New Dog - New Travel Companion

I never expected to get so attached to a dog, a pip-squeak of a dog, no less, as I have to my Seymour. It may be due to the fact that I live alone, except for the cat that decided to adopt me. But the cat lives his own life and only uses me for food and scratching.

It took me about a month to get used to having a dog around. I felt like I was pet-sitting some one else's dog. I'd look at him and try to think about what would make him happy - and the answer was - "walk me until your legs are about to fall off". That's when I knew that he liked to see more than the inside of my house. Could there be travel in our future? But I needed to learn more about him. I decided that he is one of the quirkiest and smartest dogs I've ever known. I know, I know, everyone says that about their dogs but let me give you some examples:

I tried for months to teach him to "sit". Every once in awhile he would sit but I figured he was just getting tired of my jabbering so he decided to rest a bit. I resolved myself to the fact that Seymour was "slow". Then I discovered his addiction - bacon! Within about 5 minutes of noticing that I had that scrumptious treat in my hand (ready to go into my mouth), he was sitting, giving me his paw, rolling over and touching my hand on request. Without the bacon, he was back to sitting only when he was tired and giving me the "no hablo ingles" look when I asked him do his tricks. So he is smarter than I initially thought since he has trained me to feed him bacon on command.

When we go out, he enjoys wearing clothes. He was 2 1/2 years old when I adopted him so I can't take full blame for his love of clothes. They do say that Chihuahuas (he's a mix) get cold so I'm being a good pet owner when I put a sweater on him. And yes, he does have tee shirts for summer but that's because - ahh, ok, so that's to make him look cute. One thing I will never do is buy matching clothes for me and Seymour. We might coordinate colors but that's as far as I will go.

For a dog that was found on the street, Seymour is a picky eater. I have always bought him the best dog food (meat has to be one of the first ingredients) and he still won't always eat. Again, smart dog that he is, he has trained me to do things such as adding additional meat to his bowl (he will pick out the meat and leave the rest), heating his food in the microwave and feeding him with a spoon. I'm not proud of what I've been trained to do - and I know he's just a dog - but he does have to eat!

My daughter finally found a way to get him food in him. I take him to her house and she puts three bowls of dog food out for her two dogs - and Seymour. As soon as the other dogs finish eating and start heading for his bowl, he gobbles that food down in seconds! So, I'm thinking that if I ate off of the floor (on a plate of course) and then crawled quickly toward his bowl (or at quickly as I can on a bum knee) he might eat at home. Just a thought.

I don't know if it's dogs in general or my dog in particular but he has bad gas at the most inopportune times - like when we're in the car. His emission is like that of a grown person who has had too many bean burritos. And it goes on for a long time. Just when you think he's finally cleared his system - he hasn't. I have to leave the windows down in my car some days just to air it out. And it's embarrassing if I'm going to pick someone up and Seymour has a "silent explosion". I know my friends are too polite to say anything but I'm sure they are thinking it's me because how could a little 7 pound dog make that obnoxious of a smell?

Sometimes I take him into stores and invariably within an aisle or two, he starts. It's soundless so it always takes me by surprise. I immediately look around to see if anyone is walking toward us and then try to beat a path to a more open area - like outside! I don't understand it since it's not like he eats much - except when he gets into the cat food - or Cheetos . I guess the good news is that once my friends finally realized that Seymour does have the ability to stink up the place, I could use that as my cover if I really need to.

Seymour loves to travel. At first he got bored and would jump around the car like he was on a pogo stick. I bought a doggie car seat and seat belted him in beside me. He would twist and twirl around so much on that short leash that I had to stop the car constantly to untwist him otherwise I might have to do doggie CPR. That greatly lengthened the time it took me to get places. I finally gave up on the doggie seat and he did find a place to relax. He would climb up my body and burrow down behind my back. He became a doggie lumbar support. I have no idea how he thought that was comfortable (or if he knew it was irritating) but he would stay there for hours if I let him. Since it wasn't safe and really wasn't comfortable, I decided to bring a doggie crate for him to ride in. Except for the fact that he can unzip the door on the crate faster than a human, it seems to be working - when he wants it to!

This little quirky yet smart guy has become my number one vacation travel companion. He not only is an easy traveler, but he greatly contributes to making my adventures - and stories - more fun.