Dogs and Wanderlust
- July 2009
- Simple Living Climb Dogs Travel
Hey Steph,
Love the blog, etc. I love reading about climbing and extreme lifestyles from someone who is so upbeat!
I am just about to get out of college, and I have a lot of traveling to do. I really love dogs, and I want a companion, but don’t necessarily want to travel with another person. The problem I have is, if I get a dog, I am somewhat stuck here in the U.S., or at least on the continent. Did you ever have to leave Fletch at home while you went overseas on extended trips? I want to visit a lot of places, and most of them are not places that I would take a dog.. or places that I would just visit for a week or two. If you ever had a dog and wanderlust at the same time.. what did you do?
Jesse
Hey Steph,
How’s it going? I loved your book and attribute your story in part to why I’m planning a cross-country road trip this summer, living out of the back of my truck with my dog. But I was just wondering if you had any advice about traveling in the summer, particularly with a dog in tow.
Obviously, I’m going to have to go into grocery stores and stuff and leave him in the car, and I expect there will be plenty of nights where it will be really hot under the cap and hard to get to sleep. I know there must be a million other things I haven’t even thought about, and I was hoping to pick your brain for some tips. If you’ve got any advice to offer, I’d love to hear from you!
Anyway, happy climbing, and maybe we’ll cross paths out west sometime this summer. Thanks!
Danielle Taylor
Dear Jesse and Danielle,
When I first got Fletch (13 years ago), I was petrified. I never had a dog, and I lived in my truck. I also left the country for two expeditions/year–Patagonia in the winter for 2 months, and usually Asia in the summer for 2 months. So I didn’t see how that would work. Fletch is a pretty unique creature. She has consistently transformed people from either ambivalence or full-fledged dislike of dogs into people who are nuts about her. Some of those people have even ended up getting dogs later! It’s unbelievable. So I have never had a shortage of Fletcher watchers.
But I knew this was a real, major issue, when I was considering taking her over from her original human. So I asked all my friends to be honest about the situation, and at the time, two of my best friends assured me she could live with them for months at a time, whenever necessary. That was enough to let me know I could go out of the country, and have Fletch provided for. Over the years, one of Fletcher’s many friends has always wanted her company when I had to go overseas.
So the key to that issue is to specifically research this part in advance. Do you have good friends or family members who love dogs and have a good dog environment? Would they truly be willing to keep your dog for you, if you were to go out of the country? If the answer is yes, you will be fine. It’s also crucial to have a very well-behaved, low-maintenance dog, for this question. But that’s crucial anyway, for a climbing dog.
As far as living and traveling with your dog, in summer, it’s a good concern. Occasionally, traveling through cities, heat can be an issue. It’s usually pretty easy to find places where you can park your car in the shade, and either leave the windows open, or leash your dog to the car in the shade while you have to be off to the store, or whatever the small errand might be. I’ve never ended up actually camping/sleeping in a place where it was too hot–because you wouldn’t be able to climb there anyway if it was hot.
It is a pretty huge commitment and responsibility to have a dog, especially when on the road. Keep in mind that you are flat out screwed in some areas, like Yosemite. And this may cause you to become highly annoyed, which is never fun. Also, when your dog becomes elderly and needs more help and attention, your life will become more involved as you need to provide for your little geriatric creature and put in a lot of effort to keep them safe and comfortable.
However, I wouldn’t trade my time with Fletchmama for anything in the world. I love her more than anything. I have also found that Jimmie Dunn’s words become more wise the more I observe places and lifestyles: “Any place that’s good for a dog is good for a human. Any place that isn’t good for a dog, isn’t good for a human anyway.”
When on your road trip, if you are really paranoid about losing your dog somehow, it’s good to invest the $25 for the implanted information chip. This won’t help if a random person finds your dog, but most dog shelters will scan for chips. Also, I sometimes put a collar on Fletch with her name and my phone number, and then also put a harness on her (which also has her name and phone number). If I do have to put her on a leash while I am away for a bit for some reason, I clip the leash to the harness. Then if somehow she slipped the harness, she would still have her collar on for ID. (I’m not a big fan of leashes on collars, because I don’t think I would like having a safety rope attached to my neck, though I enjoy having one on my harness.) I lost Fletch once, when she ran off in a panic during a thunderstorm, and she joined the Rifle rodeo. Her collar fell off while she was herding the sheep for the mutton roping competition. Seriously. She was gone overnight, and I have never been so upset in my life. So overkill on the ID is not a bad thing when you are roadtripping.
It’s also not inappropriate to put notes on your dog’s harness in some situations, for example “Hello. I am waiting for my mom and I should be in the Tombstone parking lot. If I’m not there, I have wandered off.”
Have a great time, and as you know, everything is better with your dog 🙂
xxSteph
