Weekend trip :)

First long road trip with Remus went very well. We went up to Lynchburg this past weekend to visit the fam and get my eyes examined. Remus came a long to meet my mother-in-law and my dad, both absentees from the previous Labor Day Picnic, and thus new to the Remus experience. Also, we didn't want to pay to kennel him. He whined and barked and howled on the way up at first, until I decided after being awake for over 24 hours I was going to at least attempt to lay my seat down and doze. We had secured Remus in his doggie seatbelt harness behind my seat, but laying down my seat didn't touch him, because he'd stretched out into the middle seat. Once I laid back and closed my eyes, Remus hushed and passed out himself. After that, whenever I would start talking to Brian he'd whine and fuss, but as soon as I closed my eyes and laid still he'd go back to sleep. I didn't get much real sleep, but it was nice and quiet.

Keeping me company when I passed out after being awake for over 36 hours.

We kept him on the porch at my in-laws for the most part since they have a big deck and Remus is still not completely housebroken, but he came inside to play whenever we were around, and I still tried to take him outside every hour and a half so he wouldn't make a mess on the deck if it could at all be avoided. He even slept outside in a kennel from Brian's childhood pet, a french mastiff named Harley.

On Friday I took Remus to PetSmart, which was thankfully not too busy, and he sniffed around, made a few canine and human friends, and peed in the median. A successful trip. I also discovered that he loves to chew ice after buying him an ice water from McDonalds. After he drank his fill I fed him ice chips like candy to a baby.

On Saturday I drove Remus over to my parents house and Dad and I took him to the Blackwater Creek Trails for a walk. Yeah, we over estimated Remus's stamina and ended up carrying him for some of the way there and a considerable amount of the way back. He made a lot of friends along the way, and I get reminded again and again of how big he is for his age. He still looks little to me, his shoulder is up to my knee, but he's such a floppy big footed cute fuzz face that I can't see him as being big. After meeting an 8year old mutt that outweighed Remus but was on level with him, it reminds me that Remus really is big for a puppy. After the walk, which tuckered Remus out, he passed out in the back seat of Dad's PT cruiser and slept like the dead the whole way home

On Sunday, while Brian packed the car, we decided we'd try the whole "walk him so he sleeps" method again, and I took Remus on a walk around the neighborhood-or so I thought. Maybe it was pent up energy since we had had to leave him on the porch while we were at church and out to lunch, but after walking him down the road a considerable distance, he wanted to run on the way back. SO run we did, and he's got quite the lope, keeping up with me easily as I flip-flopped along (I was definitely not in appropriate running footwear) and occasionally attempting to sprint in front of me. We ran almost the entire way back. I'm hoping we haven't strained his developing puppy muscles or bones, but he seemed to love it. AND our method worked, he slept the way back with nary a whine (except for when he needed to pee).

I vote the weekend a success :) And I think Remus is finally getting used to riding in the car, YAY. Vet appt tomorrow!