Jet Lag: Dog Style July 27, 2013

You might not think about this, but jet lag is not just for people. I know that I didn’t think about this when we brought Laguna from Thailand to California. (This is part three of the story of our dog traveling from Thailand to the US, you can read about the journey here and our dog’s first thoughts here) I figured that dogs sleep large parts of the day so she shouldn’t have any trouble sleeping in a new country. Not only that, but Laguna was now allowed to sleep in our room with us (we had a no pets allowed upstairs rule in our Bangkok town home), so she should sleep wonderfully, or so we thought.

On our first night in California, we crashed relatively early at about 9pm. Ellie had long fallen asleep before 7 from exhaustion and time differences. We excitedly told Laguna she could sleep with us and went to bed.

Jet lag is not easy to deal with, but with a toddler, you easily spend half the night awake. Either you are awake because of your own jet lag or you are awake with the little one. By 1am, Ellie decided night time was over and she needed a snack of peanut butter, it was well past lunch time in Bangkok after all. An hour later, she is back to sleep and I’ve just fallen asleep when Laguna decides night time is over. This time it was Andy’s turn to deal with sleeplessness, so he takes the dog for a potty break and then tries to convince her that it is in the middle of the night and time to sleep.

That might have worked, if not for a mirrored closet in the room we were sleeping in. If you remember, my dog is a timid dog, fearful of all other dogs in Thailand. Well, Laguna caught her reflection in the mirror and thought it was another dog. Fearful, but thinking she needed to protect her family, Laguna started growling to scare away the other dog. She slowly crept closer, watching the other dog creep closer as well. The growling intensified as Laguna saw the threat moving closer to her and her family. By this time, the only one sleeping in our room was Ellie.

We tried to reason with Laguna, but to no avail. She needed to protect us. Desperate to get back asleep, I moved a suitcase in front of the mirror and told Laguna the other dog was gone. Laguna sat up to verify and found the other dog, now hiding behind the suitcase. Every few seconds, Laguna would check to see if the dog was still there, growl, see that the dog wasn’t coming any closer and then lay back down. Desperate, I finally called Laguna over and then held her down facing away from the mirror and fell asleep.

Every night for the next few nights, Laguna woke up in the middle of the night. She would beg for a potty break, drink water and try to eat. Her body thought it was the middle of the day, not the middle of the night. Andy walked her for about a week and then told Laguna enough is enough. No more night time escapades, it is not day time but sleeping time.

Has your pet ever had jet lag?

Culture Shock: Dog Style, Part 1 July 22, 2013

After traveling for nearly 24 hours (read more about that here), our dog arrived on foreign soil, complete with new smells and a new dog culture.

We took her to my parent’s home and introduced her to my parents’ dog, a little yapping panda look-alike dog. Even though Laguna towered over this little dog, she cowered in fear that it would attack her. Thus began her enculturation into American dog culture.

The cute non-threatening dog

Dogs in Thailand behave very differently than dogs in America. In Thailand, dogs are mainly street dogs, guard dogs, or never leave the home (unless they are being carried). All the dogs you, or Laguna, would ever meet are aggressive and mean. We would walk down the street with our dog on a leash for nightly walks. We had to always keep an eye out for the coming attack of a street dog. They would spot Laguna and just wait until we crossed their invisible territory line. The moment we did, they would growl and walk forward ready to attack. It only took a sharp “Hey!” and a step towards the street dog for it to back off and leave Laguna alone. That is until they thought we weren’t watching, and then they would chase us down and nip at Laguna’s back. Most of the time, we kept them away, but sadly, not always.

Walking the dog in Thailand

Now, in the US, most dogs are friendly and kept to be pets. They don’t attack other dogs or people for that matter. But Laguna didn’t know all this, all she knew was mean dogs, so she cowered in fear as she met this new dog.

Over the next few days and weeks, Laguna learned that dogs in this strange new country are friendly and not out to get her. She is now best friends with my parents’ dog and they spend their days chasing each other around the yard.

A Traveling Dog July 2, 2013

When we knew that we were leaving Thailand, we started to worry about what we would do with our dog, Laguna. We had only gotten her last summer as a puppy. As we made basic inquiries, we found that the US doesn’t require any quarantine for dogs, as long as they are up-to-date on their rabies shot. Knowing that she wouldn’t be stuck away from us for an extended time, we knew that it would be a possibility for her to come with us.

We then looked into what it would take to transport her. Looking online at professional pet moving companies discouraged us. They averaged about $3,000. Who can afford that!? We tried to book Laguna on cargo, going a week before us, by ourselves, to only find out that we had to use a professional company. As we talked with airlines about getting Laguna under the plane with us, once they heard her size she was either too big or the price jumped to over $1,000. At that point, we were getting discouraged that Laguna would not get to come back with us. Our dog is part of our family, but we weren’t going to be able to afford to bring her with us. Should an animal’s ticket under the air plane, be more than the price of a ticket for someone in the plane!?

After weeks of calling airlines and friends calling around to help us (we did not always get clear answers or straight talk from the customer service representatives), we happened upon Japan Airlines. We had already talked with a Thai friend who was willing to adopt Laguna if we weren’t able to bring her. This airline had a blanket price for pets (the cheapest of all the other airlines) and had good times and prices for us to fly as well.

Crate training gone awry

Now all that was left was to buy a crate, crate train our dog, get documents from our vet (to get Laguna registered in California), and visit the Thai export office a few days before our flight. This site gives detailed info about this process. We were overjoyed that our dog was now coming with us.

The day of our flight was stressful indeed. We walked in with 6 large suitcases, one stroller, a dog crate, and lots of friends saying goodbye, all at 5am. We checked in our luggage and had a near meltdown from Ellie as she thought they were taking her suitcases away forever. Luckily, she didn’t have to watch them take away Laguna. One of our Thai friends and I walked her over to the loading area and handed her over to a caring staff, even as Laguna looked scared and unsure of what was happening.

Our first flight was uneventful and fairly smooth. Knowing that our dog never really liked her crate, I was worried we might hear her, but thankfully nothing. And then, as we got off the plane with a quick connecting flight, we were met with a member from the cargo staff. My panic levels rose as the lady wouldn’t tell me what the problem was. When we got to the desk, the agent there asked to see all of Laguna’s documents. Relieved that our dog wasn’t being grounded in Japan, I handed over her documents a second time. We then ran over to our connecting flight and boarded right away.

Twenty hours after dropping off Laguna, we finally were reunited. She looked like a ghost in her crate, scared and lost. Her crate was dropped off on the side of the luggage room and we took her straight to the customs office. They looked at our paperwork, glanced to see we had a dog crate and let us right through. We then loaded Laguna on a cart and began pushing our way out of customs, with the help of an airline official (as we had 3 carts). Only toppling Laguna from the cart, crate and all, once, we finally made it out and to our waiting family. Laguna made it to America, a land far, far away from the land of her birth, Thailand.

I will write some of Laguna’s first experiences in America in the next few posts.

Is That a Dog? August 4, 2012

Our church family here in Bangkok just had a great family camp at Khao Yai, which translates as “big mountain.” It was a great time up in the mountains being family together.

On our way to the camp, we stopped at a sheep farm called Sheep Land. They had cute little sheep statues everywhere so that you could take lots of pictures, a bunch of shops, a coffee shop and ice cream area, and of course sheep.

As we walked down the hill to the sheep enclosure, Ellie got really excited to see the great big “dogs,” as she called them. She then started to bark at them, and call out the Thai word for dog over and over again, alternating with trying to talk to them. We tried to explained that these were sheep, not dogs, but Ellie was not convinced. She saw 4 legs, an animal just her height, and they chased after her just like dogs do. Nope, even as we were leaving, Ellie was calling to the “doggies.”

We got there just as it started to rain, but that didn’t stop Ellie. She wanted to get right in the middle of the sheep herd. I finally corralled Ellie under the shade protector as she felt the soft winter coats of the sheep. The sheep came close as those in our group fed the sheep pellets and milk from a bottle.

The sheep were as interested in Ellie as she was in them. They tried to nibble her hair and kiss her cheek. I don’t think they are used to seeing little blonde haired toddlers chasing after them.

After the rain stopped, Ellie ran all over the pen chasing the sheep. Most of the other children there were a little intimidated by the sheep, but not Ellie. We had a blast and were sad when it was time to leave.

Ellie might not yet understand that a dog isn’t anything with four legs, but she sure didn’t call the elephants a “doggie” as we drove by them a few minutes after leaving the sheep. They were just too big to be a dog…

A New Puppy July 13, 2012

Last Saturday we got a new puppy. A cute 3 ½ month old female Golden Retriever dog that we named Laguna. Needless to say, my week has been busy. Here is a glance at my week:

Instant friendship

Sibling rivalry (yes, between a girl and her dog)

      “That’s my Mommy.” “That is my toy.” Going both ways at different times.

Doggy kisses

Early mornings (Laguna wakes early) and late nights (Ellie’s been teething and sleeping terrible)

Dancing and simply having fun as a family (here is a video)

Potty messes…oh the joys of housebreaking a puppy

A busy, but fun and good week.

How has your week been?