A Day in the Life of the RV Dog

A Day in The Life of the RV Dog

I’m not saying that my life is notable, or even interesting. But, for humans, it might be interesting to know what I go through each day as I relax in an RV Park. I pride myself on my abilities to observe what goes on around me. I have excellent observation abilities. My nose alerts me to most everything that is nearby, my ears can hear sounds that humans can only hope to hear, and my eyes are forever noticing movements that alert me to interesting things happening nearby.

My main job is to protect Mom and Dad.

I spend the night in the front part of our motorhome. My job is to protect Mom and Dad from any intruders or cows or other dogs. I pride myself on doing a good job. Often I’ll pretend to sleep, with one eye just barely open, looking for any suspicious thing that might find it’s way into the motorhome. During the night, I move to three of my favorite sleeping places. Mom places a blanket in front of the stairs. It’s cool there because air comes through the door. I move to the couch when I hear something outside, hoping to see it through the partially open window. When it’s hot, I move to the tiles in the kitchen area. It’s cool there. Mom and Dad leave the door to their bedroom open, but I don’t go in there, until morning. I figure it’s best to leave them to their rest. They give me more treats when they are well rested. Sometimes in the night I smell a skunk. It’s pretty easy to recognize that smell! I bark and it goes away. Once I was outside and the little guy sprayed me with something that Mom and Dad freaked out about. I thought it was kinda nice. It stayed with me for months.

In the morning, I wait until the sun comes up and I hear Dad coughing. He doesn’t smoke, but still has to clear his lungs every morning. I think he does it to call me into their room. Mom and Dad drag themselves to the foot of the bed and give me some good petting. I like that part of the day. I then wait for Dad to get up and take me out.

We walk a couple miles every morning down Red Rock road.

Every morning Dad and I go for a long walk, usually a couple miles. Dad always takes his camera. When we are in Idaho, Dad goes looking for wildflowers and animals. We either walk the Red Rock road, go to Henry’s Lake or go into the forest. Dad’s always looking for flowers. I’m always smelling for other dogs. My favorite place is right across from the RV park because most dogs don’t go far as we do and they leave me messages there. I find out most about all the dogs in the park there. It’s like a big message board! Sometimes I’ll meet other dogs, but many just are plain mean and don’t do anything but bark at me. Sometimes Casey and her Dad are coming back from their long walk and I get to talk to her.

Sometimes we go across the street from the RV Park into the Forest while Dad photographs wildflowers.

After our walk, I always get a big biscuit. Dad makes me “shake hands” before he’ll give it to me. Some kind of human ritual I guess. Then, I lay down outside under a tree. I’m usually pretty tired from our walk. Our spot is across from where people sleep with tents. I get to watch them come out, stretch, and fix breakfast. Sometimes they make the most delicious smelling food. I wish they’d give me some. Occasionally, a human will see me and come talk to me. I wag my tail and act excited. They like that.

The worst part of the morning is when the humans decide to leave. Many of them start their big machines and leave them belching black smoke and ugly smelling fumes for 15 minutes or more. They are really noisy too. Don’t they know I’m dying from such strong odors. It’s not like a good cow patty, or old fish. It even burns my nose. Why do they have to do that? Dad says it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to warm up a big RV, but they leave them running for much longer.

Once they have gone, the day is quieter, except on the weekends. Then, the little kids are running around, screaming, stopping by to say hello and pet me. I’m gentle with them. But the really small ones like to pull my fur. Ouch!

When I lie down I can see under the RV. Right now, there is a ground squirrel that lives under the RV. He drives me crazy. Dad’s got me on a leash and I can’t get to him. He taunts me by running towards me, standing up and smiling. Then when I go towards him, he dashes into his hole and peaks his head up.

When I’m sleeping outside sometimes I’m awakened by a noisy and smelly machine that Dad calls an ATV. It zooms past, throws dust over me and leaves me wishing I could chase it away to never return. Why do humans have to make so much noise when they move around?

I like to bird watch while I'm outside. This tanager is one of my favorites.

We have a bird feeder near me. I watch the birds come and pick out the choicest pieces of seed. Sometimes a really pretty yellow and orange bird comes by, but mostly I see brown birds. I used to chase them away, but now I just like to watch them. They are actually cute.

In the afternoon we walk along this road behind RedRock RV Park and look for squirrels.

Dad comes out of the RV around noon and takes me for a shorter walk. We usually go to the back of the RV park where there is a large sagebrush meadow and a dirt road. There are lots of squirrels there and I chase them. I haven’t caught one yet, but it’s fun to try. There are also some real big squirrels. Dad calls them Badgers. They dig really big holes. I can get most of my head down them too! Dad calls me away when I do. He says the big Badger might bite me. Let him try it!

After our noon walk, Dad or Mom gives me another big biscuit. I’ve got them well trained, don’t I? If it’s a hot day, I get to go into the motorhome in the afternoon where it’s much cooler, but only if a really loud noise is on. If the noise isn’t sounding, it’s much hotter in the motorhome and I like to stay outside. If they forget to bring me in and I hear that noise, I jump up on the motorhome stairs and scratch the stairs, then they let me in. You have to train humans to open the door, but they learn quickly.

Mom and Dad are usually working on their computers and I sleep, taking advantage of the cool and quiet. Sometimes I’ll see a dog come up and I’ll say hi to him. Mom asks me to be quiet and I go back to sleep. Mom often has the TV on and is wearing weird things that wrap over her head and ears. I watch the images on the TV and when I see a dog, I chase it away by jumping in front of the TV and barking. They usually go away pretty quickly.

Sometimes we take little trips in the car. Here I'm on top of Sawtelle Mountain in Idaho.

Sometimes, Dad takes me with him in the car. We go looking for birds or other animals to photograph. I get to hang my head out the window and sniff. If Dad sees something interesting, he’ll stop and sometimes he lets me out. Last week we saw a marmot in a tree trunk. He looked like a squirrel to me, but smelled different. I like to ride in the car.

Flowers smell nice, but please Dad, not another photograph!

In the late afternoon Dad and I walk up into the forest and Dad tries to photograph butterflies or insects or more flowers (boring!). I get to go and I usually “do my thing” in the tall grass. The grass and flowers are so tall that I care barely see the sky, but there are lot of interesting smells up there. I can smell the moose and bears that come there at night.

Sometimes I can't wait to eat.

I get to eat after our walk and Mom feeds me the same thing almost every night. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thankful to have it prepared for me, but couldn’t they vary the menu a bit? She fixes me little lamb and rice biscuits and adds some cooked chicken thighs. It’s good and I eat it quickly, but a little porterhouse steak or fresh salmon would be a welcome change.

When the stars come out, Dad goes to bed and Mom stays awake for a long time. I watch her and make sure she is safe. Before midnight she takes me on a walk. I get to leave more messages (Mom calls it p-mail), and find out which other dogs have been walking around the RV park all day. They have a nice lighted walk around the large field next to the RV park and we walk around it. I watch for bears and cows and protect Mom.

After a good walk all I want to do is sleep under the tree outside.

That’s the end of my day. Mom goes to bed, the lights are out and it’s finally really quiet. It’s good to be a dog here. I take good care of Mom and Dad and they are thankful. It’s good to have such a well behaved human family.

Dad goes to bed when the sun goes down. Mom stays up and takes me for a night walk at midnight.

Arf, Reggie