Mobile pets

 

How boring our travels would be if it wasn't for the presents of our sweet furry (and in our case also feathered) pet family.

At times it's stressful to share our 280 sf with extra paws that like to place themselves in our way most of the time. Peanut (in picture below), lovingly referred to as the human puppy, 

cannot imagine placing his royal behind on any other surface but our steps; or any for that matter. Making it almost impossible to navigate around him.

Then there's the birdcage for Crazy Bird, our cockatoo. Luckily, he adjusted to his small version of living space just as much as us humans have, too. Of course life would be wayyy too normal, if Crazy Bird was just your average Cockatoo.  Oh no, you guessed. Wrong! This one is a self-mutalator, sadly enough.  Yes, we've been dealing with his special needs for many years. In the picture below you happen to see him in a rare moment without his soft collar, that he normally has to wear so he doesn't hurt himself.

Then there's kitty, Maggie, who kept her cool and is perfectly fine.  Lucky us! Yes,  kitty is just a NORMAL cat. Awesome! We'll take it!

Yes it is kind of  annoying to squeeze a litter box into an already small space but our family just wouldn't be complete without our kitty. She's been a family member for 13 years.

Our two puppies have tons of energy.  When the roughhousing goes on for too long, then I know it's time again for the ultimate exercise session: A daily bicycle ride with each of them. Often twice.

 I dreamed about this way before we ever moved into our trailer and started travelling. Sounds kinda strange I bet. But the idea of freedom for me was to have time to ride my bike and train my dogs to run along on a leash. 

 It proofed to be easier than I thought.

The trick?  No trick. Just a lot of praise and a retractable leash, kept short. Now I must mention that I have a beach cruiser bike with no gears. Awesome bike and perfect for dog exercises!

Off we go!

Crazy  Bird (the name.., don't judge!) rides in the cockpit of the Ford during travels, mostly sitting on my hand, and does well with it.

Kitty stays in the trailer when we travel. It seems to work. Less stress than being couped up with the crazies, AKA puppies.

Our oldtimer doggy Milo is 16, almost completely blind and deaf and in diapers.  We honestly never thought he'd still be with us but he manages to stay alive with a huge appetite and the will to live. 

He spends most of his days sleeping.

• Now all fun aside, I will mention that I find it super important to put collars and tags with phone numbers on all travelling pets. 
• Can you imagine them getting lost with no identification? 

We chose to list THREE contact phone numbers per tag. 

Mine, Joe's plus our daughters (that is not traveling with us). Obviously there is no address on the tag, since we no longer have a permanent residence. 

Often the puppies manage to get themselves nice and dirty. Now in our case we are lucky to have a nice sized shower in our 5th wheel. But when the dogs need a quick rinse after yet another episode of rolling around in the dirt, then Joe does this with the outdoor shower.  It keeps the inside of our home a bit cleaner that way!

It has become a routine to look up dog parks whenever we arrive at a new destination. Luckily nowadays these tend to exist more than in recent years. Thank goodness! Can you imagine living with 2 fireballs that can't run free every now and then?

I guess what I am saying is, there has to be a balance, traveling with pets. If we put in some effort to keep them happy and sane, we ultimately profit from the fruits of our labor.

      Watch the video:

https://youtu.be/rk6MQCUsPgw