San Diego, As Told By Julie

I am blessed to have a very happy go lucky dog. Caleb puts up with just about anything I throw at him, including long car rides. For various reasons, Boyfriend, Caleb and I find ourselves driving to southern California on a fairly frequent basis. Ok, ok...we go to Southern California so frequently we have Disneyland Annual Passports, but I digress. Caleb rides wonderfully in the car; he sleeps most of the time, does not get car sick, does not pace in the backseat, really, he does not seem bothered at all, unless he gets a whiff of something then he pokes his head in between the seats and slowly tries to inch his way across the arm rest into my lap so he can get close enough to stick his nose in the air vent.

The only person this bothers is Boyfriend, who tries in vain to keep the corgi hair in the backseat on the sheet he put over his seats. Alright all you corgi Mommas out there, let's just have a nice chuckle over that one, shall we? Caleb's so proficient at shedding I can buy a new shirt, walk directly from the store to the car with the shirt in the bag, get in the car to drive home, walk in the front door, go to my bedroom, take the shirt out of the bag, and find Caleb hair. He's just that good. But no matter, we do this every time. Caleb sheds and Boyfriend fusses, until I want to put Boyfriend in the trunk and Caleb in the front seat and drive the rest of the way in peace and quiet. I always get his car cleaned after we get home, but he just cannot help himself.

We usually stay with family or friends when in southern California, but this time we were too far south so we had to stay in a Hotel. I have the most awesome book by dogfriendly.com that lists hotels, restaurants, and other things to do with your dog in California, so I busted it out and picked one of the hotels, the Marriott La Jolla. It was very nice, everyone there was very friendly, and we only had to pay a flat 75 dollar fee for Caleb. It was a little weird to walk through the hotel and get confused stares from other hotel guests who obviously did not know that the hotel was dog friendly, but we went with it.

I agree with Caleb, the Dog Beach was the highlight of the trip. I was hesitant at first to immediately let him off the leash, even though he's been in numerous off leash parks and situations with other dogs before. I only had Caleb on leash for about 5 minutes before he barked at me to let me know he did not think it was fair that the other dogs were off leash while he was still on leash, so I got over my anxiety and unleashed him. At which point he promptly headed towards the largest dogs he could find: Two or Three Great Danes, playing with an American Mastiff and a herd of Golden Retrievers. Caleb tried to say hello to one of the Great Danes in the typical manner, that is he tried to sniff his rear, however the Great Dane's rear was two feet above Caleb's nose so picture Caleb with his nose straight up in the air trying desperately to get a whiff and tripping over his own feet because he cannot see where he is going. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of this encounter because I was busy chasing down my corgi and dragging hm out from underneath the very large paws of the mob of playful doggies. They were all fine with Caleb, actually they just ignored him, and he plays with bigger dogs all the time, but this was just too many for my comfort level.

It turns out that listening to that little voice was the right decision. Right after I convinced Caleb he could have more fun playing on the opposite end of the beach with slightly smaller dogs we heard quite a commotion from that group. One of the owners screamed bloody murder, ran to get her dog, fell down, then started flailing her leash at the swarm of dogs once she got back up. They were behind a sand dune, so we could not see everything that was going on, but at one point the two dogs in question moved to where we could see them...it turns out it was not a fight but...umm...unapproved hanky panky. I am glad it was not a fight, but still I would not have liked to have seen Caleb in the middle of that fiasco.

Caleb would not swim in the ocean, but he did wade in up to his tummy. As soon as the waves hit his tummy he would jump and head for higher ground. On the one hand, it was pretty cute to watch and made my life much easier, as I did not have to worry about wading in to retrieve a waterlogged corgi. But on the other hand, I still do not know if he can actually swim!

Leaving was not as painful as I was afraid it was going to be. Once Caleb was dry, the sand brushed off pretty easily, although some still managed to make its way into Boyfriend's car. Thankfully I think the sun and sand put Boyfriend in such a good mood that he decided to let it go and we were able to head back to the hotel without any fussing. Caleb was asleep in the back before we got on the freeway.