Indie On the Road

Blog

  • Keeping Pet Swimmers Safe

    It is amazing how interested dogs can be about exploring new things. It’s our job to make sure these new experiences are safe. For example, what if you have the opportunity to explore water ways in a boat or kayak? Getting your pet nvolbed can be a lot of fun.

    Although there are a lot of dogs who can swim, some might be inexperienced or even unable to swim. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Don’t forget the life jackets. Take for example Wally here. He doesn’t know or trust the water. But given the chance he will be the first to jump onboard.

    Wally in vest

    A vest can reduce your and your your dog’s uncertainty. Our Indie, a border collie, would not go into the water. However, once we put the life jacket on him, he would run over to a kayak and jump in and sit down, ready to go.

    More

    Selecting a Lifejacket

    Like people, dogs come in all sizes, and some jackets fit better than others.

    In the picture above, Wally is wearing a jacket that was too small. So, we ordered the next size up. Of course, It took him a little while to get used to it

    Get Your Dog Acclimated to the Jacket

    Don’t expect your dog to automatically like the strange thing wrapped around him. Several years ago we bought life jackets for our two dogs. Neither had ever had anything around them. My wife called my on my way home work work and and said the jackets had arrived. When I turned into our driveway, there they were, standing long lawn ornaments adorned with their new jackets frozen in same the same position they were in when my wife put them on, confused what to do.

    Having one of these vests available for your dog can help a dog who is tentative to be in the water as well one who likes to swim but might stay in too long. One thing for sure it will help if the dog runs into a problem in water and nobody is around. Our dog Indy, fell off the dock when he was young. Of course he freaked but it could’ve been worse because he fell between the dock and the boat. If he had gotten knocked out, he would’ve been a goner. Fortunately that didn’t happen, and also a friend happed to see this happen and was close enough to grab his collar and pull him back up on the dock.

    In any, case, be safe by being proactive and getting a vest that can support your pup.

  • How We Got Our RV

    Anyone interested in traveling that is looking for an RV knows how difficult it is during this timeframe. Since COVID (or maybe before), RV sales have skyrocketed. Locating an RV that doesn’t include the highly inflated pricing correpsonding to the huge demand over supply is difficult. But amazingly – wholly do my wife’s amazing research skills – we found one nestled with big, brawny, bald, ex-military Dwayne in Breux Bridges, the best customer support/salesman I have ever met…

    Stay tuned, I will continue in a little while.

  • What Started this RV Adventure?

    One of Indiana’s Favorite Spots

    It seems like just yesterday, when I opened the door to my pickup truck to take the trash to the dump one Saturday morning. I hadn’t noticed that our young dog Indie (Indiana) had followed me out into the driveway.

    Before I could step into the cab, he jumped up on the front bench seat and sat down on the passenger side. He turned to look at me as if to say, “Well, you’re not leaving me behind”. With that he stared out the front window. And off we went.
    Since that time over 10 years ago, we spent almost every Saturday afternoon running to the dump together and many other short journeys together, along with numerous boat rides. He loved the pontoon boat. He would calmly sit looking around the shore and all the activity on the water until he spotted another dog on the shore, and then the barks and growls would start, depending on the acquaintance.

    These trips supplemented other things we did together. Anybody who has had a dog knows what great companions they can be and how much both owner and pet miss the other when they are not together.

    And Indie was a good traveler. Always observing, with only an occasional growl or bark for something that should not have been there, such as a dog in another car, or a squirrel scampering along the side of the road.

    These little trips occasionally expanded into longer journeys. But for the most part, our vacations away from home meant kenneling the dogs (often not so ideal) to inviting a house sitter (great!) to watch them. However, as the availability of responsible teenagers decreased, kenneling became the only option. The cost, and the time away from our pets really convinced us there had to be a better way. However, until COVID, few hotels, or other stay places accepted dogs. This is still the case with most timeshares.

    But COVID opened up the pent-up demand for freedom to explore the big outdoors, and RVing took off. If you had your own rig, you could go anywhere, and you could take anybody with you including your dogs.

    This is now our goal, travel wherever we want to go, accompanied by our favorite companions – our dogs. If you believe the same thing, share your story. Contact us about publishing your story on our site.