Petey On Duty

This weekend we took a road warrior trip back to Cincinnati to see my Grandmother, who had suffered a stroke several weeks earlier and was now recuperating in a nursing home.  We decided to take both dogs this time to see how things went with Pete being in an unfamiliar home in a new town.  It was a tough trip on John and I, but even harder for Coop and Pete. 

To begin, Coop is just straight up uncomfortable being in the car. He seems to have imbibed my lack of balance and his own natural distaste for certain surfaces (cardboard, metal) has apparently extended to the upholstery of any car. So 5 hours in the car with Coop means he paces and pants and drools and stalker breathes in your ear. 

Petey, on the other hand, loves the car and takes advantage of Coop's weakness by beginning each trip with humping Cooper.  Then he's in the front on your lap, then on the floorboard in the front, then in the back.

By the time we arrived at 3 am, John and I were spent.  I could only assume the dogs were as well.  Cooper went to sleep in my little sister's room, his usual ritual, but we kept Pete with us because we didn't know how Pete would react in a new room with the door closed.  Well, he was in a new room with the door closed, but Cooper was in the room next door and he knew it.  He stood on the end of our bed and pointed at the door for what seemed like an hour.  He might have gotten a few minutes of rest before he spent the rest of the morning standing at the door whining.  When John opened the door, Coop must have been waiting to come spend some time with us, because he was standing at the door, wagging his tail. 

For the rest of the weekend, Pete was on duty.  New smells, new people, new dogs- he was all atwitter.  He was simultaneously incredibly happy to see all the sights and smell them as he was suspicious of them.  With my stepdad, Chuck (who is very much a dog person), he was happy to see him, lick him and be petted and then he would start his growl and howl routine.  It was as if he felt he needed to protect us from Big Bad Chuck.  It was funny and strange because all the while he wagged his tail, he was just howling.

Finally on Saturday night, he felt ok to pass out on top of me and get some rest, but it wasn't until our whole family was in the car on the ride home on Sunday night that Pete truly slept.  My poor dog felt the need to guard and protect us for over 48 hours and hardly slept at all in Cincinnati, though I suspect he still had a good time. 

Hopefully on our next trip home, Pete will feel comfortable enough to take some time off from protecting his pack from Big Bad Chuck and the Cincinnati crew.