West went on a trip!

Today was West's first car ride since his arrival. We've done about 5 car sessions, 3 with the Santa Fe and a couple (plus some unplanned ones!) with the Sprint. Today, it was so nice out and I figured he could handle it, so we loaded everyone up, then asked him to get in.

Poor guy was kinda freaked out. Too many changes at once: People other than me in the car. Car running. Archie and Gypsy in the car. Expectations.

I just handed him some heart treats, and suggested he follow them into the car. He balked a bit, crawled some, but then leapt inside! Took about 30 seconds to get him in, so not a big struggle at all. Once in, he took some treats, looked around, and did some lip licks and yawning. I opened the windows for him to help with any nausea, and jollied him most of the way there. He was eager to get out when we arrived (about 10km drive to the walking spot) but no worse for wear! No drooling, no serious stress, no vomit!

I took his thundershirt off, and we went for a great walk. Chris got a few photos:







Some are blurry, sorry about that. It was 3pm, so the sun was mostly gone. As usual, way more pics at

West's album on Picasa

I've also added some old ones that were forgotten, so if you haven't checked them out in a while and are addicted to West photos, please go poke around.

So our walk went very well. West mostly chased Gypsy, much to her dismay. Archie did a lot of long distance exploring, and West would rather chase a more intense dog. We saw lots of poop, but no wildlife. We stopped at a bank and tossed sticks down for the dogs to fetch, then headed back to the car.

West leapt in like a pro, then I couldn't find his thundershirt!! We drove back to the parking spot and it wasn't there... Then West moved over on the seat. He'd been sitting on it. Back on with the shirt, no windows open this time, and he relaxed on my lap for most of the trip. He took popcorn from Chris and looked around. Not nearly as stressed (no yawning at all!) and quite tired I expect!

Once home, he did do some strange barking at chris stuff, but I think it was just a combination of the post-car stress, the poor lighting and the unusual treats (popcorn isn't terribly high value to him).

Inside to chew a deer leg and relax for the rest of the evening. Good boy, West!