Our Dogs

About two months ago, our Cocker Spaniels had their lives turned upside down. We've always traveled a lot and when we do, we have a good friend, Ken Kraft, come and take care of our little monsters. They love Kenny, but really hate to see us leave. Being the more precocious of the two, Coco, the brown one, realizes that when the suitcases come out, someone is leaving and from that point on, she won't leave my side. We started packing the house up about two months before we left so for two months, Coco was beside herself (actually, she was right beside me). Cooper is another story. If ignorance is bliss, then that dog is in bliss heaven. She's so laid back, she could have been born in San Francisco in the 60's.

Jim and I were both stressed out about getting the dogs down here. The airlines are cool with dogs weighing less than 20 pounds riding in the cabin, under the seat in front of the owner. Our "little monsters" aren't that little. The porkers each weighed in at 27 pounds...yikes! Jim went immediately into doggie diet mode and allocated them each two pellets of food, twice a day. I of course, supplemented their diets with plenty of dog biscuits and the occasional piece of cheese that just happened to "drop" on the floor. In spite of my sabotage, Jim was able to slim the girls down to a fashionable 22 pounds.

For several weeks before we left, we discussed alternative ways to get Coco and Cooper down to the boat. Jim looked into chartering a private plane. That came to about $26,000.00. We could buy two new dogs in every port we visited for the year and still not spend $26,000.00. Needless to say, that option was out. We looked into taking a cruise ship down. They only allow service dogs on ship; anyone who knows our dogs knows that they are the ones who demand the service. That was another option down the tubes. We looked into booking our flight on a wide-body plane but the only wide-body planes that fly out of the Washington area head for a different continent. One more idea bites the dust.

In the end, we gave each dog a Benedryl, stuffed them into their Sherpa dog carriers, walked up to the ticket counter, paid the ticket agent $80.00 each for the dogs's fare, and got on the plane. Nobody even gave them a second look. I have to admit, I was the one doing most of the worrying.

They did great on the first plane but really didn't want to get back into their Sherpas for the second one. We're bigger and stronger; they got in the Sherpas.

Now they're on the boat. They love being with their two dads but are a little freaked out when their whole house starts to move. But as you can see from the two pictures below, they've adjusted just fine. Coco does what she did in Falls Church. She looks out the window/hatch hoping to find something to bark at. Cooper does what she does best....ZZZZZZZZ.

Ahhhh, it's a dogs life!