Monday, July 14, 2008

Road trip?

I've been thinking about the invitational a lot lately. I would love to go again this year. It's a really fun event and such an honor to be a part of....plus Kittie's consistency has come a long, long way.

But, it's being held in Long beach again which makes it a very complicated and expensive trip. I can't stand flying, never cared for it, but with all the additional security issues it's just miserable. I hate stuffing the girls in their little sturdibags for hours and hours (although they don't seem to mind). Then there's the issue of what to do with Rudy and Willy, they are not dogs you could just leave at a kennel, or have someone just stop in a couple of times a day. Last year I begged a friend to come home from Chicago to stay with them, that worked out, but I don't know if I could pull that off again this year.

Here comes the part where Bill starts calling me Lucy. I'm thinking of *driving* to the invitational! A cross country road trip with all four pugs in tow! I would take some real time off from work (a first in years), we'd stop at all the cheesy tourist attractions, go hiking, camp some of the time as soon as we get out of the bitter cold. Since I'd have a car anyway, we could stay a little further from the show site and save a ton of money and we'd be more mobile to see more of the west coast too

Really, we're just fine in our bags. We'll be waiting here until you come to your senses.

What do you think? Crazy trip to insanity? or fun cross country adventure? There's other issues to figure out, like what to do with Rudy and Willy once we get there. It's a long day and Willy gets kind of stressed being around *that* many big dogs all day, but I wouldn't want to leave them at the hotel all day either, there's also the little issue that it seems like Bill's my bad luck charm for agility. I've yet to QQ on a day when Bill's at the trial this year.

7 comments:

Margie said...

you could always drop Willy and Rudy with me on your way through Illinoi. Just putting it out there.... :-) I love to have pug sleepovers and I'd even take off work to make sure everyone gets along well. :-)

westoverpugs said...

That's incredibly nice of you....I don't think I'd do that to you though. Haven't I ever told you about when my friends (who were on a waiting list to get a pug puppy) kept Rudy & Willy for a weekend? Miss rudy planted herself by the front door and proceeded to scream, for oh about 10 hours straight.

Amazingly they still went out and got a pug after that experience!

We may be up for a visit if we come through that way though.

How did you guys do this weekend?

Jamie said...

You guys should definitely do it! The pugs and I plan on driving to the national specialty in California, which isn't nearly as far but still a bit of a trek. Road trips are great! Have fun!

Margie said...

no joy for Clancy. It was no weaves complicated by my poor attitude. :-( I realized much later though when I was thinking about out past successful weaves - 6 of the 7 were of course novice. And I remembered that he only made one or two of the 6 Qs he earned straight off. The others we had the novice luxury of the redo. So this just didn't start when we got to open. So I'm thinking now, Clancy is much more sensitive than I thought or he is so excited that he can't make his entry or a bit of both. Right now I'm going for a bit of both since he makes his entry in class and at home. So I'm going to go back to entry fundamentals to work on his confidence. I feel a little better now that I have a plan. :-)

westoverpugs said...

Jamie, You'll have to tell me how it goes. Have you done a lot of traveling with your pugs? Mine go on shorter trips all the time for trials, but WI for PDCA nationals was the longest trip they've made.

Margie, Plans are good : ) I bet you're right. He is probably a bit stressed and excited, add in the extra space at a trial, and the extra speed he's probably got going into the poles....then before he knows it, he's messed up and being the sensitive pug that he is, it probably stresses and worries him.

It will come together. Do you video tape your practices at home or classes, when he's more successful? It may help to be able to see what's different.

Jamie said...
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Jamie said...

We do travel quite a bit with the pugs. Their longest trips were our move from Kansas to Las Vegas, as well as a trip from Colorado to San Francisco and a trip from Colorado to Chicago (to attend Camp Dogwood). The pugs are great travelers. We stop frequently for potty breaks and short walks. Jason unfortunately doesn't like road trips so if he's along we don't stop as much at roadside attractions, etc. By myself, I love to stop and explore a bit with the pugs. I'm not sure if Jason will make it to CA with me this October or not. We'll see. My guys just sleep or look out the window the whole way...