Lillie is my 9 yr old sidekick , a golden retriever, and is always up for adventure. She was born in North Kohala on the Big Island and flew home with me to Maui when she was 4 months old. In late 2015 We left Maui and flew to Los Angeles. I was headed back to New Mexico and there wasn’t a large enough plane to fly her into Albuquerque . So I picked up my car on the dock in Long Beach then rescued her from customs. I had to ditch the crate at customs as it was too large for my jeep.
We drove from Long Beach to Albuquerque in 2 days, staying in a hotel in Silver City where she was afraid to go in the elevator. Lillie has had to adjust to my erratic lifestyle but doesn’t complain too much. She’s enjoying living on 23 acres in Texas right now where she can chase deer and hunt for squirrels. It is one of my concerns about living in a tiny house- how will the dog adapt? She loves to be outside and only comes in at night so I will need some kind of fenced area for her. Many tiny parks don’t allow fencing so if anything keeps me up at night it’s worrying about that. She will have a large raised deck, about 15x10, but I’ll feel better if I can fence some outdoor space as well.
She was used to me going off to work all day but since being home for a year with the pandemic, she’s more anxious when I leave. We’ve lived in a townhome with a small yard and she did fine, but a space for her to feel comfortable is a priority. She has never developed bad habits from being alone- chewing, barking etc and I attribute that to being entertained outdoors.
This weekend we took a "road trip" up to Georgetown, a lovely small city north of Austin. Lillie enjoyed the attention of folks large and small as we walked around the square. However she found a large amount of pigeon poop on the sidewalk and before I knew it, she was rolling in it. Yuk! So we found Wag Heaven, a great pet store that has self-serve wash tubs for dogs.
They supply the shampoo and towels and provide you with a raincoat. Lillie was hesitant to climb the ramp into the tub so I had to initiate that by putting her front legs on the ramp and a push from behind. Once in, the dog can be secured with a tie and the wash tub door closed. What a great way to wash a big dog. Since it was a hot day I think she enjoyed the cool off. Afterwards we bought treats and a new bag of Primal freeze dried chicken bricks which I like to top her food with. Wag Heaven has a wash happy hour from 4-6 and the wash only cost $10.00. Theres also a frequent buyer club for food. Great store, we'll be back!
Do you have pets? What do you do with them when you work?
