This is one of those stories that would surely begin with....
So no crap..there I was...
That is the beginning of any story that may have some shenanigans involved. Stacie D and I are prepping the RV to head to Toronto next week. For those of you that have missed it, we will be speaking at the Steem Creators conference from Sept. 5-8. Check out https://steemcreators.com for details.
Part of getting ready to head to Canada involved what to do with the dogs. We have two brothers that are both about 45 lbs. and used to the homestead. They are working dogs and have been with us everyday since they were six weeks old.
Joining us on the trip is Stacie D's parents. They will be spending time with the little freedoms and handling the dogs while we are at the conference.
So we figured that the dogs will be alone in the RV in spurts of just a couple of hours. It is well ventilated and they have everything they need inside.
I thought as a nice trial run we would keep the dogs in the RV for just an hour or two, to see how they would handle it. After all, they do sleep in there every night and used to spend many hours on end in our suburban. We thought it would be no big deal.
We went on our daily morning walk. The weather was beautiful and we were excited to go. It had only been about an hour before we got back home and everything seemed good. We stretched, relaxed, ate, and then got on with our day.
I was sitting inside enjoying my time on discord and working on steemit, and Stacie came through the door crying.
"They ripped down our curtains, tore the screen, and broke the screen frame by our bed" was all she could get out.
I went outside to check on the damge and sure enough it was just as bad as she said....and some more. The brackets that hold the curtain to the wall was also ripped out.
My mind turned inside out. I could not even understand what just happened. Here I was, standing in the place that my family calls home, and here are my dogs that just destroyed it. It took but a split second to respond. They were both out of the RV and I removed their collers....because now they were FREE TO A GOOD HOME!
The emotions ran high for a bit while Stacie D and I tried to figure out what to do. We walked, she cried. We sat, she cried. We didn't know if there was a place for them in our future, but didn't know what to do.
In a moment of clarity, I thought about George. George is my dog. He goes with me everywhere. I saw him walking, and I could see his limp (from where i popped his hip into place after he fell out of the car window) I saw the scars on his leg where I milked out copperhead snake venom. I thought about how he got between me and a 2,000 lb. bull....and I cried. He is calm, patient, and has shown his willingness to lay and wait for me over long periods of time. There is no part of me that thinks it was him that did the damage. He would have calmly waited forever.
Jax. Jax. Jax.........George's brother. Has shown from a very young age that he doesn't need us in any capacity. He is smart and cunning. He is a hunter, a protector. He has also shown his ability to think through a situation and problem solve.
So here was our situation. I am sure that it was not George. I am very sure that it was Jax. I am not getting rid of George. I think that George needs Jax. I think that before too long our family will be hiking in many wild places, and Jax is always handy in a pinch. He is not aggressive, ever, with people or other dogs.. He is willing to do whatever we need him to do, without hesitation.....but now he ate my house haha.
Our eyes cleared up as we made the decision to keep them both. I gave Stacie D the nod to put their collers back on. We are going to get a crate, and crate train Jax. This should help while we are away. With the exception of once every 7 months, they are with us 24 hours a day. I think we will push through this incident and focus on moving forward.
I went to the store, bought new screen, and got it all put back together. I figured that it had to happen quickly, so we didn't see it again and change our minds. 😉
So this is what life on the road is looking like so far. Until next time, we will see you a little further down the road.
