Carbón's Big Adventure (aka Labratour Part IV)

We're headed into Salamanca instead, to a very dog-friendly hotel across from a park. I'm going to take the boys on Brogan's favourite cathedral walk tomorrow evening. A bit of a closing of a circle, if you will.

 

Yes, they've been pleased with the whole UK solution all along. They know I'll keep tabs on him and I've already been sending them regular updates via Facebook. Same for Carbon, of course.

 

Emily, how would Carbon be with a group of dogs? Just wondering whether Phil @Hollysdad could arrange a group walk to coincide with your visit ...

PS: Don't pack your camera first - you'll never find it under everything else!

 

He generally does quite well with other dogs. He needs to stay on lead as he doesn't have a good recall yet, so that's the biggest challenge - he wants to run and play! It would be great if we could take part in a SW walkies adventure.

Absolutely! The camera stays out and on top. Priorities.

 

The pup Tardis is loaded and we took a test spin this evening. Carbon hopped right on up and thought it was very cool that he can now see out the window simply by lifting his head. And more importantly, didn't seem to mind that he's laying on top of my winter, spring and summer clothes and shoes, home decor, pillows and linens, makeup and sundries, enough dog food for a month and a Carbon-sized folding crate. I am now officially the queen of life-sized Jenga.

Paul also got a new non-slip mat for his crate and more tie downs to be safer in case of a sudden stop. He wasn't too impressed.

Carbon is (as usual) on his seatbelt/harness combo to keep him safe too.

Ready to rock and roll!

 

Is that a full or empty car? Looks empty to me!

 

Ah, that's the magic of the Tardis. It is a VERY full car. Everything is under Carbon.

 

So where is everything? Does the tardis have a false bottom?

 

So Carbon is testing out the story of The Prince(ss) and the Pea...!

 

My thoughts exactly! You should see our station wagon when we go camping, every spare space is used AND we have a roof box! That's it, a Jazz for the next car

 

I can verify this fact. I have seen the wonder that is the Tardis with my own eyes.

 

Safe travels Emily xx

 

Ah.....on the laptop I think I can see the back seats are flipped up so there is just empty space in the back. Apart from a fairly substantial bed for Carbon

 

Yes, the Jazz has "Magic Seats" (yes, they really call them that) which means they flip up like theater seats in addition to flipping down like nearly all small cars' seats do. That means I flip the seats up and fill up the foot wells with my stuff. Hard/big stuff goes down first, then clothes then the dog beds on top to make it nice and soft for Carbon - or Brogan, Bear or Keir. - other Tardis guests .

Heh, heh... exactly!

 

Amazing!! When we go away, Snowie gets wedged in the middle between the load!

 

Thought you had some kidnap plan going on....

 

Nope, Kier was a PAST Tardis guest.

 

The first day on the road was really a bunch of highs and lows. I feel a bit like a wet rag that someone ran over several times with a large van, but hey...I survived.

Some of the highlights, in no particular order.

Despite three rest stops during the actual drive and a 2.5 half hour walk after arriving at the hotel, Paul quite predictably had a massive wee and poo at 11pm tonight on the hotel room floor. I have to hand it to him, he made it 16 hours. Why he won't even contemplate weeing in public baffles me, especially with Carbon weeing up a storm right next to him, but there you are. You just deal. Thank you, Mags (@Boogie ) for the suggestion of cutting up puppy wee pads to use for clean up. I was well prepared for the deluge.

On our way out of Cadiz, I stopped to see Miracle Miry, my friend who does rescue. She pretty much disowned me over what happened with Paul but asked to see me to say goodbye before I left. Frankly, I didn't want to go. We've had minimal and really uncomfortable (for me) interactions by text for the last few weeks and the whole idea of a big confrontation just made me queasy. I don't do conflict well. But I put my big girl pants (trousers?) on and went to say my goodbyes and it went really well. I hated to lose a good friend over 'Paulgate" and it was really the only sad note in otherwise what is such a positive outcome for him, so mending some fences today was really a wonderful coda to the whole story.

Carbon LOVES riding in the re-vamped Tardis. Every time I took a quick glance at the back seat, he had this big goofy blissful expression on his face. That boy is a born traveler. Paul is not. Paul is not happy with his fate. Paul has a lot to say about the misery of his life. Paul will even wail along with any sad song on the radio. I told Paul he needs to get over his rusty door hinge self or this is going to be a VERY long trip.

And finally, we took Brogan's patented favourite super duper spectacular walking tour of Salamanca this evening. While I try to keep my Labratour posts mostly sunshine and light, I have to say that the walk was more bitter than sweet. First the boys are very difficult for me to walk lately. Ever since the Ronda Feria, Carbon has stepped up his desperate search for anything edible on the ground. Paul hunts everything that moves, even shadows. They go in opposite directions. They pull towards perceived food. They stop at perceived food. My hands are raw, my back is torqued and I feel like a failure at any sort of training because ZERO loose leash is happening here.

The result was a walk that for me was physically a struggle. And to walk the same route that I had with Brogan who moved so steadily and confidently at my side...it's hard to explain, but while I thought it would be a fun thing to do for the boys and bring back some good memories for me, all I could really think was how much I missed Brogan and how tired and sad and frustrated I was in that moment.

Back at the hotel, I just sat down and cried. Paul was (again predictably) busying himself by trying to figure out how to fling himself off the bed and into the closet, but Carbon came over to me, sat down right in front of me, stared at me with eyes that said, "Yeah, sometimes life sucks, doesn't it?" and licked my face.

Then I took a deep breath, got the boys' giraffe out of the toy bag, and let them have at it to tire themselves out. Tomorrow is another day. We'll get better at this...

A very busy Plaza Mayor




"Why aren't these people petting me? Now! They should pet me now!"



Paul checks out Brogan's favourite park


"There is a disturbing lack of food items on the ground in this picturesque street...couldn't someone just leave a nice pate sandwich right on the corner for me to find?"


More Salamanca sights


Plaza Mayor after sunset


"Weee, I never get tired! Ever! Hey, is that my giraffe? I love my giraffe. Let me jump on your face! I love jumping on your face. Weeeeeee!" (and yes, I brought my own duvet cover so the boys wouldn't mess up the hotel-supplied version)


"Please make him stop. Just hit him over the head with a brick or something. But Just. Make. Him. Stop."

 

Aww so sorry the walk wasn't quite what you had planned and lest you feeling blue. Glad that Carbon gave you his Lab cuddle magic. Simba is soooo food obsessed too...anything on the ground is fair game, it doesn't have to be food. Of course he generally drops it at my "leave it" command, and gets a treat....which is slightly counterproductive as it encourages him to look for more junk....sigh....it's just the way we roll, now