Life Changes

Well, Poor Leia has been through it all in the past few months. First she joined us in Tampa, FL for Tom's Bar Exam. What an experience! We stayed at the Sheraton River Walk and let me just say they are not just "pet tolerant" up to 80lbs; they are truly pet friendly (and incredibly pet owner friendly)! The manager came up to Leia not once, but 3 times to say hello and ask how things were going. They also have an awesome goodie bag if you just let them know you are interested in the Pet Goodies. Here are some pictures of what they brought us:

Cute gift bag with some gloves, 2 tiny capsule poop bags, a tag,
and a cute bone shaped poo bag dispenser full of bags.
We were allowed to keep these!

 

There was also a nice little door hanger that said "let sleeping dogs lie" that way people and staff knew not to knock. 

They also brought her a doggy bed, bowls, and a bowl mat for us to borrow while at the Sheraton.

We loved the hotel, and they loved us. Leia especially loved the balcony and enjoyed watching the boats and valet guys. She learned to love her doggy bed, but normally defaulted to the crate, just because it was safe and smelled like home.








During our stay I discovered the BringFido App. Let me just say, this thing is amazing, and if you ever take your pets anywhere, you should have this app (or The BringFido Webpage bookmarked.). I even emailed a suggestion to have Emergency Vets listed and they let me know they were already working on creating a "Find a Vet" feature.

Lunch at Columbia Café

We used the features one BringFido and discovered that a Columbia Café is dog friendly so we went to eat there.... a lot! Leia Loved that they brought her a water bowl and  I brought her dinner when we ate dinner there. They were very understanding of her shyness and she even did fairly well with other doggy patrons. She still thought that maybe she should eat them, but she didn't and generally calmed down.

Dinner at Columbia Café

Back to the Sheraton, may I say I also appreciated that they catered to my coffee habit, hehe. We find out next week how Tom did on the Bar. Fingers crossed.

"Pack dis...."

Our next adventure was moving. We have finished school and it was time to return to our home state of Virginia. Leia was less than thrilled about all the packing. On the second to last day we  got the truck and packed most of our things. The rental furniture was taken, Leia had a fit, but she liked that we all slept in one room, her in her crate, us on an air mattress. 

The day of moving we loaded everything except her and her crate into the truck. Leia screamed and cried. I mean you would of thought we'd shot her or stolen puppies from her. Nothing we said or did could console her... that is, until she was put in the car, and her crate in the truck. She lay right down, curled up, and gave the most contented sigh I have ever heard. 

We drove a little over halfway and stopped in Florence at the Best Western for the night. They had nice rooms with plenty of space, they allowed large dogs, there was plenty of space to park a moving truck, and there was a Ruby Tuesday across the parking lot so dinner was easy to carry out. The Best Western also had breakfast which made travel easy.

We arrived in Virginia just in time to get 6 inches of snow... twice! It was Leia's first time in full snow coverage, so the lack of smell and sound was a bit puzzling to her. After about a day she adjusted. She was clearly made for snow.














The final adjustment was one we didn't expect... My husband and I were about to go out for the evening when one misstep on the stairs led to a fall and an ER trip... I broke 3 bones in my ankle and have surgery coming up. When I fell down the stairs Leia shrieked, and then had to be held back, as she was upset that I was crying. She had to adjust to a Mommy on crutches, and then Mommy in a wheel chair when my one "good" leg (I have no good legs, lots of knee dislocations) started to get weak after a few days on crutches. Leia is getting use to it but did avoid me most of the first few days. Now she will come up for pets.

So all in all, plenty has been changing in life. Leia is doing well rolling with the punches.