Adopting another dog, after Molly, was not a sure thing for us. In our marriage, we have been blessed with three extraordinary dogs, all adopted as adults/seniors. Shasta taught us the benefits of living with a retired service dog and Molly eventually completed training to work as Sarah’s service dog. When we started to look for a new dog, we were daunted by how the rescue/foster system has devolved into a money-making cottage industry. Folks are adopting the best-behaved dogs from the shelters and then re-packaging them as available for adoption for huge “re-homing” fees, rivaling the cost of purchasing a pure-bred puppy.
We continued our research and met several candidates in shelters in different states. None of them passed all of the tests we had set; a potential service dog must be calm and relaxed, responsive when approached, and accept boundaries and training readily. A dog that is clearly frustrated, reactive to people or other dogs, has issues with resource guarding, or is overly sensitive to touch cannot easily be trained to work as a service companion. Hip health is also important. It has been more than thirty years since Sarah last raised a puppy and Joe has only lived with adult dogs. Puppies are a big commitment and require a huge investment of time and patience. But as our search for an adult rescue dog with potential for service training continued with no definite results, we started to consider the benefits of puppy-raising.
This youngster was born in Indiana last June at Foxwood K-9. This extraordinary kennel is powered by solar and geothermal systems and the dogs are raised with love. She was ready to come home to us at the end of November. Because we were getting ready to leave Cape Cod for the winter, it was tricky to figure out the best way for our new pup to get to us. Delivery options were compromised by airline restrictions so we landed on the idea of picking her up directly from the kennel in Shipshewana.
We flew to Detroit on a Tuesday morning, picked up a one-way rental car, and drove to Indiana. We picked up puppy supplies and the puppy and headed out west. Thank goodness she adapted to car travel without incident! Mornings were spent bonding with Sarah in the front seat and the rest of the afternoon was spent sleeping in her crate. The three nights in hotels were relatively easy as she slept in her crate without complaint.
On our second day, we passed a sign that said we were 90 degrees west of Greenwich – one-quarter of the way around the world! An hour later we saw Mark Twain’s boyhood home before crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri. Chillicothe, MO is the Home of Sliced Bread and Sarah was stoked to stop at Missouri Star Quilts. After lunch, we passed by the birthplace of Jesse James. And in Kansas City, we met Boon and his human who works at Bar K Dog Park. We slept in Hays, KS.
Thursday’s adventures included meeting a flock of chickadees in a pre-dawn cold walk before loading up the car and heading into Colorado where we gained another hour due to entering Mountain Standard Time. The temperature was a bit warmer (56 F) as we cruised through Denver and headed up into the Rocky Mountains. When Journey woke up after lunch we were at ten thousand feet elevation in Vail and found Bighorn Park to introduce her to the snow. We stopped in Green River, UT (pop. 847) for the night – known for watermelons and its annual Melon Fest.
Friday morning was a bit tense as we got caught in a blizzard coming over the summit to Salina, UT. While Journey slept blissfully unaware, Joe did a great job navigating the un-plowed road and we made it to Mom’s Cafe for breakfast by mid-morning. We time-traveled to Mesquite Dog Park (Pacific Time Zone) before steering into the megalopolis called Vegas.
We saw a lot of sights and experienced a range of weather conditions (sun, rain, sleet, snow, winds, hail) on our journey cross-country. We returned the rental car in Las Vegas, picked up Mike (with his refurbished engine!) and after visiting our friends Friday night, we turned south to Yuma on Saturday morning.
We will be staying here in Arizona for the winter and plan to drive cross-country back home to Cape Cod in March. In these first weeks living together, we have set new routines, started training classes, and adapted to sharing our RV with our growing four-legged goofball. Her antics as she explores and learns about the world are keeping us smiling and we made more friends at the RV park in one week than the entire winter season last year. Everyone wants to pet the white, friendly puppy.
Joe proposed registering her as “Journey” because it was a journey to find her, we trekked cross-country on a literal road trip to pick her up, and we look forward to sharing many travel adventures together. She has the perfect name!
Where in the world are the Gills? 