Woohoo! We are going on vacation! I don’t know what that is, but everyone around the house is super excited about it. The energy from their feelings gets my own heart racing, and I feel so giddy that I need to run around the living room like a wild dog every now and then.
Vacation! Vacation!
“Mommy, look at Oliver,” Olivia laughed at me. “He is such a silly wiener dog!”
Just so you know, I hate being called a wiener dog, but ever since we went to the Wiener Dog Races a few weeks ago, Olivia has been using that term. I am not a hot dog! I am a dachshund puppy, fierce and proud with tons of personality and irrisistable charm. No one can pass me by without complimenting my red coat or happy face. If I do say so myself, I am a charmer. Not a wiener dog.
“I’m so glad daddy is letting us take Oliver on vacation with us. I just know he’s going to love the beach.” Olivia clapped her hands and then her face turned worried. “Do you think Schatze will mind if we leave her with the neighbors?”
“Not at all,” Trudy said as she packed up food for the trip. “Schatze is a little particular about certain things. She doesn’t enjoy long car riders. They make her a feel sick to her stomach, and the last time we took Schatze to the beach she had a bad encounter with a crab.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. You know how Oliver is always so mischievous? He gets that trait from Schatze. She has calmed down quite a bit, but she used to be just as silly as he is. We took her to the beach, let her play in the surf, and the next thing we know, Schatze comes trotting up to us with a crab clamped to her nose.” Trudy laughed. “Poor baby. She looked so upset!”
“I bet it hurt,” Olivia said.
“Probably. But you know dachshunds; they always have to push the boundaries.”
So my mother had been a wild child dachshund like me. Interesting. I’d never really thought of her as anything but sedate and kind. I tried to picture her with a crab attached to her long snout, and the thought made me laugh, too. It came out like a sneeze.
“Bless you,” Olivia said. “Don’t get sick before vacation!”
I wag my tail at her.
“What is motion sickness?” Olivia asked Trudy.
“Motion sickness is when you travel in a car for a long time and the feeling makes you sick. Sometimes you throw up, too.” Trudy gave me a thoughtful look. “I sure hope Oliver won’t have any trouble. The beach is pretty far away!”
“We’ve taken him in the car lots of times.”
“True. But those were short trips to the vet. His office is just around the corner.”
Vet. Did she say vet? I hope that doesn’t mean we are going to pay that guy a visit. He has a nice voice and soft hands, but every time I see him, the vet is always sticking needles in me.
“Can he take medicine so he won’t get sick?” Olivia asked.
“Yes. Sometimes dogs can take things that will help them not throw up, but he’s still a puppy. I don’t know if that would be good for him just yet.” Trudy went back to packing. “Besides, he probably won’t have any issues.”
Well, of course, I wouldn’t. I’m Oliver. The mighty dachshund. Nothing keeps me down!
*****
Uhhhhh…..
I’ve never felt so bad. The car is spinning. Or is that just in my head? Even though I’m in my traveling crate in the car, I can still see the trees passing us by on the highway. Tree.Tree.Tree.Tree. I can’t stop looking at them and the feeling is making me need to throw up.
This is terrible. I have motion sickness. Oh. I don’t know if I can make it.
“Mommy, Oliver looks a little…sick,” Olivia says. “He sure is drooling a lot.”
“Uh-oh.” Trudy turns to look at me through the bars of the crate. “Shoot! I think he is getting sick.”
Really? How can you tell, Trudy? Could it be the way my eyes are rolling or the way I keep whimpering?
Good thing she can’t really hear my thoughts.
“Hang in there, Oliver,” Trudy says comfortingly. “We’ll be there before you know it!”
Ten minutes later, when I’ve thrown up and the scent of it is drifting through the car, she doesn’t sound nearly as cheerful.
“Okay, Jack. You’ve got to pull over so we can clean out that crate. We can’t drive all the way to the beach with that smell.” Trudy pinches her nose.
Olivia is fanning the air in front of her, trying to remove the stink, but she does manage to roll down the window. The cool air helps take care of the smell and even makes me feel a little bit better. We pull over to a gas station where Trudy and Olivia wipe me down with a papertowel as Jack cleans my crate.
Olivia gives me an extra hug before we get on the way.
I settle back into my crate and close my eyes, exhausted. I think the worst is over.
*****
Several hours and stops later, we arrive at the beach. The air smells different here. I can’t quite put my paw on why that is, but there is an undeniable scent in the air that makes my nose twitch. While Trudy and Jack set up house in the condo they rented, Olivia and I run along the beach. The sand feels strange on my paws. Even though I dig in the sand in my sandbox back home, it isn’t the same thing. This sand feels a bit rougher and cooler.
And then there is the water. I sniff the waves that lap at Olivia’s feet, tentatively licking it with my tongue. Yuck. Too salty. But it sure is fun to chase the waves as they crash on the shore! They try to sweep me away, but I always manage to outsmart them.
There are lots of dogs at the beach, too. Many of them run alongside their masters as if they don’t have a care in the world. One dog with a shaggy, golden coat nods at me as he runs by.
“Dude,” he barks. “What’s up?”
“Not much! Just enjoying the beach!” I bark back but he has already jogged away. I’m tempted to follow and have a chat, but the smell of food distracts me.
A bag of chips is lying on the ground nearby. Cheetos if my nose is not mistaken. Olivia is digging in the sand and I ease away from her. Just as I’m about to pounce on the Cheetos, a shadow over head distracts me. Next thing I know, a large white bird swoops in and picks ups the entire bag. It flaps its massive white wings, carrying away the precious treasure I’d been about to claim as my own.
“That’s one big sea gull. It looked big enough to pick you up,” Olivia says, just as surprised by it as I am. We both watch it fly away. “C’mon. Let’s go see what’s for dinner!”
I bark happily and together we run back to the condo.
“Mommy, can seagulls carry off dachshunds?” Olivia asks as she plops down on the couch.
“I don’t think so,” Trudy says. “Why?”
“We just saw a huge one carry off a bag of Cheetos!”
“Wow! Well, I know that the seagulls can be a little aggressive around here when it comes to food, but I don’t think we have to worry about them carrying off Oliver.”
Whew! The last thing I wanted was to become dinner for a seagull.
We had a great time over the next few days, but the closer it got to the time we were supposed to leave, the more I started to worry about the drive home. I just couldn’t bear the thought of being sick again, but every time I thought the long drive, my stomach would hitch just a little bit. What was I going to do?
Luckily, Trudy solved the problem for me.
“Okay, boy,” she said the night before we were scheduled to leave. “Eat up because tomorrow we head home. That means nothing but water in your tummy for breakfast.”
What? No breakfast? As she placed my evening bowl of food in front of me, I made sure to eat it all. I never like missing a meal but the next morning as I was loaded into the car, I totally appreciate that there was nothing in my tummy. I put my head on my paws and tried not to think about the long, long drive home.
Olivia made sure to roll her window for me, too.
“What did the doctor say about anti-nausea medication for dogs?” Jack asked as we started out.
“We could use some over the counter stuff, but since Oliver is a puppy, he might outgrow the motion sickness. The vet suggested we try some other things first. I didn’t feed Oliver this morning so he has an empty tummy, we’ve got the window open for him, he’s facing the front of the car—hopefully, he can make it home,” Trudy said. “If he still gets sick like this as he gets older, then we’ll consider giving him medicine before car trips.”
You know what? That Trudy must be a genius! The ride home was much better. I didn’t throw up one time and even slept most of the way. When we arrived home, I trotted outside to do my busy and then settled in for a nice bowl of my favorite food.
I loved traveling, but as the saying goes, “There’s no place like home!”
****
(…to be continued)
Related posts:
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Explores
- Puppy Tails – Oliver the Supermodel
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Trains Olivia
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Finds a Place to Sleep
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Worries
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Wow! You’re sure lucky you got to go to the beach! The farthest I’ve ever gone is to a farm 50 miles from my home. I go there to play on their agility equipment. I don’t get to go very often though, because it is such a loooooooooooooong drive.