Our cross country flight

On Sunday, we took a red-eye flight on United out of Los Angeles International Airport to Dulles International Airport. We opted for a red-eye because of temperature conditions for Loki. Even though United did not have any hot weather restrictions for us, we figured it was better to travel at night when the temperature is cooler.

We got to go to a special check-in counter, which was good because the lines for regular check-in were really long. At the special check-in desk, the customer service representative said that we were supposed to arrive 2 hours before our flight to check-in our dog. Unfortunately, I forgot this and we arrived late, only 1.5 hours before our flight. Luckily, the customer service representative didn't mind and we didn't have any problems at check-in. Then, we had to take Loki out from his crate so that TSA could check it. You know, to make sure that we weren't smuggling drugs. When they were done, we put Loki back inside and I tied down the door of his crate to prevent it from accidentally opening. Lastly, we had to say our good-byes.

I've read online a lot of suggestions about how you should watch to make sure that your crate gets on the plane. I found this difficult to do, as it was at night and boarding is often done earlier than luggage gets put on the plane. United has a process in which there is a pink tag attached to the dog crate and when the crate is on the plane, they bring you the bottom half of that tag to your seat on the plane before the doors are closed. While this does require owners to trust the plane handlers, it did give me some assurance that Loki was indeed on the plane.

Although I was a nervous wreck, I did manage to get some sleep on the plane. That helped pass the time. Finally, we arrived at Dulles and the first thing we did was go to the specially designated area to pick up Loki. We nervously waited, and watched employees dump over-sized luggage items there. We hoped that they wouldn't just dump Loki there too. Finally, an employee wheeled Loki out in a luggage cart. Good thing, they didn't just dump him like the over-sized luggage.

I'm pretty sure Loki did NOT like the plane at all. His crate smelled awful, like he either peed or vomited in there. He never messes up his crate and is pretty fastidious about being clean, so the only reason for him to mess it up must be the stress. Poor pup. At least it's now all over.

Workshop training reminds me of Loki

During the Naaap Convention, I attended a workshop called 'Negotiating with Strength'. Here, I was sitting in a packed room with smart people, all with good careers, listening to the speaker, and all I thought about was Loki.

"Be bigger," the speaker says.
"What do you mean?" an audience member asks.
I know what he means! I think to myself. Be like Loki. Loki thinks he's a BIG dog. Loki lies in the middle of the room, every room. He needs a queen-sized bed, all to himself.

"People tend to respect authority," the speaker explains. He demonstrates how often times in car sales, you negotiate directly to the junior salesman, who then inevitably has to ask his "manager". This makes the "manager" seem like an authority figure, making the buyer give in to this "manager". Yeah, Loki has no respect for authority... unless you have food. He has respect for food.

"Establish your superiority and others will defer to you," another tip the speaker offered.
Superiority? Definitely a Loki trait.

"People tend to be compliant," the speaker says, and demonstrates this with a volunteer from the audience.
The speaker says, "Follow me," in an authoritative voice to the audience member, who of course follows the speaker all over the room. People are compliant. Clearly, Loki is not. Do you have any idea how many times I've embarrassed myself at the dog park trying to get Loki to come? And if he weren't on a leash, heck, no way, is he going to follow me, just because I told him to.

Next time, Loki should lead the workshop... if only he could talk.

Calling for Local Recommendations

Hi! Are you from the Northern Virginia area?

We are looking for recommendations for a good vet, dog walker, and also boarding location. Most importantly, we need a vet and dog walker. (Or, if you had a bad experience, let us know who to stay away from as well.)

Thanks!

Nomads living at the Hyatt

We lived at the Hyatt in Century City for four nights, since we were homeless & also attending the Naaap Convention.

I suppose that I shouldn't be so surprised by how dog friendly Los Angeles is, but I was. The hotel not only allows dogs, but also brought a dog bed & food/water bowl to our room upon check-in. While I was impressed, Loki was not. He wanted nothing to do with that dog bed, which probably smelled of hundreds of other dogs.

The back area of the hotel even had a "pet exercise area." Really, this just meant a patch of grassy area. For decorative purposes, the hotel had a section with bamboo. Loki started chomping on the bamboo right away. He gobbled it up. He sure is an Asian dog.
Yummy, yummy.

Holding it

Most dog owners have the problem of their dogs peeing and pooping in all the wrong places, especially when visiting new places. I get the opposite problem. Loki just won't go.

At first I thought it was wonderful that my aunt & uncle had a very well-fenced backyard. We could leave Loki there and not worry about taking him out to poop or pee. That's the great benefit of having a yard! Unfortunately, Loki mostly refused to poop or pee in my aunt & uncle's backyard; he just held it in. Once, he claimed ownership of the land, he didn't want to mess it up. He didn't even want to pee in the front yard! He gladly peed in all of the neighbors' yards. Pooping was another story. He just held it in for over a day, until we came across an acceptable pooping spot far, far away.

Nomads

Moving your stuff across country takes a considerably longer time than local moves. The movers estimate 1.5 - 2 weeks. This means the only things we have are in suitcases (mind you, these are the heaviest suitcases I've ever packed). No bed, no table, no fridge, nothing.

We stayed at my aunt & uncle's home for a few days. For sure, Loki thought, this must our new home. And boy was he happy about it. We certainly got his stamp of approval. As soon as he walked in, he decided that he owned the place. Seriously, owned it.


He barked at my aunt & uncle as if they were intruders on his territory. We might hold alpha status over him (by a small margin), but everyone else is beneath him.

Loki loved the residential upgrade, and especially loved the stairs. They are carpeted, so he raced up and down them as fast as he possibly could until the very last step, on which he very gingerly placed his paws, because of the hardwood floor.

Thunderstorm

As if the entire moving experience wasn't bad enough, we had a thunderstorm the night after the packers packed up our stuff and before the movers came.

Thunderstorms are so rare in Southern California that earthquakes are more common.** Luckily, Loki didn't seem to be much bothered by it. He came out of his crate and stared at the window for the thunderstorm, just watching the storm. What a good pup!


** Disclaimer: Not a scientific fact. Don't quote me.