Until recently, Jedi's longest road trip was when he came home from his breeder's house in Indianapolis. I think that trip took us between 8 and 9 hours, but he was wee and I'm sure has no real recollection of the day his life to that point went topsy-turvy. There have certainly been plenty of opportunities for Jedi to learn the art of traveling, though, with our many 2-3 hour trips to trials. This past weekend he proved what an absolute rock star he is by being a trooper and riding along for a whirlwind down-and-back trip to Tennessee. We left home at 6:30 a.m. on Friday and we got home at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. Each trip took around 13 hours. That is a long time for a puppy to be good in the car, and Jedi did awesome.
We left bright and early Friday morning. Jedi was the only dog that I elected to take on this trip and the rest stayed home to hang out with my mom. I almost took Kizzy along as well but when I learned that the dogs would be staying at my house I figured my mom could handle her. I wasn't going to subject my mom to the crazy puppy, though, so he came along. My dad was driving his car, so this was Jedi's first experience riding outside of a crate in a vehicle. It occurred to me that it may have been his first time in any vehicle other than my van, as he wasn't sure how to get in the back seat at first. He figured it out quickly enough. It was dark when we left and Jedi slept for a while, but when the sun came up he seemed to enjoy taking in the world going by.
We made several stops on the way down, but they were all pretty fast and not much more than potty breaks. I am so thankful for Jedi's great ability to go to the bathroom literally anywhere and on a 6' leash, as I never had to worry about getting back on the road without having him relieve himself. He gained a fan club in Illinois when we met a couple who was absolutely enamored with him and had seen agility at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge, so they were excited to meet someone who does that. Our drive was smooth sailing until we hit Nashville. I worried when we got stuck in traffic that Jedi would reach his limit and need to get out, but it was getting dark by then and he slept through it.
We arrived to my friend's house in Cookeville around 7:45 p.m. After spending all day in the car, Jedi appreciated the chance to stretch his legs and get in some running time as he was introduced to Colleen's dogs. Colleen has 6 border collies of her own, so Jedi fit right in! Jedi hit it off with Jet right away and they had lots of fun running and playing behind the house before we went inside. In the house Jedi got to know the other dogs better and did well with everyone, but he was high as a kite for a while and got a bit hump-happy, which I kept on top of and made sure to redirect him quickly. Colleen has two senior dogs that we had to be careful around since Jedi doesn't look where he's going, but Jedi really had a soft spot for Cody and tried to lick him like he does with Luke. We just had issues with Colleen's youngest (intact male) who isn't comfortable having strange dogs in his home, so we kept the two of them separated for the whole weekend. By the end we were able to have them together with one in a crate, so that was progress. Jedi also slept in his crate at night to make sure he didn't bother any of the resident dogs.
On Saturday Jedi had a jam-packed fun-filled day. We took Jedi and Jet out in the morning for a tour of the property. Jedi had loads of fun exploring, but as soon as we reached the creek that was all he cared about. It wasn't exactly warm that morning, but he didn't care. Much of the creek is wading depth, but there are spots with larger pools that allow for swimming. Jedi found them! I didn't even have a toy with me, he just took off and went swimming. I was able to convince him to come out when we went back to the house, but he would have happily stayed there all day. Jedi ran around a bit with the other dogs to dry off some, and then got to take a nap in his crate while the humans went on a driving tour of the area.
When we got back from lunch, Colleen and I packed up Jedi and Rain and went to one of the local parks not too far away. Our mission was to hike down to see a waterfall, which I thought sounded pretty cool. I stuck Jedi's head halter on him for a little more control, which I ended up being very thankful for because the trail was pretty rugged and I needed him to not plow ahead. There were also quite a few people (and dogs!), so he couldn't be off leash. He did really well navigating the crazy terrain as we climbed down the hill to the riverbed. It was hard on Jedi when we got to the bottom and he wasn't allowed to go straight into the river. He did slip out of his halter once and went out to have some fun, but after I tightened it that didn't happen again. When it was time to go back up the trail I switched over to Jedi's harness and let him haul my butt up the hill.
When we got back to the house we took Jedi, Rain, and Rose down to the creek for some swim time. I didn't have any water toys in Jedi's bag, so I just grabbed one of his balls on a rope so he'd have something to go after. That didn't work out so well because, FYI, things with holes don't float well. Jedi got to fetch it five or six times before it stopped staying on the top of the water, so I took it away before we lost it and made Jedi just play with the girls. After swimming we took them into the big fenced field and let them run. Jedi was in heaven having so much room to stretch out and having dogs that ran his speed. I got some of it on video but they'd been going for a while already at that point! Jedi and Rose had lots of fun together (Rain tolerated the annoying puppy).
After having such an exciting and fun-filled day, Jedi was pretty tired. He finally was able to relax and chill inside the house with all of his new buddies. Because he was just sleeping anyhow, I figured he could go hang in his crate for a bit to let Blue be out and about. This was fine until Jedi just stood up and, unannounced, just started peeing out all of the creek water he'd consumed earlier. That's the second time this has happened (the first being on the way home from dock diving). I wish he'd indicate that he needs to go out or something, but I think it only happens when he's really tired and might half be doing it in his sleep or something.
Sunday brought a time change, which we took advantage of to get on the road a bit earlier. We were able to leave a little before 6:00. I think all of Saturday's fun carried over and Jedi slept pretty hard on the way home. The only time he was restless was after I gave him a chewie and I think he was thirsty. At one of our stops in Indiana there was a big grassy area, so I spent a little time throwing a ball for Jedi while my dad gassed up the car. After that he was pretty much out for the rest of the trip home. We pushed a little harder and probably made one fewer stop on the way home, but Jedi didn't have any problem with it. We got home around 7:00 p.m. and Jedi was happy to see all of the other dogs.Will we be making any more trips down to Tennessee? Time will tell!
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