Finley the Travelin’ Pup…

He could have his own doggy blog about all the traveling he does because not only do we love him and treat him like our son but we also take him most everywhere with us.

Finley enjoying the open windows on the open road (Mississippi Highway)

He comes out to eat with us (patio seating only of course), the grocery store (he guards the car), the beach (obviously), and road trips. Road Trips? Oh yes, I said Road trips.

His first road trip was at the tender age of 3 months he rode along with us the 6 hours each way to Anderson, SC to my freshman year roommate’s wedding. This trip was a learning process for the whole family, because I fed him about 5 minutes before we got in the car to pick Albie up from work and he promptly puked ALL OVER my arm, while I was driving my stick shift. Nice aim buddy. Then, not taking into account that he had a puppy bladder and not an adult human bladder we didn’t stop to let him pee until he so nicely peed on my lap. (I guess that’s what I get for waking him up just to pet him, but he was soooo cute so I had too!)

So other than trips back and forth to Wilmington and Carolina Beach Finley has actually  been to:

• Hilton Head, SC
• Greenville/ Clemson/ Anderson, SC
• Savannah, GA
• Chicago, IL
• Memphis, TN
• New Orleans, LA

Those are the states he has BEEN in. The states he has driven through, err rode through I guess,  is even more impressive (I’m his “mother” so I get to be impressed by all kinds of dumb things, deal with it):

• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia
• Tennessee
• West Virginia
• Virginia
• Indiana
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Missouri
• Louisiana
• Arkansas

In May, he will come with us to the Florida Keys and Charleston and I am continuing to use one of  my favorite resources for traveling dogs: BringFido.com. I seriously swear by this website when we travel with Finley.

Not only do they recommend awesome hotels and give you a chance to book special rates, but they also have searches for Dog Friendly restaurants and things to do.  Users can comment and say exactly what their experience has been which has been great for us. For example our hotel in New Orleans was Fantastic (!!) but we had to walk a block away to find grass for Finley, so it’s something I noted in my review.

He is a great guy to have in the car although he never sleeps. He just sits on one side of the car leaning up against the door drooling. Then when he’s sick of that particular side, he switches. He rarely eats in the car, except for barbecue, and won’t drink water when given to him, he prefers to dump it out to cool off his belly.

Finley and his wet belly after dumping his water out (Baton Rouge, LA)

When we are visiting our destination towns Finley has a cute travel crate that he doesn’t mind hanging out in while we are out doing regular “people” things. And lucky for us he is not a barker so we put up the Do Not Disturb sign and he sleeps snug as a bug in a rug.  He does come on walking tours with us and enjoys meeting new people (People always comment on what a small Rottweiler he is and how soft he is and I eat it up because lets face it, he really is rather adorable!)

Finley excited to see us come back to the hotel (Memphis, TN)

Finding shade on one of our walking tours (New Orleans, LA)

But the best part of traveling with Finley is definitely the cuddles we get when we get back home.

Finley and Albie napping (Memphis, TN)

Finley and I resting (New Orleans, LA)