Vacationing with Chipsy was No Vacation

Well, it seemed like a good idea. We took our dog camping with us over the weekend, thinking it would be nice not to board him, and to let him hike along with us on the trails in Natural Bridge State Park, Kentucky. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

I did my homework, or so I thought. Pets were allowed, though dogs had to be on a leash at all times. That seemed doable, especially since we were camping in a trailer and could let him off his leash inside. But once we arrived at the campground, we learned that dogs were not allowed on any trails. So while we could bring him camping, he had to stay put. We weren't expecting that.

Nearly everyone in the campground had a dog. We anticipated lots of barking, but that never happened. All the dogs were well-behaved, chained as they were to their postage-stamp lots. On the outside, everything was fine. It was inside that our dog went ballistic.

I must mention that we have an energetic beagle mix who follows us everywhere we go. In fact, he can't stand to be in a different room than us, and that lead to major separation anxiety when we shut him in the trailer and went off hiking. If he saw us leave in the truck, he was fine. But if he thought we were nearby, he panicked and whined and cried and ending up destroying the blinds in my mom's trailer trying to spot us out the window. That was the worst of it.

But it was also not the carefree weekend we'd envisioned. Just like at home, we went off to hike, and square dance, and explore, but felt it necessary to get back to the trailer to check on the dog. And he never did get the nice, long walking hikes we'd hoped for.

So the vacation with the dog wasn't such a vacation. We've already got the dog sitter reserved for our next trip. I think we'll all have a better time.