For the Birds

Dad is a photographer. I don’t begin to really understand that. He points one of his black boxes at something, a sound happens and we move on. To me, it’s just another way that humans have of wasting time that could be spent sleeping. But, it makes Dad happy, and I go along with it. Besides, it allows me to get out and sniff the countryside and when Dad is pointing his “camera” as the black box is known, I am pretty much free to do what I want.

Dad and me with his "big bertha" pointer.

One of the objects of Dad’s camera is a little insignificant but numerous species known as birds. Birds make me nervous. They jump around constantly, flying (not walking) across my head and make a bunch of noises that usually just mean nothing to me. I sleep during the day under a thing Dad puts up called a “bird feeder”. These birds eat weeds, or more correctly the nasty hard little things that fall out of weeds or wildflowers, called seeds. How they can survive on those hard little things are beyond me.

So, we often go hunting for birds with Dad’s black box. If I don’t go with him, he will come home and empty the contents of his camera into a bigger black box he calls a computer. He spends hours looking at this white screen. He must get something from the birds that I just can’t see.

One of Dad’s favorite places to point at birds is in our Winter home at Silent Valley in the state of California. The birds spend the winter there and when Dad puts out the seed they come from all over to eat. Dad points his camera at them all day long. He has names for the different birds. There he calls them Stellar’s Jay, Scrub Jay, Black-eyed Junco, Nuthatches, White-crowned Sparrows, California Towhee, Spotted Towhee, Acorn Woodpecker, Nutall’s Woodpecker, American Flicker and much more. Dad especially gets excited when he sees the big birds called Hawk’s flying around. Hawks like Cooper’s Hawk and Western Red-tailed Hawk are common. One of my favorite things is to watch the birds feed because often a squirrel tries to get their food. It’s funny to see the Stellar’s Jay attack the squirrel as he climbs the pole to get the food. Sometimes I’ll bark or lunge at them and they scurry away. Dad says that’s my job.

I used to chase birds until I found out I couldn't fly like them. It's no fun to never catch one!

I used to chase birds. It was fun to see them fly away. But now, in my more mature years, I know its just a waste of energy. I can’t catch one, so what’s the use of trying. Sometimes I’ll see a large animal and I chase it because I think it’s a squirrel, but when I get close its just a big black bird that Dad calls Ravens. There are a lot of them in our summer home in Idaho.

In our Idaho home there are a lot of birds too. Dad feeds them, but he says that mainly little Pine Siskins that visit the feeder. They are small birds with little patches of red on their backs and they are very energetic. There seem to always be black birds flitting around me. They are pests because there are always so many and Dad says that black doesn’t photograph very well and they chase away the more timid and prettier birds. However, there is one group of black birds that Dad really likes called the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. We don’t see them a lot, but they do visit our RV. Running across the ground and pulling up long worms are the Robins. One made it’s nest in the tree right outside our RV window so we could see the little babies as they grew this Spring. Dad says they are very attractive birds. They don’t eat seeds, so we don’t have them at our feeder, but when it rains they are all over eating the worms that pop out of the wet ground. I know that us dogs have the reputation of eating most anything, but worms!!!! Yuck!!!

Robins like to eat worms! Yuck! Even I won't eat a worm.

The American Goldfinch is a bright colored bird that visits us in Idaho.

We sometimes see a Cassin’s finch with a very red head (this is according to Dad, since I can’t see red.) Sometimes a bigger bird called the Evening Grosbeak comes around. Dad gets excited about them because they are so colorful. A couple times this summer a bird called the Western Tanager came to visit too. Dad says he is all yellow and red and very pretty. This summer an American Goldfinch perched on our tree and Dad was so excited and pointed his camera for a long time at that bird. Mostly Dad likes to find the Hawks and Eagles that fly overhead. Sometimes they come close and land on a tree. Dad runs and gets his really big camera with a long snout on it and points it. Last year Dad saw a Great Grey Owl and he pointed his camera with the long snout for an hour at it. He was very pleased with the result.

Dad got so excited when he saw this big owl.

Once Dad and I spent an hour at a friends RV here looking at small little darting birds called hummers. Dad says they beat their wings so fast to make a sound that humans call humming. Once a hummer almost slammed into my head as I was laying down on the grass. They sure fly fast. Got to wonder what their hurry is?

Dad calls these hummers because of the noise. They are just like big bees to me!

Only a few thousand paws walk from the RedRock RV park is a big lake called Henry’s Lake. Near one of the creeks that feed it, there is a place Dad and I go to watch for water birds. When he sees one as we approach the shore he uses hand signals to have me wait (so I won’t scare them away. I’m probably pretty scary looking to a small bird.) So I wait while Dad slowly moves his camera closer to the birds. He says he points at Great Blue Herons, White Pelicans, Kingfishers, Osprey, sandpipers, loons, ducks of all kinds, Eagles, Black-headed Blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds and a lot more.

The Blue Birds in Idaho like to fly from fence post to fence post in front of us as we walk down Red Rock road.

The tree swallow is all around us here, esp. in the springtime.

When we take our morning walks down Red Rock road, little Blue birds and Tree swallows perch on the barbed wire fences all in a row and as we start to pass them, they all fly at once several paws ahead of us and keep doing this all the way down the road. It’s fun to watch them all fly together.

Flickers are pretty birds, or so says Dad.

Not far from our summer home in Idaho is a place that Dad goes a lot and takes me. It’s called the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. It’s a place that birds can go and not get killed, at least in the spring and summer. Dad says that people try to kill them in the fall and winter. Why do humans have to kill other animals for fun? Anyway Dad likes to photograph pelicans, strange ducks, swans, hawks and eagles there. We will sit for hours waiting for the right bird to come along. Sometimes I just lie down and sleep since it sooooo boring for me.

Dad loves these big trumpter swans from Red Rock Lakes Wildlife Refuge.

This Green Jay was in southern Texas, a place Dad calls Bird Heaven.

Once we went to a place that Dad called Bird Heaven. It was in southern Texas and had a lot of places that birds seem to all come together called Bird Preserves. Dad couldn’t take me but when he came back he was all excited because he saw birds he’d never seen before. In one place he said he saw a lot of rare birds, like a Indigo Bunting, a Painted Bunting, a Green Jay, a Clay-colored Jay, and a lot more. Once, he saw thousands of hawks in the sky, all moving from south to north.

Dad says this Painted Bunting is pretty, but it looks just like any other bothersome bird to me.

Birds are funny little creatures and they are everywhere I go. I can’t say that it wouldn’t be fun to be a big Hawk or Eagle someday. I doubt that it will happen, but I can imagine soaring in the sky and looking far in the distance, diving at little squirrels and then flying home to Dad to be fed when I’m hungry or lonely. Just sounds inviting, doesn’t it.

Dad says that lots of RVers are bird-watchers because it’s a fun hobby. I think a hobby is something that humans do instead of sleeping all day. Because they travel all over the country they have a lot of opportunities to see a lot of birds. Me, I’m a bird watcher, but it’s no big deal. I put my chin on the ground and let my eyes follow the birds around. It’s not worth the effort to move my head since there are so many of them and soon or later another one will come into view. I mean, what real good is there to watching birds if you can’t eat them?

Oh, if you want to see the results of what Dad does when he points his camera at birds, you can look at his best photos of birds on the Internet. Visit Dad's best bird photos at http://photos.rvinteractive.com/birds

Arf,

Reggie

Publish Post

Reggie at Yellowstone

Madison River in western Yellowstone National Park.

Dad likes National Parks. So, we visit them a lot. In the summer, we live near Yellowstone National Park, which is mostly in the State humans call Wyoming. Dad says it’s the first National Park our country made. National Parks are places that wildlife and not so wild life (like wildflowers and trees) can live in relative peace without being chased away or destroyed by humans. OK, National Parks attract people like bees to honey, but humans must behave, leave their guns, bows and arrows, and loud ATVs at home before they visit. That makes the animals feel safer. And they have a lot of places to hide from humans when they want. Lots of mountains, trees, and holes in the ground to protect themselves and their families from the prying eyes and the noise of humans.

Wow, I'd not want to be a puppy when this guy is hungry. An Eagle in Yellowstone.

Because humans want to protect the wild animals, they don’t allow us dogs to be free in National Parks. Like we’d be a problem! For that reason, I’m not real fond of National Parks. But, they have other advantages. Us dogs can see and smell a lot of animals and we stay busy looking for them and protecting our owners when we do see them, even if it is from the car or the side of the road. (We can walk along all the roads with our owners, but not the trails!)

Dad lifts the rear window so I can see the Madison River while he photographs.


The buffalo are big and smelly!

In Yellowstone there are a lot of animals I can see from the car window. Dad lets me stick my head out the window a lot (unless the Buffalo are right next to it). I love the smells and sights of Yellowstone. Of course, the Buffalo make up the overwhelming smell. They are everywhere we go. If they aren’t nearby at the moment, they have left a large pile of smelly stuff to remind us they are not far away.

The next major smell comes from the water in Yellowstone. Dad says the water comes from deep in the ground and mixes there with lots of smelly chemicals. Some of the water bubbles up really hot and some even burst from the ground into large fountains of water. Dad calls them geysers. Lots of people come to Yellowstone just to see the smelly water. I don’t get to see many of them, but boy do I smell them. Dad loves to visit this one warm water pool called Grand Prismatic Spring, because he says the colors are so amazing. Yea, like I’d know anything about beautiful colors. But if it makes Dad excited, I’m OK with it.

This is the Grand Prismatic Spring. Dad says the colors come from little bacteria that like the warm water.

There are many places in the large park to smell the water. West Thumb Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Midway Geyser Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, and Upper Geyser Basin (where there is a famous geyser named Old Faithful. I get to walk to that one. It’s really neat to see the water spray so far over my head. It scares me a little bit though.)

Of course, you know that all of us dogs love to play in the water and in Yellowstone there are beautiful rivers all around. The Madison River is one that we visit often because we follow it into the park. I get to see it because the road follows it so close and Dad lets me out (on a leash) to walk near it. I can’t go in it, but I can imagine what it would be like. It’s really clear and I see fish jumping out of the water a lot. We even see Otters and Muskrats playing! Large Blue Heron birds sit on trees and beautiful White (my favorite color) Trumpeter Swans float in the Madison River.

The Great Blue Heron hangs out on the Madison River. They don't excite me, but they do Dad.

The Firehole river is really nice and there are some neat water falls there (Dad lets me out to see them). The Firehole river is pretty smelly because all the geysers dump their water into it. The Gibbon River makes some really cool falls too. In the northwest, the Lamar River flows through this really wide and quiet valley where Elk, Bison and Pronghorn are grazing. Dad really enjoys the Lamar Valley. But the largest and longest river is the Yellowstone River. It flows out of a giant lake called Yellowstone lake and then quickly makes two gigantic falls, the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. This is a major human attractant. I can’t go to the viewpoints but Dad says they are awesome.

The Lower Yellowstone Falls is a real attractant to humans. So what, a bunch of water falling down. Geez!

Did you know that this river carves a really big hole in the earth that Dad says makes a really yellow color and that’s why they call it Yellowstone. Get it! Yellow Stone, clever! This deep yellow hole, or as Dad calls it, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River is so deep that you can barely see the bottom. Lots of Eagles and Hawks and especially Osprey fly in the canyon looking far below at the river for fish to eat. These birds have really good eyesight that allows them to spot fish from such lofty distances. You should see them soar in the air currents above the river. I think I’d rather be an Eagle than a dog. Flying seems to be so much fun. Of course, I’d have to give up Mom and Dad, because humans don’t seem to keep Eagles as pets. I guess I’ll remain a dog for now.

The Osprey are fun to watch, but they fly too high for me to play with them. They are looking for food (or small dogs!)

Of course, every human comes to Yellowstone hoping to see a Grizzly Bear. These animals are big. Really big. They look like great giant dogs to me, but I’d not want to spend much time with them. They have really big teeth and very long and sharp claws. They make footprints that make prints more than a foot in length and almost that wide! Sometimes I’ll see one from the car. Dad rushes around like a mad man trying to get all his camera gear together to take a picture. (Like he doesn’t have a picture already. How many do you need?) I have to stay in the car because he’s afraid I’ll run after the bear. (How stupid does he think I am!)

The Grizzly Bear is a pretty big guy. This is a small and young guy, just trying to eat some flowers.

For me the most exciting animals are the coyotes and the wolves. I’ve never seen a wolf but I’ve smelled them. They are my ancestors and well, wouldn’t you want to see the Neanderthal Man, if he existed? I get real excited when I see a coyote. They are big in Yellowstone with nice thick coats. I think the weather here agrees with them. (Speaking of the weather, Dad says we can’t visit Yellowstone in winter because the roads are closed and it gets really cold, but humans can use noisy machines called snowmobiles and visit the park with tour guides. Of course, I’m sure they wouldn’t allow us dogs to hop on a snowmobile. That would be too much to ask of them!)

Here's one of my distant relatives, the Coyote. They are happy in Yellowstone Park.

Elk are nice animals to see. They are cool, calm and collected. They just stand around and eat grass all day. In the Spring they have cute little babies and in the Fall the big daddy Elk with huge racks prance around and chase the ladies. They make the loudest noise. Just like a trumpet (so says Dad). I’ve heard them too. They also have a very distinctive smell and I usually sense that an Elk is nearby before Dad does. I let him know but he is not very appreciative of it.

The Elk like to graze on the grass near the Madison River. You should hear this guy bellow in the Fall when he's dating.


I watched this Bull Elk from the car window. I don't think I'd like to end up on those racks!


The Shy Moose is a big animal that I don't want to play with. He might step on me.

The most shy and hard to see animals in Yellowstone (besides the Wolves) are the Moose. They don’t like people I guess. But sometimes you can see them along the Madison River. They are big animals too. I can smell them and I know they are around, but they hide in the willows and in the trees. I suspect they like to feed close to sunset, when the people are eating their food and can’t disturb them. Dad and I have seen them recently along the Gallatin River in Montana, within the far West Yellowstone area. It’s got lots of willow bushes that the Moose like to eat.

The Buffalo like to cross the river. This mother is showing her new son how to do it.

Well, it’s hard to tell you about something so large and interesting as Yellowstone National Park in such a short blog, but maybe you get the idea enough to want to plan a trip to come see for yourself. Dad says that we get to see all these cool National Parks so often because we are full-timer RVers. Well, what ever the reason, it’s fun to visit. I know your kids and grandkids will enjoy it and even if your dog can’t get out and run free, he’ll enjoy all the strange and wonderful smells and sights, so please bring him or her too! (The Park Rangers give us dogs treats if you stick your head out the window at the entrance station and look happy and hungry.) If you find yourself near West Yellowstone, come visit me at RedRock RV Park in Idaho. It’s only 20 miles away. We can take a walk together and share human stories.

That's me in the car. I wait for Dad a lot when he's in Yellowstone Park.

Dad has a lot (I mean a lot) of photos of Yellowstone, so visit a couple of his web sites to see them (http://photos.rvinteractive.com) and (http://www.rvinteractive.com/rvguys/index.html?slides/index.html).

Arf, Reggie

Fun at the Beach with Reggie

Sometimes I play with the waves. They try to sneak up on me and get me wet.

Our motorhome traveling gives me the opportunity to play at the big lake that Dad calls the ocean. I know it is big because we travel in one direction, and I see it and we travel in the other direction and (much later) and I see it too. There’s a lot of room in-between, but the big lake must be even bigger than all that space in-between!

There are usually a lot of friends to play with on the beach. I like to race with them until they tire out.

I see lots of dogs at the beach. We can only go to special beaches just for dogs. Dad’s always hissing under his breath that this beach and that beach won't allow dogs to play. I think it’s pretty impolite of them to forbid us. Maybe it’s not safe for us dogs, since Dad is always talking about all the polluted lakes and oceans in the world. I suspect the ones we aren’t allowed at are too dirty for dogs, but OK for humans. (Humans must like the pollution since they work so hard to make it.)

When we get to the beach I can’t wait to hop out and explore it. That soft white dirt feels so great on my paws. It’s cool, too (if you dig down a couple inches). I have fun rolling around in it. The beach has so much running room, too. No bushes, or stickers or obstacles, just lots of space for running. I like it when I run next to the waves and my paws make big impressions in the wet dirt that disappear quickly. (Dad says the white dirt at the beach is called sand. I tell you this in case you didn’t know it either.) You can also play games with the waves. They pretend to come and cover you up and then they run back into the ocean without hurting you. I run from them and they never get me, except I get a little wet, but that’s OK! I lick the water off (it tastes really weird but I like the taste. Dad says the big lake has salt in it, and that’s what makes the taste so weird. Whatever!)

I race Mom on the Segway on Whaleshead beach in Oregon. I won!


Whaleshead beach has a wading pool, if you don't like the waves. Look at the big rocks!

We once went to a beach called Whaleshead in Oregon. I looked around and didn’t see a whale, until I looked far out into the water and there it was! A great big whale stuck in the water. It was a long beach and nobody but us was on the beach. I had a race with Mom on the Segway and I won!

Lots of things to find on the beach in Squim!

Another type of beach we visited is one with mostly rocks instead of sand. We went to this place Dad called Sequim, Washington and stayed in an RV Park about 2 blocks from the beach on Puget Sound. Dad said that was part of the big lake too. Rocky beaches aren’t as much fun as sandy ones, but there are all types of things to explore on the these beaches and plenty of room to run. Especially dead strange animals including fish and jellyfish and seals and birds. Dad wouldn’t let me play with them. They smelled pretty awful too. I wanted to roll over them, but Dad told me not to do it and I obeyed.

This is Del Monte Beach,CA. Dad used to live in one of the apartments in the background.

We also have been to the beaches in Monterey, California. We stayed at the Naval Postgraduate School RV Park not far from Del Monte beach. It’s a great wide beach and right next to where Dad used to live, way before I was born. The smells there are strange, but I like it anyway. I can run and run then stop whenever I smell something new. I like to jump in the water and then shake it on Dad. He seems to like it because he yells a lot when I do it. Also, chasing the big birds there is a lot of fun, even if I don’t catch them. They are big white birds. Not too far away are giant seals that make a lot of noise all the time. I’m not sure I want to play with them. If they rolled over on me, I’d be squished for sure…ugh!

Mom and I love to play on the beach. That's me jumping.

In Pacific Grove, California, not far away from Del Monte Beach, and next to a place Dad used to live, we went to a nice large beach. One nice thing you can do is play with your Mom and Dad in ways you can’t do in the RV or even outside your RV. There are too many ways to hurt yourself or your Mom and Dad playing rough inside or just outside your RV. On the beach the dirt is soft and there is a lot of room to fall safely. Mom and I played a long time and had a great time jumping (I was the one jumping.)

Monterey has some big rocky places where you can't run, but there are little pools with animals in them that are fun to sniff.

Nearby is a beach with nothing but large black rocks. You can’t run there, but there are a lot of little puddles of water that have strange animals in them. It’s fun to sniff them, but you have to be careful of the waves that sometimes sneak up on you.

We walked through the water in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm trying to keep from getting my nose wet!

We’ve also been to a beach near Pensacola in Florida, a part of the big lake Dad calls the Gulf of Mexico. It’s got really green water (or so Dad claims) and sometimes a lot of noise and light and water coming from the sky (we have to leave then). Mom took me for a walk through the water. It was warm and I liked it except for when I got my nose covered in it.

There are a lot of things to smell on a beach.

We’ve been on beaches in Maine, and even the Florida Keys. I like any beach where I can run and play. It’s one part of being an RV Dog that I really like. If you are in your RV make sure your Mom and Dad know you like the beach. (Oh, one thing, please try to avoid making a mess on the pretty white dirt. Everyone walks there and they don’t like to see your messes. If you just have to do it there, make sure your Mom or Dad pick it up. They like to do that I'm pretty sure.)

Hope to see you in the surf!

Arf,

Reggie

Kanab Utah and Red Canyon Country

Crazy Horse RV Park, Kanab UT

Our RV parked under Savage Point in Kanab Utah.

Another great place to lift my leg is in Kanab, Utah. It’s a great place for us dogs. The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (http://www.bestfriends.org/) is there, they have an annual Greyhound (dog) Gathering and it’s a great off-leash place for me with all the open spaces. I like places where I can be free and roam about looking for other dogs, animals and of course, the smells. Ah, the smells along the trail.

Kanab Utah is a great place to lift your leg, esp in early Spring and late Fall.

Kanab is in the southern part of Utah, next to the Arizona border, and not too far from that big hole in the ground that Dad calls the Grand Canyon. According to Dad, the dirt around Kanab is red, but to me it’s all the same. Red is a concept I just don’t understand! I know its fun to roll around in it (it helps me get rid of the bugs on my back.) There are large cliffs above us, and open spaces to run around in (when Dad agrees it’s safe to do so.)

I like to walk along the cliffs above Kanab. I see a lot of Jack Rabbits.

We stay in a little RV Park called Crazy Horse Campark. Right behind us is a play area beneath the large and steep cliffs that I can roam around in when Dad takes me there. The biggest cliff is called Savage Point and we climb up it quite a ways and can see the whole area from there. I like to run fast down the cliff, but Dad walks (so slowly) because he claims two wheeled animals like him might fall if they run. I’m glad to be a 4 wheeler!

Every morning we walk along the trail at the foot of Savage Point in Kanab, UT.

Every day we take a long walk along a wide dirt path that is about 200 feet up the side of the cliff. The cliff here is about 2 miles in length and this path winds up and down and around some canyons and offers some great dirt and views! Of course I have to be careful because there are some really steep drop-offs. Dad says I’d be hurt if I fell from them. Another great thing about the cliffs is that there are these long-eared Jack rabbits that I can chase. I never catch them because they can leap about 15 feet in the air when I get near. ..and they go down the cliffs where I can’t reach them. But I still like to chase them. Also there are herds of deer that live on the cliffs. Every morning I smell them and they drive me crazy when I can’t see them too.

I love to run along the Cliffs in Kanab.

Sometimes Dad and Mom take me to the end of the road next to the cliffs in the car (it’s about a mile away) and we walk up this long canyon called Pugh Canyon. Wow, it’s so big and has so much room to run. It has a creek and a lot of side canyons to explore. I run until I can just see Mom or Dad (and then I stop because I don’t want them to get lost). Rabbits are everywhere and there are Cypress trees to get some shade. When we visit, usually in the early Springtime, or late Fall the weather is nice, but Dad says we don’t want to come here in the Summer because it’s too hot. With my thick coat, I’d be really uncomfortable. He also tells Mom that Winter time is cold and often snowy, so we come at the right time. Besides, the pretty wildflowers are blooming here in the Spring and that keeps Dad busy so I can explore all the smells and roll in the soft dirt.

Dad loves Kanab and the nearby area because it’s so beautiful and he likes to photograph it. Within an hour or two’s drive from the RV Park there is Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Esclante National monument, Capital Reef National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Lake Powell. There is so much to do and see. Dad often takes me with him in the car.

Cottonwood Road in Escalante Natl Monument is an awesome trip.


It's fun to play in the Paria River near Kanab, Utah.

My favorite trip is along Cottonwood Road in the Escalante National Monument. It’s a really long drive and I get to put my head out the window the whole time because Dad drives on the rough dirt road so slowly. There are many beautiful cliffs and geologic displays, a river, and lots of places where we stop and run around (Dad photographs, of course). There are these really neat narrow canyons that Dad calls “Slot Canyons”. We explore them and I jump over logs, climb slippery rocks and sniff all the strange animals that have been there before me. You look straight up and barely see the sky from deep in the canyon. It’s almost spooky.

Here I am in a slot canyon at Wirepass in Escalante Natl Monument. Its scary in here!

At the end of this road is a place Dad calls Kodachrome State Park that has large spires called Hoodoos. They are great places to lift your leg. Dad says it’s really colorful (it’s mostly grey to me) and there’s a nice trail that goes up the side of a cliff so you can see the whole area.

Another great side trip from Kanab is to a place called Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. It’s not very far and they have the neatest smooth pink sand dunes (duh!). You can roll in it and its usually cool just a couple inches under the surface. Be careful not to roll around in an area your Dad is photographing. Mine gets grumpy when I mess up the sand he’s about to photograph. The only thing Dad doesn’t like about it is that they allow those noisy ATVs to drive through the dunes and mess up the scenery. Sigh!

Dad and I climbed into a cave that the wind carved near the Good Friends Sanctuary.

Dad’s favorite trip is to a place he calls Toroweap Overlook of the Grand Canyon. This is a long trip from Kanab (about 80 miles) and 60 miles of it is down a dirt road. I get to hang my head out the window most of the time because Dad’s driving slow to avoid getting the tires blown-out. In Spring Dad stops all the time to photograph the wildflowers, so it takes almost 3 hours to get there.

The Grand Canyon is behind me and straight down. I was a little afraid up here, so close to the edge.

But when we get there I get to run around, except next to the ledge. There’s a drop off there about 2000 feet straight down in the Grand Canyon. It’s a big hole in the ground with lots of pretty ledges and (according to Dad) beautiful colors, and a bright green river down the middle (it’s called the Colorado river, and every Dog who knows his Spanish knows it means Red River, but it appears Green to Dad, so maybe it was named by an early canine explorer who had trouble with that Red/Green idea!) There are snakes and lizards to chase and lots of flowers for Dad. It’s a great place to visit. Dad warns me about the snakes, especially the ones with the cute rattling sounds. Mom and I found one on the trail last time and she shrieked really loud that it scared me.

I loved to ride the boat at Lake Powell in Arizona, not far from Kanab, Utah.


Just call me Captain Reggie.

One time we went to nearby Lake Powell and Dad got a boat. It was in early December and was a bit cold, but that was fine for me (I carry my own coat with me!) We got to ride all around the lake without anyone else there. We could go 40 mph and the water would splash in my face. We would stop on an island and Dad let me run around and then jump in the water. Wow, that was fun! We even rode in the boat 60 miles to a place called Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

We stopped on an Island to play together. I like playing with Dad.

What's the big deal about a big hole in a rock? This is Rainbow Bridge.

It was this really big natural bridge made of rock (the biggest in the world they say). I had to be on a leash, but we walked about a mile or two so we could get a really good picture. Then we got on the boat and went back. It was fun riding the boat all day and having this big lake all to ourselves. However, I was really tired at the end of the trip.

All that boating tires me at the end of the day. Phewy on the scenery!

Other trips we take include going to Zion National Park. It’s got huge steep red cliffs and lots of beautiful mountains, a river and wildflowers, but for dogs, there is only one trail in the valley that you can take (Pa'rus Trail, located near the Zion Canyon Visitor). It’s nice but I’ve got to stay on leash. I meet lot’s of other dogs on a busy day.

There is one place they allow dogs like me to walk in Zion Nat'l Park and I love it.

Of course Dad loves Bryce National Park with it’s huge red spires, but us dogs can only walk along the roadway. Bummer! I intend to write to the National Park Service people about letting us dogs a bit more freedom in their parks. You’d think they thought humans were quieter, and less of a problem than dogs. People, can’t live with them, can’t live without them!

If you come to Kanab in May you’ll get to see a lot of rescued greyhound dogs. They are all over town and like to play with me. If you want to see other rescued dogs, go to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. It’s a fun place to visit (they won’t let me tour it though).

All in all Kanab is one of my favorite places to visit. Being in the RV we can go an stay a month at a time and pretend that we live there. It’s pretty cool living and traveling in an RV.

Hope to see you someday in Kanab, Utah.

Arf, Reggie

A Day in the Life of the RV Dog

A Day in The Life of the RV Dog

I’m not saying that my life is notable, or even interesting. But, for humans, it might be interesting to know what I go through each day as I relax in an RV Park. I pride myself on my abilities to observe what goes on around me. I have excellent observation abilities. My nose alerts me to most everything that is nearby, my ears can hear sounds that humans can only hope to hear, and my eyes are forever noticing movements that alert me to interesting things happening nearby.

My main job is to protect Mom and Dad.

I spend the night in the front part of our motorhome. My job is to protect Mom and Dad from any intruders or cows or other dogs. I pride myself on doing a good job. Often I’ll pretend to sleep, with one eye just barely open, looking for any suspicious thing that might find it’s way into the motorhome. During the night, I move to three of my favorite sleeping places. Mom places a blanket in front of the stairs. It’s cool there because air comes through the door. I move to the couch when I hear something outside, hoping to see it through the partially open window. When it’s hot, I move to the tiles in the kitchen area. It’s cool there. Mom and Dad leave the door to their bedroom open, but I don’t go in there, until morning. I figure it’s best to leave them to their rest. They give me more treats when they are well rested. Sometimes in the night I smell a skunk. It’s pretty easy to recognize that smell! I bark and it goes away. Once I was outside and the little guy sprayed me with something that Mom and Dad freaked out about. I thought it was kinda nice. It stayed with me for months.

In the morning, I wait until the sun comes up and I hear Dad coughing. He doesn’t smoke, but still has to clear his lungs every morning. I think he does it to call me into their room. Mom and Dad drag themselves to the foot of the bed and give me some good petting. I like that part of the day. I then wait for Dad to get up and take me out.

We walk a couple miles every morning down Red Rock road.

Every morning Dad and I go for a long walk, usually a couple miles. Dad always takes his camera. When we are in Idaho, Dad goes looking for wildflowers and animals. We either walk the Red Rock road, go to Henry’s Lake or go into the forest. Dad’s always looking for flowers. I’m always smelling for other dogs. My favorite place is right across from the RV park because most dogs don’t go far as we do and they leave me messages there. I find out most about all the dogs in the park there. It’s like a big message board! Sometimes I’ll meet other dogs, but many just are plain mean and don’t do anything but bark at me. Sometimes Casey and her Dad are coming back from their long walk and I get to talk to her.

Sometimes we go across the street from the RV Park into the Forest while Dad photographs wildflowers.

After our walk, I always get a big biscuit. Dad makes me “shake hands” before he’ll give it to me. Some kind of human ritual I guess. Then, I lay down outside under a tree. I’m usually pretty tired from our walk. Our spot is across from where people sleep with tents. I get to watch them come out, stretch, and fix breakfast. Sometimes they make the most delicious smelling food. I wish they’d give me some. Occasionally, a human will see me and come talk to me. I wag my tail and act excited. They like that.

The worst part of the morning is when the humans decide to leave. Many of them start their big machines and leave them belching black smoke and ugly smelling fumes for 15 minutes or more. They are really noisy too. Don’t they know I’m dying from such strong odors. It’s not like a good cow patty, or old fish. It even burns my nose. Why do they have to do that? Dad says it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to warm up a big RV, but they leave them running for much longer.

Once they have gone, the day is quieter, except on the weekends. Then, the little kids are running around, screaming, stopping by to say hello and pet me. I’m gentle with them. But the really small ones like to pull my fur. Ouch!

When I lie down I can see under the RV. Right now, there is a ground squirrel that lives under the RV. He drives me crazy. Dad’s got me on a leash and I can’t get to him. He taunts me by running towards me, standing up and smiling. Then when I go towards him, he dashes into his hole and peaks his head up.

When I’m sleeping outside sometimes I’m awakened by a noisy and smelly machine that Dad calls an ATV. It zooms past, throws dust over me and leaves me wishing I could chase it away to never return. Why do humans have to make so much noise when they move around?

I like to bird watch while I'm outside. This tanager is one of my favorites.

We have a bird feeder near me. I watch the birds come and pick out the choicest pieces of seed. Sometimes a really pretty yellow and orange bird comes by, but mostly I see brown birds. I used to chase them away, but now I just like to watch them. They are actually cute.

In the afternoon we walk along this road behind RedRock RV Park and look for squirrels.

Dad comes out of the RV around noon and takes me for a shorter walk. We usually go to the back of the RV park where there is a large sagebrush meadow and a dirt road. There are lots of squirrels there and I chase them. I haven’t caught one yet, but it’s fun to try. There are also some real big squirrels. Dad calls them Badgers. They dig really big holes. I can get most of my head down them too! Dad calls me away when I do. He says the big Badger might bite me. Let him try it!

After our noon walk, Dad or Mom gives me another big biscuit. I’ve got them well trained, don’t I? If it’s a hot day, I get to go into the motorhome in the afternoon where it’s much cooler, but only if a really loud noise is on. If the noise isn’t sounding, it’s much hotter in the motorhome and I like to stay outside. If they forget to bring me in and I hear that noise, I jump up on the motorhome stairs and scratch the stairs, then they let me in. You have to train humans to open the door, but they learn quickly.

Mom and Dad are usually working on their computers and I sleep, taking advantage of the cool and quiet. Sometimes I’ll see a dog come up and I’ll say hi to him. Mom asks me to be quiet and I go back to sleep. Mom often has the TV on and is wearing weird things that wrap over her head and ears. I watch the images on the TV and when I see a dog, I chase it away by jumping in front of the TV and barking. They usually go away pretty quickly.

Sometimes we take little trips in the car. Here I'm on top of Sawtelle Mountain in Idaho.

Sometimes, Dad takes me with him in the car. We go looking for birds or other animals to photograph. I get to hang my head out the window and sniff. If Dad sees something interesting, he’ll stop and sometimes he lets me out. Last week we saw a marmot in a tree trunk. He looked like a squirrel to me, but smelled different. I like to ride in the car.

Flowers smell nice, but please Dad, not another photograph!

In the late afternoon Dad and I walk up into the forest and Dad tries to photograph butterflies or insects or more flowers (boring!). I get to go and I usually “do my thing” in the tall grass. The grass and flowers are so tall that I care barely see the sky, but there are lot of interesting smells up there. I can smell the moose and bears that come there at night.

Sometimes I can't wait to eat.

I get to eat after our walk and Mom feeds me the same thing almost every night. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thankful to have it prepared for me, but couldn’t they vary the menu a bit? She fixes me little lamb and rice biscuits and adds some cooked chicken thighs. It’s good and I eat it quickly, but a little porterhouse steak or fresh salmon would be a welcome change.

When the stars come out, Dad goes to bed and Mom stays awake for a long time. I watch her and make sure she is safe. Before midnight she takes me on a walk. I get to leave more messages (Mom calls it p-mail), and find out which other dogs have been walking around the RV park all day. They have a nice lighted walk around the large field next to the RV park and we walk around it. I watch for bears and cows and protect Mom.

After a good walk all I want to do is sleep under the tree outside.

That’s the end of my day. Mom goes to bed, the lights are out and it’s finally really quiet. It’s good to be a dog here. I take good care of Mom and Dad and they are thankful. It’s good to have such a well behaved human family.

Dad goes to bed when the sun goes down. Mom stays up and takes me for a night walk at midnight.

Arf, Reggie

Barking Dogs

Barking Dogs

Most humans get irritated when they hear a dog bark. You have to understand that’s not easy for me to understand. As a group, humans certainly make their share of noise: large engines booming, their picture machines screaming, little humans crying and yelling, big booms from the dark sky, horns blasting, humans talking among themselves to see who can talk louder and a lot more too. So why do they get so mad when they hear a dog express himself vigorously?

A bark has so many meanings. I get the idea that humans think we only make one sound: arf! We really have our own language, though not with all that complicated syntax and grammar that humans seem to have. Dogs speak with their voice, tails and bodies. We are also not bashful about expressing what we feel when we feel it. We live in the moment.

Being an RV Dog, I get a lot of time to observe different dogs barking and the reaction that humans have to it. You might find it interesting to learn about barking from a dog’s perspective.

Sometimes you just have to listen to us and give us what we want. (I wanted this shoe!)

For instance, you’ll no doubt have heard a high pitched bark that is fairly constant coming from inside of an RV. It seems like it will never stop. I do have to admit that it bothers me, especially when I’m trying to get a few winks after a long walk. That dog is telling everyone in hearing distance that he is dissatisfied with being left in an RV without the TV on, the remote up out of his reach and his owners nowhere to be seen. He intends to keep barking that message until either someone turns the TV on, his owners come back to the RV or his voice is so raspy that he sounds like Hound dog ! There’s pretty much nothing you can do to stop him otherwise. Here’s a hint for his owners. Take him for a 2 mile walk before you leave him and he’ll be too tired to watch TV and he’ll just sleep quietly.

I’ve been known to bark a bit when Dad and Mom leave the RV together. I do it to tell them they have forgotten to take their one and only dog with them. As I jump on the couch and look out of the RV window, I can see it won’t do any good to continue because they just ignore me and continue walking away. So, I just look around the RV for some treats laying around (I think Mom leaves them to make her feel less guilty for leaving) and then I jump up on the couch to await their return. If I feel like it, I’ll jump into Dad’s chair and do a little surfing on the internet. I especially like http://www.k9web.com where I can find out what humans think about taking care of dogs. It’s a blast to read! And when I’m really lonely, I’ll check out all the beautiful dogs at Smugmug: http://tinyurl.com/dogPics or at Photo.net http://tinyurl.com/docPics2. I surf the dog blogs too. Check out this guy at http://mogley-adogslife. blogspot.com/. So, I keep pretty quiet while my owners are gone, unless provoked by outside events.

Casey doesn't bark, she sings. Dad calls it howling, but I think it's pretty.

Now my girl friend Casey (a beagle), has the same routine but instead of barking, she sings. Dad says it’s really called howling, but I think it is beautiful. Different strokes!
Another reason we bark is to let others of our species who walk past our RV know that we are guarding the RV and to keep their distance. You’d be surprised how many come into our yards to do their deed and try to sneak away unnoticed. I can smell them the instant they are near and bark to let them know who’s the boss on this lot! It’s works too!

If you’ve ever approached a dog at an RV park and he starts barking directly at you, you should know that he feels you are not worthy of his company until you approach properly. Always come with good tasting treats in your hand. We’ll know you have them and you’ll usually get the proper greeting (usually an enthusiastic jump, a lick on the face and our nose planted wherever the treats are hidden, whether it be your shirt pocket, your back or front pants pocket or in your hand.)

Of course, some barks are serious business. If you fool with us, make fun of our hair cuts, call us “too cute” names like ‘Fido’ (that’s been an out-of-date name for years), try to take our t-bone or share our food dish, or act like you are about to harm one of our owners, well, you’ll get the bark and growl with teeth! Our tail stops wagging, our ears lay back and we are ready to attack. So… just be cool with us. We are normally gentle by nature.

Some dogs are just born complainers. They see me laying down on the grass in front of our RV and decide I should be someplace else or who knows what goes through their dog brains. So they start barking at me. Like it’s their spot. It’s usually the small guys that do that. I think they have some kind of mental problem. Maybe a Napoleon complex. (Dad told me that one.)

These guys had some to yelp about. They were kept in a small cage all day!

Other dogs just crave attention all the time. Today, next to us are two small dogs in a small cage outside their RV. One is squealing, barking, whining, yelping…. you name it. His owner is there talking with another human and every so often leans over to say ‘sush’. The dog keeps barking. He wants to be picked up and placed on their lap. They don’t get it, so he just keeps barking. How’s a guy supposed to catch up on his sleep? Dad wasn’t too pleased with the owners or the dog. It’s one of the problems of living in close quarters with other humans and dogs. A small price to pay for our freedom on the road I guess!

I give a few little barks and look straight at Dad and he knows we need to continue our walk.

When Dad is taking me on a walk and he stops to talk to some other human in the park, I sit still and listen as long as I can stand it. But geez, how much talk about the impending weather can you stand. It’s going to rain.. so what, get over it!. When I’ve had enough, I’ll let Dad know by barking a couple times and looking straight at him. He seems to know what I mean and we continue our walk. You’ve got to be firm with them sometimes!

When I play with my friends we all bark for fun.

Barking can also be an invitation to play. Some of my friends love to engage me in play by crouching up and down, barking in a friendly tone, and wanting me to return the favor. If I’m in the mood, I’ll bark a couple times, look at Dad and ask if we can play. Sometimes he lets us run around off our leash together. It’s fun to do that. My friend Otis, another Golden Retriever, barks every time he sees me coming around the corner. He’s young and impetuous and just loves to see another dog. It’s a bit tedious (another word from my on-line dog-human dictionary) but also very flattering. He’s always anxious to play. He has a habit of finding large tree branches in the forest and running with them. (That is, until he runs between two trees with one in his mouth. Ouch!!)

My friend Otis carrys a big stick. He's young and barks whenever he sees me.

I bark when we are in the car or RV and the big ugly cows seem to come so fast towards us that they might attack. Mom says that my job is to bark and scare them away from us. I must do a good job because we’ve never been actually attacked by one of them and thousands of them have passed us very fast.

Sometimes I bark to keep the cows from attacking when we are in the car. (It works!)

Some of my friends bark when the mailman comes up the walkway. It’s the same thing. No mailman has ever attacked a human owner when we bark at them. They are just too afraid of us.

Sometimes we only want to be picked up and hugged!

Barking can be also be informative for humans too. My recommendation to humans is to listen closely to your dog. When they bark they are telling you something. We know you aren’t born with the same brains we have, but you should be able to figure it out. Give us whatever it is we want, and we will quit barking. Pretty simple actually. Usually, it’s only a bit of attention and loving. Occasionally it’s a bite of the steak you are eating.

Arf, Reggie

My Summer Home

Red Rock RV Park, Island Park, Idaho - my summer home.

One of the advantages of traveling around the world in an RV is that you get to choose your favorite places. I’d like to share some of my favorite places in this blog. Today I’d like to tell you about my summer home in Idaho. Maybe you’ll come see me if I let you know how good it is. Bring your humans too; they might like it.

We stay in Island Park, Idaho, in an RV Park called RedRock RV Park. It’s pretty neat because I’m kinda the head dog here. I’ve been coming here for five years now, and I know the place like the back of my paw. Needless to say, I’ve got it well marked as my territory now.

I saw this Grizzly Bear on our last trip. Yikes he's big!

Dad likes it because it’s so close to Yellowstone National Park and Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. I don’t like Yellowstone so much because I can’t wander around free, but it is fun to see all the big Bison and Elk and sometimes the big Grisly Bear out the Jeep window. If I’m having a good day, I bark at them and tell them to stay away from our car. It seems to help. No bison or bears have attacked us yet.

My favorite friend is Casey. She's really pretty and smart too!

I guess my favorite thing about the RV Park is all the other dogs I get to meet. I spend a lot of the day under a spruce tree outside our RV inspecting the other dogs that walk by all day long. Many stop to visit. Some are not so friendly, but most are. Casey is my favorite friend here. She lives in Mesa Arizona in the winter but visits us here in summer. She’s a beautiful Beagle and I think she likes me. Also, this summer we’ve had a lot of Golden Retrievers like me. Randy is one of my favorites. Otis lives here too, but he’s a bit young for me now (he’s so obnoxious at times!). We’re good friends, though.

One of the cats that I like at the RV Park.

There are also 6 cats that live here. I get to visit them through their screen door. Several of them put their paw out under the screen to try to touch me. They are gentle and I like them.

Here I am walking on the dog walk at RedRock RV Park.

The RV park has a really nice long path just for us canine customers. It's fenced in and lighted at night, and right now it has the most beautiful wildflowers surrounding it. I like to walk there because I smell so many of my friends, even the ones that have left the park.

Here I am with a friend from years past, Elana! I miss her!

My next favorite thing is all the humans that like me. They all say nice things about me. I turn red when they do, but you can’t tell. Gordon and Karen are the owners here and they really like me. Gordon whistles loud and that gets me excited. People come from all over the world to visit me, and Yellowstone…, but I think it’s mainly me. Many have seen me on my web page, so they already know me. It’s kinda fun to be famous.

Dad's photographing wildflowers again, Sigh!

Every morning Dad takes me for a walk. We walk about three miles. Usually Dad is photographing wildflowers or something else. I wait for him and he rewards me with a treat for my patience. I like sniffing where other dogs have been, too.

Here I am with the RV park and Red Rock Road on our Morning walk.

A lot of them walk along Red Rock Road. The road has a big forest and large mountains on the one side and a large ranch and Henry’s Lake on the other side. Usually not many cars come along the road, but when they do, I sit and wait for them to pass. Dad usually gives me a treat after they leave.

We walk into the Forest across from the RV Park. It's full of flowers in Spring.

Across from the RV Park is a path that goes into the large forest. It’s full of wildflowers, aspens, pines, and large Douglas firs. I smell lots of animals, though I don’t usually see them. Dad says they are deer, moose, and bear. Yikes! Bear! I don’t know what’d I do if I saw one. I’d probably protect Dad and Mom from it if I could. We often walk far into the forest down to a creek that I can drink from. It’s quiet, and in the summer, its so cool to be out of the sun!

There are lots of cows at the ranch next door. They follow me down the road (along the fence), but I mostly ignore them. Cows are boring most of the time. I do like to roll around in their poop, though. It gives that certain air about me! I always get a bath when I do that.

Henry's Lake is only a mile away. I like the cool water.

A really cool walk is going to Henry’s Lake, about a mile from the RV Park down the dirt road. Once we get there (it can take a long time when the wildflowers are fresh), I get to run after the ground squirrels and jump into the water. I can swim along with the big trout. I try to catch them but they are too fast for me. There are mountains surrounding us and birds flying over our heads. It’s a pretty neat place for a dog (and Dad says its good for fishermen, too).

There's Henry's Lake behind me. It's 10'000 feet up here and cold!

Dad likes to drive over the Continental Divide into Montana and out to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. There are so few people there, but there are many animals, birds, butterflies, wildflowers, mountains, streams and lakes. Sometimes we spend an hour driving the 12 miles to the entrance because Dad likes to go slow and stop to take photographs, and while he’s doing that, I lean my head out the window, smelling the animals and looking for squirrels. When we get there, Dad stops and let’s me run around a lot.

We found this baby Pronghorn in the grass at Red Rock Wildlife Refuge.

Last month, I accidentally scared a baby Pronghorn (sometimes mistakenly called antelope) and ran after it. Dad reminded me that it wasn’t harmful, so I stopped chasing it. We stay several hours, and Dad comes home with lots of photos.

Mesa Falls is a neat place near the RV park to visit.

Another fun place for me is Mesa Falls. I like it because it’s so cool. The water from the falls splashes in my face and cools me down on a hot summer day. The noise is really loud, but it’s worth it. Dad takes lots of photos because he thinks its one of the most beautiful falls he has ever seen.

Our hike along the Henry's Fork of the Snake River is really fun!

One of our favorite walks is along the Snake River. It’s only a few miles from here. We walk about 4 miles, and there are what Dad calls rapids in the river. They are all white, noisy, splashy, and cool. I can run down to the river at any time (almost) and splash around and get a cool drink of water. It’s really great, and most of the walk is in the forest. I smell bears, moose, and other dogs, but I rarely see them. Once we saw a small snake, but those are rare.

Not too far away is another great hiking place called Mile Creek. It’s in Montana. It’s along a small creek that comes from some high mountains called the Henry’s Lake Mountains. Dad lets me run all over, but I never lose sight of him (he might get lost). There are beautiful mountains all around us, wildflowers, and all the rushing water. Dad really likes it there. The trail is really long up the mountain, but we don’t go the whole distance.

Dad says these are Paintbrush wildflowers.

Of course, we go to Yellowstone from time to time, but that’s another story. There are all sorts of smelly water, nasty bison, and lots of people. Dad thinks it’s beautiful, but not for a dog with all the rules to obey. There are a lot of rivers, lakes and mountains that we visit too, but I’ll tell you about those another time because I see Casey coming down the road and I want to play with her.

Come see me at RedRock RV Park. Look at their web page to learn more about it: http://www.8004RedRock.com. Look at Dad's wildflower page there too. He's spent all summer dragging me around and photographing about 200 different flowers near here.

Hope you have a better understanding of what things are around me here during the summer.

Reggie

Arf

Why I Like RVing

Everyone asks Mom and Dad, “Does Reggie Travel Well? or “Does Reggie like to RV?” Well, I’d finally like the chance to answer that myself. I’d be pleased to tell everyone whether I like it or not, and why.

RVing is not a natural condition for a dog. We normally like to stay close to our dens and be in control of where we are. So bouncing around in a large crate all day without any idea of where we are going and ending up at who knows where, well that’s a challenge for the best of us.

Once I realized that the RV was really my own den, I felt better about the idea of traveling in it. Mom and Dad helped me by putting me in the RV before we started traveling and letting me get used to its smells, the comfortable couch, my water dish, and the nice cool tile floors. By the time we started traveling, I was happy to go.

They also taught me a couple good rules to be safe. I can’t leave the RV until they put my leash on and release me out the door. They claim this will avoid my being run over by cars (a good thing to avoid, I hear). I also can’t jump into Dad’s lap or lie on the dash while he is driving (especially since I don’t fit on the dash)—something about crashing the RV. I did lie on the electric switch by Dad’s seat once and caused him to squish into the steering wheel while he was driving. Boy was he surprised! Now I can’t lie down next to him when he is driving.

Before I got my “RV legs” I was all over the place, sliding down the kitchen tiles, having my nose smashed against a cabinet when Dad stopped suddenly, and admittedly, getting a little sick from all the back and forth and up and down. But that was when I was a puppy; I’ve grown up now. Now I can sit in front of Mom and peer out the front window, or lie down on my couch and look out the picture window.

There are a lot of good things about being able to travel so much. We get to see so much of the outdoors. When we lived in Colorado, I got to see trees and mountains, but I got used to those smells, and life became a little boring for me. Now, we move around in the great big outdoors and there are smells galore for me to sample (and add to).

One thing that humans just can’t understand about us canine companions is our superior sense of smell (among other things). It’s hard to deal with the puny little smellers that humans have. By the way, they have no idea what a smelly mess they are, especially when they make strange noises and forget to bathe. But we dogs are able to smell hundreds of things and places, remember where we smelled them last, and then find them again. We can tell about which other canine travelers have been there, whether male or female, how old they are, and how they were feeling at the time. When Mom and Dad rave about a beautiful landscape, I’m smelling the landscape on several different levels. (I suspect my experience is better!)

I’ve heard Mom and Dad talk about us dogs having such poor color vision. Well, first of all, we do see some color, and secondly, we more than make up for lack of color vision with our ability to smell so much. The point of this is that traveling gives me great olfactory pleasures (that’s a new word for smelling that I learned when I learned how to use the on-line dictionary!) I love the smells of the sagebrush in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana (these are names that Mom and Dad tell me when we arrive someplace). I love all the wildflowers that I run through in Idaho. Dad photographs them and I smell them. What a delight. I smell all the different trees, the salty ocean sprays, the beautiful canine ladies I meet, and so much more.

RVing allows me to meet so many other dogs, too. They come from far away places, and sometimes I recognize places I’ve been, just by smelling them. I get to run and play with them in the fields outside the RV parks, and sometimes in those fenced-in places called Dog Parks where I can play with lots of dogs at once. There’s nothing more fun than a game of “nip and run”
with a group of my friends.

I like to walk with Mom and Dad. They take me on long hikes in the forest or the desert when we go to different places. I can smell other animals (inferior ones like bears and deer and elk and moose). The really dangerous ones I try to avoid (like badgers here in Idaho and wolverines and possums in North Carolina). A possum once put a pretty big slice on my face when I poked my nose into a large pipe. Boy that hurt. My favorite thing is to chase the little squirrels here in Idaho through the sagebrush. I don’t hurt them, but darn it’s fun to chase them into their holes. (They are sure fast though!)

One of my favorite places is the beach. We have visited both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. I can run free on the sand, roll in the smelly seaweed, and splash in the water (without Dad yelling at me to keep dry!) I often meet other dogs on the beach too! Once, on the beach in Oregon, Mom rode her Segway and I led the way.

Rivers are great for swimming. For example, we have walked along the Snake River in Idaho where I can jump in to cool off, and there are many little creeks where I can get a drink or splash around for fun. Lakes are like that, too. Right now we live only one mile from Henry’s Lake in Idaho. It’s fun to chase sticks that Mom and Dad throw into the lake.

One of my favorite pastimes when we are traveling is to look out the picture window and look for cows. When I see them, I chase them away by barking, making sure none of those large clumsy animals get in our way or harm Mom and Dad. I do a pretty good job at that! I also like to sleep while Dad is driving, then wake up at a rest stop where I can go potty and smell loads of new and interesting smells as we walk around. It's also a great place to meet other dogs from around the country. I like rest stops.

Every morning this summer, Dad has taken me for a long walk in the forest. I sniff and pee a lot and Dad photographs wildflowers. When I have to wait for Dad to finish photographing a wildflower, he usually gives me a treat. I like that part!

Another fun thing about RVing is getting to visit my past friends (and their human companions)
all over the country, especially Megan, my human sister Genevieve’s companion. I’m also a new uncle and love to visit Chloe, my human niece. (My human brother Damon’s new baby!)

So, do I like RVing? You bet I do. I’ve lifted my leg across the entire country and marked my property wherever I could. (I bet your dog will know it when he smells it.) I recommend RVing for any civilized dog and his human followers. The hard part is to get your humans to get up and go. Let them know you want to go too! But remind them that you can’t do all the things I do unless they take you to do them. Remember, the only places we can go are the places they’re willing to take us. Keep working on them.

See ya on the road!

Arf!

Reggie

About Reggie, the RV Dog (that's me)

Since this is my first blog, I thought I’d tell you a little about myself so you’ll know my background and the basis for the thoughts and ideas I’ll be sharing with you.

You are probably wondering what a dog can tell you about RVing and how a dog can even write such a blog. Good questions, shows that you are alert and have a inquiring mind. Just the kind of human I want to write this blog for. I’ll get to those answers soon, but first…

Please don't feel threatened by a dog writing such a blog. If there is one thing I want to demonstrate to you, is that other "animals" (other than human animals) have a lot more "stuff" than humans generally give them credit for. Hopefully I can convince you of that!

I was born of a kind of regal heritage, my ancestors coming from England and all. My real name is Reginald, but you can call me Reggie. My "real" parents were Rachelle (Chiorego Gold Touch born 12-07-97) and Alex (BISS Champion Okeechobee Rivendell Goblin). I was born on June 12, 2000, near Castle Rock, Colorado. My "real" dad and his dad were Great American Champions, but just think of me as a regular sort of guy (canine guy that is). I eat, sniff, poop, and sleep like the rest of you, so I'm just your ordinary run-of-the-mill dog (oops! “mill” is a bad word for us puppies).

You probably want to know a bit more about my "puppyhood.” I was adopted when I was 7 weeks old. My adopted dad, Newt, and my adopted mom, Donna, picked me out of the litter because Dad's favorite color was red, and I had a spot of red nail polish on my head so they could tell us apart. (I had no trouble telling us a part without that smelly stuff on my head!) I like to think they picked me because I looked the most intelligent of all my brothers and sisters.

When I went home to my new home in Nederland, Colorado, it didn't take me long to get control of the family. Mom and my human sister, Genevieve, were the easiest to tame, but I soon learned I needed a different approach with Dad who was (and still is) a rather bossy human, thinking he was "in charge" of the family. It wasn’t long, though, before I had him taking me in his arms downstairs at 3 a.m. to poop outside, saying silly human things to me, cleaning up my messes, feeding me, and picking me up whenever I whimpered. He even picked up my poop and carried it with us when we walked outside. (Humans seem to have an attraction for dog poop!) He still thought he was in charge, so who was I to tell him differently. I discovered that actions speak louder than barks (er…words).

It wasn't long before I got the idea of making my messes outside. It kept them from scolding me, and I admit that I was kind of scared when Dad would yell at me. It was always great to see them make such a fuss over when I went wee-wee or poop outside. I got pet and praised, and life was good. I loved my new Mom and Dad.

I also loved Genevieve, my human sister. She has always been my favorite littermate. She played with me a lot when I was little. She played a little rougher than Mom and Dad, and I liked that a lot. She was also gentle at times. But she would end up making me go away because I was biting her too much. I usually got even with her, though. I could always find a stray shoe or scarf or lots of other things of hers and chew on them (it felt really good on my gums). She lost many shoes before Mom and Dad finally convinced me that none of the shoes were mine and that I didn’t need any shoes thanks to my really fine paws. She even called me “brat dog” all the time. That kind of became Mom’s and Genevieve’s pet name for me for awhile. Sometimes I was so bad that Mom and Dad had to scold me. I didn’t like that.

I really liked our home since I could run around without a leash and play in the forest. So many nice smells! Then it got cold and I found out that I liked the cold. Then this white stuff fell from the sky and I found out that I could run and roll around in it, and it cooled me off really well after a nice run around the area. Dad called it snow and I still love to play in it.

Mom and Dad liked to take me in their car anywhere they went. That was a blast because I could see other dogs and lots of funny looking things that walked around on two legs. Then we'd go for a long walk in the park in Boulder, Colorado. I'd have to wear a leash so mom wouldn't get lost. It was a drag but it was the best way to take her where I wanted to go.

I took Dad to Dog Obedience School. That's a place where dogs teach humans how to obey them so that everyone gets along well. Dad did pretty well, though he had problems finding the right treat for me. Once he figured that out, he was behaving just like he should.

He’d say a few words and I’d get the really good treats, just for coming up to him or lying down or sitting down. Pretty easy work for good food. Dad graduated with honors.

Then one day Dad put me in this really big funny looking box with wheels and started moving it down the road. He called it an RV and said I could sit on the couch and watch out the window. That was really cool, because I had water and lots of room to run around and we were moving! We went from Colorado all the way to California when I was only about two months old. Boy was that fun! And that was the beginning of many years of traveling on the road.

Well, my paws are getting tired, and I’m smelling a couple cute gals coming around the corner, so let me get back to your first question and then I’ll let you go until next week.

Q: How did a dog learn to write a blog and have such insight into RVing and human life?

A: Well first, you have to understand the power of listening. Since my genetics didn’t give me the voice box that you humans have, I’m limited in my vocal expressions to a few barking and whining sounds. They are effective, but not nearly as expressive as writing a blog. Being able to listen so well means I can figure out a lot more than humans who seem to never listen to one another. So… I hear everything around me, and luckily, I have a good memory and can figure out a lot more than people think. Since I’ve been RVing for almost 7 years now, well, I’m just a canine expert on the subject. Computers are second nature to me since Dad used them in his work and I just looked over his shoulder a lot. The hardest part is to keep it a secret from humans that you know so much. Once they know how smart you are you just get no relief from performing in public. So…please don’t tell anyone else about my special talents. They’ll want me to write a book or go on TV or something tiring like that!

Thanks for listening, and I’m sure I’ll think of some pretty interesting things to tell you in the future. Oh, I almost forgot. Don’t forget to tell YOUR canine friends to write me with their stories, jokes, or RVing experiences. I’ll use as much of it as I can in my future blogs. Write me at rvguys at rvinteractive.com, Attn: Reggie (in the subject line).

Some of the ideas I have that I might share with you in future blogs (if you give me the right treat) include:

Canine life on the road

Great places I’ve lifted my leg

Friends I’ve met along the way

p-mail

The view from under the RV

Humans (the good, the bad and the ugly)

Doggie Parks

Dog's don't get enough respect!

And much more…

Arf!

Reggie