May 10, 2013

White Dog looked back as we drove down our street. The White Dog Army, en masse, was with us on this bright and lovely morning as we headed out to run a few errands and spend some time on maneuvers at the Park.

"What is the next size larger vehicle?" WD asked Steve. "I think we are at the breaking point." Steve refocused his gaze to the inside of the car and laughed. Pumpkin, a Dodge Caravan, holds the White Dog Army nicely.

Usual seating is that Nuka and Quinn share the far back seat. Puff takes the middle seat (the other is folded down) to create a padded bed area. YoYoMa and Oso share the floor cushion. White Dog rides in a special co-pilot carrier attached to the console on in the front. Everyone has personal space and room to sit or lie down.

Quinn is a wild card when we go on road trips; a lot depends on his mental condition and his level of timidness. Most times in recent months, TOWD walks us to the door and then stays behind to guard White Dog Ranch. Happily, today Quinn was the first in line to go along.

By default, when TOWD stays home, Nuka gets the entire back seat to herself. This is a privilege she has come to jealously guard--warning off any of the others who might want to sit beside her. And today, she forgot that Quinn has a rightful claim to half the seat.

Nuka stretched out her full length and in short order had squeezed our gentle Quinn right off of the bench seat. He tried to work with her by compressing himself to less and less room so that she could lie down in HER way but it was about ownership not just comfort.

Quinn clambered off the seat to accommodate his sister, nearly choking himself on his leash and causing a domino effect of upset White Dogs as he took Oso's space, who shifted in Yo's. The poor Quinn was getting nervous about his decision to come along.  

When Steve pulled over to adjust things, poor Quinn nearly decided to just walk home. Fortunately with a bit of repositioning pups on the floor and refastening leashes, the boys, all three, found spots that allowed for peaceful sharing of the bed without disturbing Nuka or Puff who were both unremorsefully refusing to yield.

Steve climbed back into Pumpkin and sighed. "On to the Park!" White Dog cheerfully proclaimed and under her breath to Steve, "maybe on of those mini school buses?"

Steve, my car loving once fancy car driving saint, looked over WD's head at me. "You are cooler now than you ever were in the Mercedes," I crooned. "A good looking guy in a car full of fluffy White Dogs? Hot stuff!"

Nuka was now loudly snoring, just to add insult to her impudence.

P.S. thank you all so much for your kind and wonderful encouragement for Paws To People, you will never know just important your words are to us. You give us strength to keep fighting and the courage to hope even when it seems to be very dark. Thank you for your continued support. Once we get the IRS charity authorization we will add a donate button, but we beg that you understand we cherish your commitment to the battle to end catastrophic illness and your faith in The White Dog Army in itself; although donations will be appreciated and applied to research as promised. With our humblest thanks and love...