I’m a car ride freak. Yes, you know me, the dog who shoves her head out of the window and watches the world go by no matter how many bugs fly into her eyes. When I finally come back into the car, I’m sporting that windblown look humans love to laugh over. It’s why when my human mom told me I was going on a car ride to our new home on the other side of Florida with Blue Collar Pet Transport, I got excited. Seriously, what could possibly be more fun than that?
The morning of my trip, Mom got her rollerblades out, which really got me going because when I see them, I know I’m about to have a blast. After Mom put them on, I darted out the door, raced down the steps, and took off down the street, pulling her behind me. I ran and ran and ran for about two miles, and unlike most days, Mom only crashed once. That was when I saw a squirrel and forgot what “leave it” means, but Mom forgave me. She always does.
Back home, I chilled out for about an hour until the doorbell rang. When Mom answered it, Dave and Mike, two very nice men from Blue Collar Pet Transport, were there, and they were going to be my chauffeur as I went across Florida! I showed them how well I could sit, and Mike shook my paw, saying that he was very impressed with my manners. That made me wag my tail even harder. Dave gave me a really good back scratch, which made me think he was the best guy in the world. They then took my carrier out to the van, with Mom and I behind him.
Mom and I said our goodbyes, and I jumped into the van, walking right into my carrier like I had been trained to do. I was in for quite a surprise, though, when I saw I would have some company for the road. There were other dogs! I can’t tell you for sure what the breeds were, but I think Jack was a pug and Theo was a fox terrier. My nose was sniffing a million times an hour, and while Jack didn’t say hello, Theo yapped a lot, which I thought was polite of him. Dave and Mike got in, started the van, and turned on the radio low, and off we went on our adventure.
Theo and I are both social butterflies, so we kept talking for a while. Jack listened and eventually joined in. Our carriers were close enough for us to be able to smell each other, so I could tell that Jack had had a bath that morning and that Theo had eaten a lot of hot dogs that day. Lucky guy.
Eventually, we all got tired of talking, and I lay down and watched the world go by through the window. There were a lot of houses for a while, and then those disappeared as we left the city and went out into the countryside. I was sleepy from all the running I had done that morning, so it wasn’t long before I was snoring in my favorite blanket Mom had put in my carrier.
I didn’t wake up until we took a pit stop. Dave stayed with Jack and Theo while Mike took me for a walk. Stretching my legs was great, and Mike let me sniff around, which was fun because I could tell a lot about the dogs who had been there before me. I was on my best behavior and tried not to pull on the leash too much, and Mike was really patient with me.
After Jack and Theo got their bathroom breaks, we took off again. I got a little bored, to be honest, but that was okay because Mom had included my favorite chew toys and my squeaky rabbit. That was enough to keep me occupied until I fell asleep again, and I have to say that even though I squeaked that rabbit a hundred times, Mike and Dave didn’t seem to mind like many humans do.
In the late afternoon, we dropped off Theo, who I was sorry to see go. I really liked him, but I must say it was nice to see how happy he was to see his human, who gave him a big hug hello. About thirty minutes later, we reunited Jack with his family, who was just as excited as he was. That meant that it was my turn, and my tail started thumping on the side of my carrier.
It was nearly dark when we pulled up in front of my new home, and Mom was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for me. Blue Collar Pet Transport had called her to let her know I was almost there, and she was smiling from ear to ear. When Mike let me out of my carrier, I admit I nearly knocked him over as I ran to Mom, who hugged me so hard I nearly couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t mind. I slobbered all over her face as she thanked Mike and Dave, who were smiling, too. They said goodbye to me, shook my paw again, and drove off, leaving me to explore my new place and to think back over what had been a really great day.