Linkmeister

I'm a travelling dog. . .

Tigger the dog is doing well; she shows no symptoms of anything other than her usual terminal bounciness, and she thanks you all for asking. She's scheduled for surgery Thursday. The vet (he makes house calls, but obviously not for operations) suggested we could save a few bucks (read, $85 or so) by driving her to his office ourselves, and we agreed. However, the dog has only been in a moving vehicle once since she arrived in this house Christmas Day, 1992, and that round-trip was in the vet's van to fix a cut ear (on the same day I had the patellar tendon of my right knee sliced open, but that's another story). That being the case, yesterday I thought I'd give her a ride to acclimatize to the car (you know, like travel agents get familiarization trips?). I figured we'd just go up the hill and back down, maybe a half-mile total. I had to push her into the car; she had no desire to get in (note: find aerosolized milk-bone scent before Thursday), and even less desire to stay in. However, finally Tigger is ensconced in the back seat, and into reverse I go. Within two minutes she has squirmed her way into the front seat; fine, I think, that's normal. But then! Does she stick her nose out the open window to breathe and smell all the lovely fragrances in the air (we're 1000 feet above sea level)? Nope. Instead she curls up on the passenger-side floor of the car, and huddles there for the remainder of the trip, trembling. So I pull back into the driveway about ten minutes later, feeling awfully guilty at my mistreatment of a faithful friend. It took her about 15 minutes to calm down and forgive me.

Now, on the one hand, if she wants to huddle next to the firewall for the entire 12-mile trip to the vet's place, that means no distractions for me, the driver. But by the time we get there, I may be carrying such a load of guilt I'll need to be treated myself. I think I'll try her in the car again a couple of times before Thursday, in hopes she'll relax. Anyone have similar experiences?