Gus the Motorhome Dog......

I haven't had a chance to write a thorough blog post about our first motorhome experience over Thanksgiving weekend. I loved it; Hubby will need some time to adjust. I think the fact that it was our first time and there was a steep learning curve had something to do with it. He hasn't put a "For Sale" sign on it yet, so I'm guessing we'll go again.

I want to dedicate this post, however, to Gus.

Before we got Gus, we used to say when we retired we would buy a motorhome and a motorhome dog and tour the country. Then Hubby got all practical and junk, and I thought the motorhome dreams were dead in the water.

We did, however, get the motorhome dog, in the form of Augustus McRae, a Pomeranian who pretty much rules the house. And the neighborhood. And the park. He is the epitome of "little man syndrome," taking on any dog of any size and number. He was terrified of a bunny rabbit at school one day, however.

I will say that Gus did pretty well on his first camping experience. First he had to get used to the idea that he couldn't ride in Dad's lap. He has always preferred to ride in the driver's lap, whether anyone else is in the car or not. This time Dad had his hands full, though, so Gus had to sit in my lap. Never mind that he had the run of an entire motorhome, with many windows to look out. He had to sit in my lap. Those cross-country trips might get tedious.

At home Gus is used to going outside and patrolling the front yard for a few minutes at a time. We don't leave him out there long, and he scratches at the door when he's ready to come in. At the park where we camped, he wasn't used to being on a leash. He thought he could roam around on his own like he does at home, so he felt a little restricted. For our next trip I will get a long tie-out lead and a stake so at least he can get further than 4' from me.

We let him off the leash when we walked through the woods, and I think I heard him say, "That's what I'm talking about." He was very good, walking just ahead of us just like he does in our own nearby park, coming back when we called him. We put the leash on him whenever we saw any other people on the path, particularly if they had dogs.

He always did "his business" outside, and he didn't feel the need to christen the motorhome in his own special doggie way. Not even when we left him inside to go mountain biking, which would have been an excellent opportunity for him to show just how pissed off he was. But dogs are very forgiving (or forgetful, I'm not sure which), and he loved us just as much when we came back.

Mostly, however, Gus did a lot of what he does at home, which is lying around sleeping. When we sat at the table playing gin, he got under the table between our feet. Or he jumped up on the "sofa" and made himself comfortable. When he thought it was time for bed, he went back to the back and got up on the bed as if to say, "I'm ready, y'all can come on to bed anytime now." He's a creature of habit.


I have to tell you that we did NOT do this to the Gusman. He got up on the sofa and rooted around until his head was underneath Hubby's cap. Apparently the light was bothering him.