’t help me much. I need to get my nose out and smell a location.
It must be fun to go on so many adventures. We enjoy riding in our kennel in our car so we can stretch out and snooze. We wish we could meet with y’all again on the road!
We still want to make it to Texas, but no idea if it will ever happen. Mom’s work is kind of limiting the travel, and it is expensive to take longer trips. Hopefully one day I can meet the lady Bailie tells me loves her huggles. So sad BlogPaws is no more.
What thoughtful commentary on travel – and beautiful pictures of the beautiful dogs!
Thank you.
Our Little Bit loved road trips. She would rather be with us than not. She was more than happy no matter where we went.
Have a woof woof Thankful Thursday. My best to your mom. ♥
I am the same way. Bailie just isn’t keen on the ride part, but loves to be in new places.
There are some dogs i know that love getting in the car, no matter if it’s around the block or around the country. Getting to go along for the ride is the important part, being with the pack.
Never heard about some dogs needing all four paws on the ground, but it makes sense.
Unfortunately, Bailie is rarely excited about getting into the car, but she does love being in new places. Dogs have to go for rides because you can’t walk everywhere.
Yep…you said it, road trips can be weird…but also lots of fun! I really enjoyed meeting you girls last year…hopefully we’ll get to meet again during one of our future road trips!
xoxo,
Rosy, Jakey & Arty
That was great last year. We still can’t believe that whole BlogPaws part of life just vanished. Who knew that was going to happen? Hopefully through all our travels we can all meet up somewhere at some point.
Me and Tui enjoy car rides but we can’t wait to get where we are going usually it’s a 15 minute ride to walk on the beach, Sometimes it’s Laundry Mutt (which is a HUGE disappointment) and sometimes it’s a 10 minute ride to the vet. But one time it was an hour drive to go hiking at a new place that was fun but such a long ride on the way there. We were so tired from hiking we slept on the way back. ~Your pal, Fenris
It’s almost always a surprise where we land, but if it is the spa or the vet, it is always so disappointing!
Road trips are fun and can be exhausting
They are super fun, but wear us out too.