Thanksgiving Holiday Travels with the Dogs

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Brian and I bravely took Heineken and Stella to Las Cruces with us, a 12-hour drive. Before the trip, I was extremely worried about having the dogs at my mother-in-law’s house. I thought surely they would break something in their frequent outbursts of play.

We left Tuesday morning, and Stella commenced the car ride by whining steadily for about the first hour. This was Stella’s first ride longer than 20 minutes so maybe she wasn’t sure what to expect. Heineken got in the car and laid on her bed like an experienced traveler. After the first stop (about 4 hours into the trip), Stella got back into the car and settled down. I think she even took a nap.

Stella did pretty well until we neared El Paso (with about 2 hours to go in the trip). In this area, the roads had rumble strips in the middle dashed lines. So every time we changed lanes we went over a rumble strip. This scared the living daylight out of Stella and she would try to get in our laps. For the last 2 hours of the trip, we fought with her to stay in the back seat.

Once we got to the house, there was general excitement. Heineken remembered the place and Stella was her usually loud squealing self. Once inside, we kept Stella on the leash, but we let Heineken loose. The first thing Heineken did was go upstairs. Last Christmas, we were in Las Cruces and had Heineken with us. At that time, Brian’s mom had a cat, named Smokey. Heineken apparently remembered Smokey and thus began her weeklong search for him. Heineken even spent one afternoon looking under the bed for Smokey. I think Smokey’s spirit was probably haunting Heineken all week as a form of revenge for last year.

We decided to use the chain in the backyard even though it has a fence. Last Christmas, Heineken jumped over the fence when she saw the neighbor’s dog. Plus Stella is part kangaroo and could jump over the fence easily. Stella really liked Xena, Brian’s mom’s dog. Stella was ready to play and jump all over Xena. Xena is an older dog though and Stella’s friendliness was a little too much for Xena to handle.

We took them hiking with us in an attempt to wear them out. We hiked about 5 miles. Stella was a natural hiker. Heineken did pretty well too, but pulled a lot more. While on this hike, we decided that Heineken has pulled her way into getting a halti. So I’m going to go back to Petco and buy a Halti for Heineken this week. The hike didn’t wear Stella out though. Once we got home, she was still on the go…tormenting Xena, sniffing around, eating plant leaves, storming up and down the stairs.

A couple of times they started playing - they liked to chase each other up and down the stairs – but for the most part we were able to keep them from breaking anything and tearing up the house.

They both did pretty good in the car ride back home as well. For the first 2 hours, we had the rumble strip terror when we changed lanes, but other than that Stella was a good traveler. She figured out Heineken’s spot, which is head on the console, butt on the back seat. I think this made Heineken a little more restless since her spot was taken, but sometimes she squeezed in and tried to share the console with Stella. Overall I would call the week a successful trip!

Stella's exhaustion finally caught up with her on Sunday.  She took advantage of Brian's lap and slept all day!

No more pulling on the leash thanks to the halti

Hopefully I still have some readers even though I have had quite the hiatus from blogging. I will try to get back on track of regular (weekly?) updates.

There’s no better way to start back than a good Stella story. After a recommendation from a co-worker, I decided to try a Halti for Stella. A Halti is a type of restraint that teaches a dog not to pull while on a leash. Usually I am the solo dog walker. When we just had Heineken this wasn’t a big deal, but now with Stella walking the dogs has become a nightmare for me.

Here is a typical experience:

I arrive home and Heineken gets a look in her eyes and a certain wiggle to her tail. I recognize this as Heineken’s way to express that she would really love a walk right now. Despite my better judgment, I concede. Once I grab poop bags from the closet, Stella and Heineken are both cued in. Then I get a leash and chaos breaks out. Usually I get the leash on Heineken first because she is slightly less crazy at this point. In an effort not to be left out, Stella will grab onto Heineken’s leash and they both run around in tandem in utter chaos. Stella had a choke chain collar for walks which was always a hassle to get on her. She sees it coming and she opens her mouth to try to chew on it. Eventually I would get the leashes on and we would be at the door ready to leave. Stella’s level of excitement at this point is so high that all Stella can do is jump up and down and whine. Then I open the door and her excitement triples. Stella starts making this awful high pitch whine/bark and practically drags me and Heineken out of the door. To break her of the pulling, I would try stopping and pulling back on her. This was helping a little, but would make our walks last twice as long as usual, and it didn’t always help, especially if it had been awhile since our previous walk. As we would walk I am vigilantly on the look out for other dogs. Coming across another dog was my biggest fear in walking the dogs. When this happens, both dogs start pulling so much that my arms might fall off. And they both start to make the biggest ruckus ever, where it sounds like they are being tortured. So a successful walk is one where we get out the door without Stella making too much noise and we find no other dogs. Basically the amount of walks that they get is severely low because we have had so many bad experiences that it is hard for me to want to walk them even though I know that they need it and love it.

Then came the halti.

I got home from the store on Friday with the halti. I did not have plans to use it that day, but Heineken got that look in her eyes and that wiggle to her tail. I read the first page of the halti instructions which say how to put on the halti and a warning saying that the halti can be wiggled out of. Yikes. Stella un-tethered is another terrifying thought. I decide to try it though. I get the halti on Stella and tightened without too much effort. So I grab the bags and leash up the dogs. Let me explain how the halti works. There is a main strap that goes around the dog’s neck which is very similar to a traditional collar. Then attached to this is a strap that goes around the dog’s snout. This strap is attached to the leash and is tightened and loosened based on the slackness in the leash. For example, if there is slack in the leash, the strap is loose around the dog’s snout. If the dog starts to pull, the leash tightens and tightens the strap around the snout. This is much more humane than a choke collar and does not hurt the dog.

So Stella is in her halti and out the door we go. Stella is so distracted by the halti that she is no longer making her traditional high pitch bark that accompanies walking. She is trying to get it off though. At this point, two little neighbor dogs come running at us. Heineken is pulling toward them, Stella notices them and is half pulling, half trying to get the halti off and barking. I notice that the halti is over one of Stella’s ears so I get nervous that she is going to get it off and become un-tethered. I grabbed Stella by the collar and drag the dogs back inside. Usually if they become an embarrassment and we haven’t even left the driveway yet, then their walk ends immediately. But overall I was pleased with the halti because it prevented Stella’s usual announcement to the neighborhood that she’s going for a walk.

Attempt 2. The next day I read past page 1 in the halti manual to see that there is a safety latch. A way to connect the halti to the dog collar so that if the dog gets out of the halti, the dog is still connected to the leash. Brilliant. Brian and I decide to walk the dogs and try out the halti again. This time with the safety latch engaged. We walk out the door and Stella is not whining/barking like crazy. She starts to pull and then she gets so distracted by the halti that she stops walking. She paws at the halti so I distract her to get her to keep walking and get her mind off the halti. She walks, pulls, and stops because of the halti. I can tell that she does not like the halti, but when she is walking like a normal dog (slack in the leash), the halti does not bother her. She only gets frustrated and distracted by it when it’s tight on her face. This time the challenge of the walk was to keep Stella moving as opposed to keeping my arm attached to my body. By the end of the walk, she was getting so desperate that she was putting her face on the grass and rolling over. But she never got the halti loose, and she never pulled my arm off. The halti cost about $20, but I think it is the best investment I’ve made. It does all the work, and I am no longer terrified to walk the dogs!