Visiting

Last week the dogs and me went all the way down to Kent in England to visit my parents. At first I thought it would be best to just take Henry with me. As he is my boy I like spending time with him alone, going for walks or even just a drive in the car, but as preperations started Molly started tugging at my heart strings and then I was starting to feel bad about leaving Badger on his own if I took her with me.

So I called my Mum and warned her that I might possibly be arriving with three dogs....I got my Dad as Mum was out and he was very enthusiastic about it so off we went.

The first hurdle was to get Badgers cage in the jeep, Molly and Henry would travel in the boot where there is a proper dog guard but as they all like to spring out when I open the tail gate I decided that Badger should travel in his cage in the middle of the jeep so I could have some control over getting them all in and out for wee stops.

It's not easy getting a cage in the middle of a jeep but I managed it eventually then I packed up the jeep with everything else and off we went.

The second hurdle was getting Molly and Badger along the first few miles of twisty turney roads to the motorway without them being sick. It was very early in the morning and I think I caught them on the hop as neither of them threw up, thank goodness.

This was the first long trip Badger had been on so to begin with he sat in his cage and whined while looking curiously and Henry and Molly who as soon as we got on the motorway laid down and went to sleep. After a while though Badge lay down but kept an eye open just in case.

The journey down was great, no traffic ques or anything and about half way down I turned round to check the dogs and noticed that Badger has an unusual travelling position, upside down!
He was laying in his cage completely upside down with his legs in the air! It was so funny! I tried to take a picture with my phone but I couldn't manage it while driving along and every time I stopped he turned over. Goodness knows what lorry drivers and people in buses and coaches much have thought!

Stopping in the services for the dogs to wee wa interesting, Molly and Henry know the routine well, they know it's not a walk so they do what they have to do and then we go back to the car. Badger on the other hand thought it all a big adventure and couldn't help running up to every person he saw and giving them a rapturous greeting. It took me a moment to realise that he never actually sees people apart from us and the people on the farm so it must have been big stuff for him.

Once we arrived my Dad helped me get the dogs out of the car and he absolutely loved Badger. Henry and Molly knew where they were and settled in straight away by inspecting every inch of the garden and starting to play. Badger was in his element, licking and wagging his tail and smiling with his choppy mouth.

Then we all went out into the garden and the dogs entertained us with a mad running game all around the flower and vegetable beds. Dad had made a sort of criss cross fence around some seedlings in order to keep Henry off but he ended up using the fence as a hurdle, luckily the fence went right round that bed and Henry has a long span of jumping!

We then went into the kitchen where Mum was making the dinner and the dogs did that thing of laying all over the kitchen floor just where you tread. Mum is very experienced in dog hopping and went about making the dinner stepping in and out of legs and over bodies as if they were there all the time. She also threw the odd bit of meat every now and then where it would land in the mouth of whichever dog it was aimed at without the dog having to get up.

It was true doggie heaven, very relaxed and laid back and we spent the rest of the evening talking about dogs, drinking wine and laughing.