Camping Yes! Kennel Cough No!

Finally, our camping trip was about to start.  Everyone started to get excited and Dad was able to stuff all our gear in his little Civic.  My goal for the trip was eat, sleep, poop but I was in for a real big surprise. There's me in Dad's car, waiting for Mom who wanted some caffiene before the trip.

The car was so packd, Dad was only able to leave me a sliver of space for the 2 hour car ride. I panted and looked over my shoulder frequently for any falling objects. When are we going to get a bigger car Dad? He says when I make money.

After a stressful ride for me, I chilled with Dad on the ground.

During the night I slept in Mom and Dad's tent.   There I am popping my head up from the sheets.  Mom says I look like a nun.

The next day, sure enough, Dad had planned a ton of activities for me.  The first two days our pack walked or jogged everywhere.  We went to the beach, back to the campsite, to the washrooms, to the hiking trails, to get ice cream, back to the beach.  Walking was fine but the bad part was swimming.  I told her I wanted to sleep but she and Dad both forced the orange life jacket on me.  Even with the orange life jacket on, don't be fooled,  I'm still a sexy stud magnet.  Believe that.

Having never tried swimming before, I freaked out.  "Help, my parents are lunatics, they want to kill me..." Every chance I had, I tried making a beeline to the shore only the get turned a round by Mom.  The water was freezing and the feeling of having nothing under my feet scared me.  I just needed to keep my head above water at all times. 

 

There's mom helping me learn the art of swimming. I kind of bruised and scratched her limbs with my paws 'cause I was paddling like a maniac and making big splashes of water. After a long time, I got tired and let the life jacket keep me a float. After settling down a little Mom had fun chasing me.

I was not ready for what was next on the third day.  I suddenly started to feel a scratch in my throat.  I tried coughing it out.  Then tried a again, and again but nothing came out.  Sometimes I would lie down and feel the urge to cough.  The terrible dry cough and hacking sounds woke up our camp and the surrounding ones.  I was sick and needed to rest.  Dad and Mom whisptered between themselves.  I'm a dog, I can hear you remember?

 

"Honey, he's sick. Look at him, he doesn't look normal." 

"I think he has kennel cough but how? One of the dogs here?"  Dad tried to make sense of it.

"He was at the daycare on Friday but that was 5 days ago."  Mom interjected.

"Don't know the incubation period. I can't say."  Dad replied.

So Dad gave me a break and I laid to rest all Saturday because of my kennel cough.  I was not allowed to meet other dogs and basically was quarantined.  I laid under some shade and thought to myself, "finally, I can enjoy what I wanted to do this whole trip, eat, sleep and poop." and I fell sound asleep.

B-Stud.