1st Camping Trip + Poor Pup!
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:22 pm
Finally took Geyser camping last week for two nites. I'd've loved to have taken her when she was much younger, but as it turned out, there are definite benefits to a first camping experience being after a lot of foundation training has been done 
. Much easier on me, that's for sure!
Alas, I totally missed our earthquake, which happened while we were driving to the campground. Guess our house shook and rattled and rolled for about 45 sec., according to the spousal unit.
The tent was very crowded, between my little twin mattress and Geyser's Cabana Crate (she's not ready not to be crated at nite yet, especially in a tent
):
The very good news...she was a freaking angel on this trip! She got the idea of staying in our "yard," and was fine on her tie out when I needed to use it (she'd been introduced to a tie out before using it like this). She got the idea of not alerting to every camper that walked or drove by our site, even at nite. She was so good with the kids...well trained dogs are such kid magnets! One afternoon, she fetched her water toy for a gaggle of kids, aged 4-11 or so, for about 90 minutes. I'd tell which kid it was his/her turn; the kid would hold out his/her hand; Geyser would hand them the toy, and if they dropped it? Immediately pick it up and hand it to the kid again (man, I was proud of her). Laser focus on the kid waiting for the toss, then dive/retrieve/repeat
. She's needed some good experiences with kids so I was very happy this evolved as it did.
Then...the mystery bite. Got back to our site from an errand, time for dinner prep. She was working on a bone on her rug, and a few minutes later, I called her to me, and OMG!, there was this huge....thing...on her face. I figured it was some kind of bite or sting...then the conflict...is this an emergency? Do we need to decamp?
Decided it was a bite and to watch it overnite...it didn't hurt her and she wasn't scratching at it, so she didn't seem at all uncomfortable with it (whew). The next morning, it was 60% better, and the next day, mostly gone. I can still see the bite/sting site in her mouth...looks like a pimple with a white head on it, and it, too, is going away more daily.
I wish I knew what bit her...
. Much easier on me, that's for sure!Alas, I totally missed our earthquake, which happened while we were driving to the campground. Guess our house shook and rattled and rolled for about 45 sec., according to the spousal unit.
The tent was very crowded, between my little twin mattress and Geyser's Cabana Crate (she's not ready not to be crated at nite yet, especially in a tent
):The very good news...she was a freaking angel on this trip! She got the idea of staying in our "yard," and was fine on her tie out when I needed to use it (she'd been introduced to a tie out before using it like this). She got the idea of not alerting to every camper that walked or drove by our site, even at nite. She was so good with the kids...well trained dogs are such kid magnets! One afternoon, she fetched her water toy for a gaggle of kids, aged 4-11 or so, for about 90 minutes. I'd tell which kid it was his/her turn; the kid would hold out his/her hand; Geyser would hand them the toy, and if they dropped it? Immediately pick it up and hand it to the kid again (man, I was proud of her). Laser focus on the kid waiting for the toss, then dive/retrieve/repeat
. She's needed some good experiences with kids so I was very happy this evolved as it did.Then...the mystery bite. Got back to our site from an errand, time for dinner prep. She was working on a bone on her rug, and a few minutes later, I called her to me, and OMG!, there was this huge....thing...on her face. I figured it was some kind of bite or sting...then the conflict...is this an emergency? Do we need to decamp?
Decided it was a bite and to watch it overnite...it didn't hurt her and she wasn't scratching at it, so she didn't seem at all uncomfortable with it (whew). The next morning, it was 60% better, and the next day, mostly gone. I can still see the bite/sting site in her mouth...looks like a pimple with a white head on it, and it, too, is going away more daily.
I wish I knew what bit her...
, Glad it went down quickly. Good to hear she was so good and had a great time with the kids.