A small trip with Winston.....

Yesterday I had to drive to a store in the Lancaster area to pick up a couple of things.  It was about a 45 minute drive, one way.  I needed to drive the van a distance of more than 10 or 15 minutes, as the battery is getting tired and short little trips were not charging the battery enough for easy starts in the brutal cold days we have had this month.

Since I did not plan to be in the store for a great period of time and the outside temp was cool but not super cold, I decided that Winston.... who looks so devastated when I leave to go somewhere and leave him behind... would come with me on this trip.

I put him out for a few minutes while I gathered my keys, purse and coat.  He did the normal jumping into the back room but came out quickly when he saw his leash in my hand.  Tail flying in all kinds of directions, I hooked him up, released his outside lead and we are off to the van.  I lifted him to the seat.  Now, his normal routine is to immediately plop his little self down on the seat.  The problem is that it is the driver's seat.  I ask him to move, but it usually takes several gentle shoves to get him to cross over the console to the passenger seat.  The he sits up and watches as we backup and pull out of the driveway.

He watched the fields and homes fly by.  And once he realizes it is not the normal short trip to the vet or groomer, he will lay down on the seat and get up from time to time to check our progress.  Once we arrived at the store, he wanted to come with me but this was not a pet-friendly store, so he had to stay in the van.  The look was not as devastating as leaving him at home.

I did my shopping and when I got back to the van, he was curled up on the driver's seat.  I moved him back to his seat and we headed home.  Again he sat up for part of the trip and whenever I would look over at him, I could swear he was smiling.  He really either likes being in the car or just likes being with me..... or perhaps both!  I love my sweet dog!