The DOOM Spaniels

Yesterday Tristan had his first just-for-fun trip since we realized that he was getting terribly motion sick. We've worked on the accompanying car anxiety and done the "short low-stress trips" thing and had varying degrees of success with necessary trips like his pre-neuter/neuter surgery. (Stopping after a short time to let him get the misery under control seems to help the most. We're picking routes based on where we can safely pull over and leashwalk for a few minutes.)

For the first time yesterday, Tris was fairly perky the whole car trip; he even grr-barked at... something? at a stop sign. (Wind in the foliage? The stop sign? Passing cars? Don't know, glad he was alert and looking around instead of sick and shaking.)

Tris enjoyed seeing Molly the goldendoodle and trying to play with the young humans, and sniffing a whole yard and house full of new sniffs. We might get enthusiasm for Going in the Car out of him yet.

[Image Description: Yvaine and Tristan, two cocker spaniels, walk with noses down and sniffing along a mulched garden path with a garden hose across it. A larger white dog, Molly the goldendoodle, tries to get their attention by standing in the way. Don't worry Molly, they just need to do some sniffing first, then they'll play more.]

~Checking the Neighborhood Newsletter~

In furtherance of helping Tristan deal with his new motion sickness, when it warmed up very briefly yesterday, we took a quick drive to a dog park. It was short, uneventful, and hopefully helped him feel more like car rides are boring or a little fun-exciting.

There were *lots* of dogs over on the big-dog side; Yvaine wanted to meet them all and Tris wagged at them--but I think there were just too many for Yv, who makes a potentially provocative high-pitched chirp when she is excited. So we stayed in the empty small-dog side, let them catalogue the sniffs, and quietly went home (which was the goal, anyway).

It's a nice quick drive distance for quietly working on motion sickness.

We went in the car! (And it turns out that Tristan now experiences motion sickness. He's almost 8mo old, hopefully it's a phase, but we'll work on it too.)

Tristan met his "aunt" Molly, a goldendoodle! (Yvaine knew Molly when she was just a pup.) Both Spaniels enjoyed playing with Molly.

Yvaine got a pretty red ribbon and to sit on the furniture (on a blanket) because she is a Mannerly Lady.

Tristan got a wonderfully crinkly silver ribbon and didn’t want to stop playing and sniffing long enough to sit still.

Later everyone was tired and we all sat around and relaxed. Yvaine was lovely and Tristan was composed of 100% derp.