*Athena’s Corner* My First True Travel Adventure

Hello Fur-ends! Athena here!

I know it’s been, as you hoomans say, “a hot minute”, since I’ve let you know what’s going on with me; however, its time once again for a MAJOR story time!! I felt the need to come and share with you all another major milestone from my point of view, and that is, my first TRUE BIG adventure… traveling with my hooman family abroad. Yes, at just over a year old I was able to go on this big metal contraption mommy called an “airplane”. Before I get to that, let’s talk a little big about what mommy had to do to be able to bring me along with her, gramma, and grampa.

Mommy was able to get permission to work remotely for a few weeks insert happy tail wag from me here and she let me know that we would be able to spend those days overseas! I got super happy knowing that my mommy would be working from home; thus, allowing me to spend LOTS more time being able to at see her more throughout the day. As you can imagine I REALLY liked this news. Although this was exciting, I was not quite sure what this would entail for me but I was waiting patiently for the day we would head on over to vacation (especially since mommy said I had a lot of hooman family and fur-family waiting to meet me!) Boy was I excited to meet them too!

The process of preparing me for the trip was a wild one to say the least (mommy will go into more detail on this in the next post as she gives HER perspective as a first time pawrent traveling with a fur baby and help all of you planning to travel with your fur babies, but I digress). I had to go back to the vet, which to be honest was not my favorite part of the whole adventure, but I pulled through the visit with flying colors! So much so, I got to pick a TOY out of a BIG toy box for being what mommy, the vet, and the techs called “the goodest girl” during my check-up. I was very indecisive on that and wanted to bring home all the toys with me, so much so that mommy had to end up helping me make the decision and ended up picking the toy that I most paid attention to out of the bunch... a beautiful purple teddy bear which I squeaked happily in the car the entire way home. She also made sure to have it with me in my carrier during the entire trip (thank you mommy for doing that for me).

Now, one part of the experience for me that was not as fun was the fact that, at the vet visit, mommy had to let her know that I am a VERY nervous doggo. Any loud noises (i.e., motorcycles, garbage trucks, and yes… airplanes) make my whole little body shake. Mom really wanted to avoid this during our long flight as she knows my sense of smell and hearing are more developed than hoomans and she was afraid I would be very uncomfortable during the flight (imagine, I freak out with them flying over our home now riding in one and hearing the noises so close by?? SCAAARRRYY!!) They had to give me this “treat” that after a while of eating it made me feel really drowsy, calm, and sleepy. That treat had a medicine called “Trazodone” in it which was the only way I was able to get into my carrier and allow myself to be in a calmer state to go see my family. Want to know the worst part of the process? I had to go through this TWICE. You see, since this was my first time flying and I am mom’s first doggo, the vet recommended we do a test day with this medication/treat before we headed on vacation. This would allow mommy to gauge how much of the dose I would need (i.e., a full dose, half-dose, etc.) and how I would react to it. This would also allow her to gauge if this medication would help me be calm enough to get in my carrier (that contraption was very scary and by no means was I getting in it on my own). At one point the day of, mid-flight and even with medication, I wasn’t awake enough to be jittery but I was awake enough to want to be let out of my carrier by my hoomans let me know I had no choice. I was the goodest girl again and just laid down the rest of the trip. Let’s just say, if that’s with medication, you can imagine without it there’s no tricking this smart doggo with toys or treats in there! Without medication I just wanted to get in there, eat my treat or bring out my toy and get the HECK ON OUT! 

Now, passing through TSA itself was quick and easy thanks to mommy having everything in line for me. I was able to pass that security screening with no problems. I was able to leave my carrier for a bit YAY and walk through the detectors on my leash with mom. She kept me out of the carrier until it was nearly boarding time and away we went! Might I add, I was the only doggo on my flight, so I was getting so much love from all the fur-ends I made at the airport and on the plane! This was probably the BEST part of the entire ordeal at the airport and getting to our destination.

Now, this was barely day one of our vacation so I will update you with how meeting my other family members went a little later down the line but, as of now, all I can say is, it’s been an interesting yet uneventful time heading overseas. No issues, no problems at all, just a little drowsy. For my fur-ends who are going to be traveling soon with their hoomans, all I can say is… it’ll all be fine! Trust me, since they know you’ll be a little more sleepy than normal they’ll give you extra lovin’, plus… imagine all the AMAZING places and people you’ll get to meet along the way!! High paw to safe travels and fun memories to all of you fur-ends and I’m off to finish off my days away.

❤️ Much love my Furends ❤️

XOXO Athena XOXO