For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana

The title combines two things that might not be related but are. We are going to be making a long trip with our dogs and cats. My husband and I have been living in Mexico for four years, near Lake Chapala. It’s been really nice in many ways, but now we are selling our house here and moving back to Colorado. I’m very excited that we will be living in a small town where we lived for a decade and there is a real sense of community.

The long drive north will be in late April, and I’m already doing a bit of training review with the dogs, as I recommended in this article I did back in 2008: Train Your Dog Before Vacation Travel and I’m getting our kitties used to their carrying crates by feeding in one and having the other in a choice location on my desk, next to my computer.

It promises to be an interesting trip. LarryDog, the logo dog at the top of the page, is 12 now. He came down with us from Colorado in 2005,  in our little Toyota Dolphin motorhome, and despite his tendencies to be a bit dog-aggressive at home, he behaved very well when on the road. Our other dog, three-year-old Lola, was born here in Mexico, in a town near here. She has had a few car trips but it will be a new experience for her.

It’s a similar story with our two cats. One is a Colorado cat, one a Mexican one. Both have traveled with us in their crates in vehicles, and I can’t say that they liked it. The part-Siamese one was quite talkative on his way down here, so I imagine he will be again. We will be taking the motorhome north and also our car.

The border crossing will be easier for them than for us, most likely. The dogs need rabies vaccinations more than 30 days before we cross, and we need papers to show that, and the animals all need to appear in good health. That’s it. No passports!

There will be some interesting situations when we get to our new home too. We bought a house last year from a friend who lived in it for a number of years with several cats. Should smell interesting to our four.

Any comments about your own long trips with dogs and cats are most welcome.

So What About the Blog?

I’m not going to have much time for it, for several months, so I will be using some guest posts I have collected and pointing you towards some interesting dog training books. In fact, with my background as a librarian, and my easier access to books once we settle in the US, I think the blog will take a more bookish turn.

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