Flying with your pet.

So much luggage! And a kennel!

Reading through the news this morning I came upon the sad story of a cat who escaped from it's kennel at an airport. It left me thinking about my own travel experience with Squish and how positive it was.

Squish generally travels with me every where I go in the car and when it came time for our cross Canada tour in April for the Urban Animal Regional Conferences I decided it was time to add air travel to our options. A great deal of planning and training started more than a month before the trip when I contacted Petland for recommendations on a proper kennel and spoke to the airline about their requirements. After finding the perfect kennel it was time to teach Squish that it was actually a good place to be with at first short and then longer naps in the kennel.

Chilling out in the kennel.

On the actual day of travel I was MUCH more nervous than Squish. To be sure she would be calm during the process we went for a long walk in the morning and arrived at the airport an extra hour early just so we could walk around outside to get used to the sights and sounds. As my vet had predicted, Squish breezed through check-in and the security process and suddenly I was leaving her with the staff and off to my gate. Again, I was more stressed than she ever was.

When you travel with your pet the airline typically comes to give you a 'boarding pass' for them after they have been loaded on the plane so I knew that she was safe up to that point. The flight I chose was a short hour-ish jump from Calgary to Vancouver specifically because it was a great introduction for both of us. When we landed in Vancouver I went down and gathered my luggage and just as I grabbed the last bag, out came Squish's kennel. She was calm and unconcerned with anything, my anxiety was certainly misplaced.

YVR has a great park system
running through the airport.

Our flight back to Calgary was a little more eventful given that her kennel ended up breaking but the airline was great about it and gave me full replacement cost for it with apologies and again, despite this, Squish couldn't have cared less. Obviously bad things can happen to anyone or anything when you travel but certainly in my experience if you are prepared and manage to calm yourself I would suggest you'll have a great experience and get to take your animal to some fun places along the way.

Checking in to the hotel.

Lisa Milton, Squish's Mom,
@summitLisa, lisa.miltonwork

Dog parks are a blessing

I grew up in Calgary and still consider it my home as I spend as much time there as possible. From my very first dog (20 some odd years ago) I can remember living beside an off-leash park and being able to take him there. I had NO idea what a privilege that is until this year's Regional Conferences tour. I was talking to a gentleman from Ontario and he was telling me how proud his city was to have just created their second off-leash dog park. "Second?!?!?!!!" I thought, this municipality he was taking about was huge, how did they only have two!? Even the actual small town of 12,000 people I live in has two!

So I went home and did a little research on how privileged I really am to consider Calgary my home. Calgary.ca has a webpage devoted to it, Dog off-leash areas in parks, and there are 28 parks with off-leash areas in the North West alone, most with more than one area per park! Talk about privileged!

In light of this I decided the best thing I could do is get out there and enjoy one of them while doing a little photo essay on the parts Squish and I loved. 

Please enjoy.

The road up the big hill, it stop there.
Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

From the middle you can't even tell
you're in the city.
Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

Squish!
Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

Yes, the crocuses are JUST coming out here.
Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

This pond is seasonal but after a long walk
it's a great break. Squish's first time playing
fetch in the water.
Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

Back at the start and you can tell there are
porcupines here.
Nose Hill, Calgary, AB

Lisa Milton, Squish's Mom,
@summitLisa, lisa.miltonwork