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So Josie and I are off on a 10 day adventure! I’ve never taken her anywhere overnight before, so 10 days is quite a commitment.
Day 1
We headed north for Gainesville. Out first stop was Ocala Dog Ranch for a dog dock diving lesson. Dog diving is a relatively new dog sport where the dog runs and jumps off a long dock into a special pool that measures how long their jump is. Josie has jumped into our pool to retrieve her ball but the dock is much higher off the water than the pool deck is and the idea is to get a running start before the jump. Dog diving pools include a ramp for the dog to climb out. As soon as we climbed up the dock, Josie ran down the ramp into the pool and started swimming laps!
Josie works up a sweat waiting for her lesson to start.
It took Josie no time at all to get up the nerve to jump off the dock after her ball! The only thing we weren’t able to accomplish was her running up to the edge of the pool and jumping without hesitation.
After leaving Ocala we headed straight for our Airbnb rental condo in Gainesville. Her first big test was to see how she would do in a rental. Well, the first test was passed with flying colors – Josie made herself right at home!
And soon my son Kyle and his girlfriend, Chloe, came over and were giving Josie her 2nd favorite thing – a belly rub!
Day 2
Josie’s most favorite thing is chasing a ball, and we did that first thing the next morning at Forest Park. Luckily, it was a very short walk to the dog park and we got some great sniffs in before the ball throwing began.
The dog park we usually go to at home has a small dog pool. Josie thought this one did too, but she felt it could have been a little bigger!
Day 3
Day 3 brought the next test… how would Josie be going to someone else’s house that had a dog? My friends Missy and Gary kindly allowed us to complete this milestone in their home. Josie passed, despite their dog, Luke, trying to attack her. After much growling on Luke’s part, we decided it was best if we started over and introduced the pups in neutral territory. So, we took a brief walk together and that worked – they sniffed each other without incident after which Luke somewhat graciously allowed Josie into his house.
And then the playing began…
Day 4
On day 4 we left Gainesville, FL for Hoschton, GA which is outside of Atlanta. This was Josie’s longest car ride to date – it was a 5 hour drive without stops. When she wasn’t sleeping she entertained herself by attacking the passing cars (she throws herself against the window). My nephew and his family live in Hoschton and we’d be staying with them for the next 3 nights. This family consists of mom & dad, 4 kids, 6 cats and a large 8 month old puppy! So, this was yet another test for Ms. Josie!
Having learned from our mistake, this time the dogs met outside and the sniffing went well.
Day 5
Josie’s first introduction to a small child went well. In fact she was quite pleased with Landon’s belly-rubbbing skills!
But there wasn’t much time to relax at this house – Josie had a job to do. Oakley had never been off-leash around another dog since he was adopted at 8 weeks old. So it was Josie’s responsibility to teach him how to play like a dog. (His 6 cat siblings taught him to swat like a cat but that wasn’t cutting it.) Josie had her work cut out for her!
Poor Oakley didn’t know what to do!
Day 6
But by our last day at my nephew’s house Josie’s mission was complete and Oakley was wrestling like a dog!
So now it was time for Josie to teach Oakley how to swim. I rented a dog diving pool and agility course from Brightside Dog Training in nearby Dacula, GA. The plan was for Josie to practice agility and dock diving while Oakley was introduced to a pool and agility jumps. The first challenge was to get Oakley to ride in the car without freaking out as he is not a lover of car rides. So my grand-niece, Kendra, rode in the backseat to try keep Oakley calm.
It was mostly successful but every time Josie attacked cars Oakley cried.
Our time at the dog pool was relatively successful. After some reluctance Oakley walked part way down the ramp and put his feet in the water, but he didn’t actually go all the way in the water except the two times that Josie pushed him. But as you can see from the video below she had good reason to push him (unfortunately I didn’t capture the push on video).
Kendra tried her hand at throwing the ball into the pool for Josie, but Josie wasn’t quite sure whether she wanted to swim THAT far. But she’s a trooper so she went for it!
And Josie did well on the agility course, but Oakley was a bit of a Klutz trying to learn the jumps.
Day 7
Day 7 was another long travel day for us. We drove from my nephew’s house to Charleston, SC. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the remnants of Hurricane Sally weren’t following us on our drive. We safely arrived at the house of our friends, Lisa & Jen in Mt. Pleasant, SC, for an outdoor visit around their pool with their pup, Savannah (aka Savie). Josie had a blast!
The one big disappointment of the trip is that upon arriving in the Charleston area I received notice that the boat excursion to an uninhabited island that I had planned for the following day was cancelled due to weather. Since heavy rain was predicted for the following afternoon, I decided to cut a day out of our trip, and consequently, we only spent one night in Charleston. That night was the first time Josie stayed in a hotel/motel, and although she was very well behaved, she clearly disliked our motel as much as I did.
Day 8
Before heading to our next destination, St. Augustine Beach, FL, we took a walk on the Pitt Street Bridge in Mt. Pleasant. What used to be a bridge is now a little park with a pier offering a great place to walk, bird, fish and photograph. Josie granted me a pose with the marsh in the background.
After our walk, we hit the road for St. Augustine Beach. My girlfriend Kevan kindly invited us to spend the night at her house and we arrived around dinner time. So Josie had another first – going to an outdoor restaurant. She was an angel and received many compliments!
Day 9 - Our Final Day
The final day of our girls’ road trip was a relaxing one. We spent the entire day at my friend Stephanie’s condo overlooking the marsh that surrounds the Mantazas River. Josie spent the day being the lookout and playing with Stephanie’s dog’s toys. (Her dog, Murray, wasn’t there.) Hopefully Murray won’t mind that his stuff was chewed on.
We didn’t leave St. Augustine until 8pm, but it was only a 2 hour drive home. I thought Josie would be really excited when we arrived back at the house but her attitude was pretty neutral. I guess that means she would have been happy to keep travelling. Maybe the next girls’ road trip will be a bit longer!