the drive to colorado (august 17 & 18)

after i adopted sweets (aka sweetie, sweetsie), i had to bring her back to colorado. there was no way that i was going to put her on a plane to send her here. riding in cargo is difficult enough for normal dogs - but a dog that has a fear of people, has difficulty adjusting to new environments and is sound sensitive, i was afraid it would be too traumatic for her.

so on august 17, we hauled off on our roadtrip across california, nevada, utah, wyoming and finally colorado. to make the trip as easy on her as possible, i set up a comfortable back seat in the rental car, maintained her high level clomipramine dosage (3 tabs a day) and also used alprazolam (xanax) for some situational anxiety relief.

while she barked at the toll attendant at the carquinez strait bridge, the trip was fairly low key. she even pottied outside at a couple gas stops! she slept a lot of the way.

we made it to salt lake city the first night and stayed at a dog-friendly hotel. i was worried she would alarm bark throughout the night, but she was quiet (and i was relieved). we, thankfully, didn't run into any people while walking or leaving our room, and she slept beside me the entire night on the bed. i had classical music playing - to drown out any outside noises - and blocked the door and windows with chairs to eliminate the temptation of bark patrol.

on monday, we were on the road to colorado, and the remainder of the trip was fairly uneventful. we arrived in denver around 5 pm, and i brought her to my place. until i had her there, i hadn't realized how perfect of a set-up it would be. quiet, low-key neighborhood; little traffic; 6 foot high fencing and a neighbor that was barely home.

she explored the backyard, and given her noise sensitivity and aversion to the outdoors in san francisco, i was worried about my city surroundings. but she took to it like a champ - exploring the grass and ivy intently with relaxed body postures and a high confident tail.

i let her settle in for about a 1/2 hour, and then crated her in my bedroom so I could return the car to the rental agency. unfortunately when i returned, i found that she had urinated in the crate. figuring that she hadn't got around to going to the bathroom outside, i chalked it up to first day jitters and hoped her crate and potty skills would improve.