My doggies ready for the daily ride.
Nope Nope Nope- You are all wrong-’before cars were even invented, my grandfather used to take his buckboard pulled by his favorite horse Nellie, with his dog, down into town to get a drink. Since he wasn`t sober, someone would put the reins on the front seat [only seat] while my grandfather slept it off in the back of the buckboard. His dog would sit on the seat with the reins in his teeth and Nellie would trot back home and unceremoniously stop at front porch where my grandmother would promptly curse at the horse since my grandfather couldn`t hear anything anyway... True story. Dogs do not to ride - they want to DRIVE.
My doggies ready for the daily ride.
A couple of years ago I was blessed (or cursed, lol) with six “dumped off” dogs at the same time. And, I loved them everyone.
I live in a rural area and would put them in the back of the pickup and give them a very slow cautious ride to the lake for a daily swim.
There was one house with new residents that I didn’t know. But, I was in the grocery store one day a a little girl shouted..”Look, Mom, it’s the dog catcher!” It turned out to be the new resident’s daughter, lol.
The FIRST time our dog (a lab/aussie mix) got a car ride was, I think, when I took her home from the Humane Society. She was 2, and she HATED it. She hated car rides....until, she figured out, good things happen in the car....especially food wise! People at the bank, at the coffee shop - any drive thru. Plus, we share food. Now she LOVES rides, in fact, she’s 12, and spends a LOT of time in our garage IN the Pick UP....waiting for a ride. (It’s like her dog house.) She is a very QUIET rider, however. Unlike a cocker spaniel we had who would run and chase cars IN OUR litte HONDA as we drove.
We got our Blue Heeler at an animal shelter. We put her in a small station wagon and got on the highway. Every so often we could hear her thud after jumping into the side window, followed by a yelp from the surprise of hitting the glass. It turned out that she is a dedicated car chaser, and she was trying to lunge into passing cars.I have to keep her on a short leash (or a crate) when we go for a drive.
Before my lab died, if I yelled “wanna go for a ride, Angus”. It sounded like a herd of Bison running across hardwood floor. He would dutiful sit in the passenger, except after the vet, when he would ignore me for a day or two.
I had a beautiful Chocolate Lab with a dark coat and green eyes who loved to “console surf” with his front paws on the console between the seats, rear paws on the rear seat and his head out the sunroof. He had a speed limit though, keep it below forty. His lips started flapping and making a sound, with slobber streaming in the wind. That he didn't like. He'd look down at me with those incredible eyes like I was nuts, nudge me with his cold nose to slow down, and if I didn't he'd heave a big harrumph and flop down in the back seat, still looking at me like I was nuts, lol. God, I miss him. He died five years ago October 13. He always knew when I was going up to my folks’ place at the foot of a mountain out in the country, where he had the run of the place. He'd start to whine a couple of miles out, then when we turned onto the long gravel drive he'd break into a howl.
My current dog is a rescue, a Walker Hound. She was dumped from a car and hated them for months after I took her in. I’ve had her over two years now and she's learned to love it, she knows I'm not leaving her I guess. She's been to the Outer Banks, up to the Blue Ridge, all over and thrills to it. She actually leaps up toward her harness trying to stick her head into it whenever it comes out. She's a quiet rider, much more active and curious when we stop.
They're all just happy to be with you wherever you are. That's what it boils down to.
What great posts, pics, memories and advice...how I miss having a dog. Last one was my sheltie, Skye. Mr. C4E is allergic to dogs and cats. So unfortunately we are a dog free home, and the lesser for it.
We have a fat, sickly chihuahua we adopted. He must have went on a lot of car rides before coming to stay with us, because he insists on taking them. My other dogs want to go running around the neighborhood, but he will sit by the car/pickup and wait to go for a ride. Take him for a ride every once in awhile, and he is tickled for a few weeks, then back to sitting by the car/pickup.
There is a simple explanation. To quote the Japanese Sage from the old TV commercial:
"Dogs rike TRUCKS!"
:o)
We rescued mama dog from the neighbours at 8 months old, where there was some physical abuse including being picked up by the tail, being fed beer, very often having dope smoke blown into her face and being left outside overnight in -4C (25F) temperatures with no doghouse or shelter. They also did not bring her inside during her first heat. On the day we were getting her, a male Pit Bull/Rottweiler got in their yard... The result, sixty three days later was Lily, and two brothers. The two boys were given to friends and we kept Lily as a companion for Sylvia. In the photo below, Sylvia has the bigger, Shepherd-like ears and Lily, the Lab-like ears.
Lily had a tough start to life. When she was born, mama dog knew enough to chew off the membrane, but did not know what else to do and had the most shocked look on her face. My wife and I dried Lily off and laid her near Sylvia as she lay in a area that we had set aside for her and the brood. Within ten minutes, both Sylvia and Lily figured out what each needed to do. Two more puppies then arrived and all were healthy.
At approximately six weeks, one of her brothers picked up parvovirus. After much prayer and laying on of hands by my wife and me, Casey get through it. Unfortunately, he passed it to Lily. Fearing the worst, we took her to an animal hospital where after two days in the hospital at $1,100 per day, she survived.
As my better half has moved back to her mother's house and served me with divorce papers, and I was also recently laid off, I thank The Lord that He saw fit to bring these two girls into my life!
It’s as simple as dogs love to sniff, and the air going by is chock-full of mysterious scents.
BTW, animals have no concept of spaying/neutering. If they’ve had a bad experience from an animal clinic, something happened while they were awake, or they felt abandoned by the owner and are afraid of a repeat when they smell the clinic smells.
Dogs generally love being with their people. I had a Red Coon Hound mix that would run 40 miles to stick with me when I went out on my bike - he would range the fiedls and periodically appear as he double checked where I was. Once I could drive, he loved th car and his nose never stopped sampling all the neat stuff we were going past. Probably some of both our happiest moments happened together all those years ago.
I had a dog who would stick her nose in the vent.
My cats used to ride in my motor home, one on each of the driver’s seat armrests, watching out the window. They’re housecats now.
Sorry, but this article is just so much gobbledegook.
My rescue chihuahua Spazz absolutely LOVES to go out to the car, get in, and then he stands on the seat vibrating. He will NOT look outside, he will NOT move unless I move him.
He hears the carkeys, and I can’t get him to leave me alone.
My other dog Zippy gets in the car, jumps up on the parcel shelf, and goes to sleep. He’ll occasionally go to the window and give me “the look” to open the thing, but for the most part he’s perfectly happy just being with me.
I think that dogs just love to be with us (G_d knows why) and they are happiest there, just like Spazz. (He’s an idiot, BTW), but I can’t help but love him.
Yes, this is an old thread, but I had to comment on the inaccurate assessment of this “doctor”.