Camping

Kim's boyfriend, Clay, has a great (and huge!) group of friends. They do all sorts of stuff together, and people come if they can, so there's always different people there. This past weekend, Clay invited me to a birthday party being held at Kurt's house. Kurt has a pretty big property next to a creek, with a stone gazebo with a fireplace (and electricity!), an outhouse (with a running toilet!), and a few other fun things. Everyone brought tents and camping gear, so we had a big campout in Kurt's backyard. There were probably 30-40 people there, and about 20 stayed the night.

Kurt owns Hans, a German shepherd. Kim and Clay brought Lenny, their pit bull mix, and Sonya, a collie, was there, too. I brought Swift and Kool and took Elsie along, too. 6 dogs running around with 30 people was pretty crazy.

I was a little nervous letting Elsie off her leash, since she's not technically my dog. However, I did it and am glad I did! She had a blast, running through the weeds, splashing in the creek, and playing with the other big dogs.

Swift and Kool were in their element, too! Everyone thought they were the cutest things, and of course, they took full advantage of that. The boys had a good time pretending to be big dogs, too. They'd take off running after the other dogs, and everyone got along quite well. I think it was good for Elsie to be exposed to many different people and to be able to run and play. I also think that she bonded a bit with the boys. They seem much more comfortable with her at home now.

It got a little chilly that night, so I was thankful I had 3 dogs to snuggle with. Swift likes to crawl inside my sleeping bag, and he makes a nice little heater. Kool, however, likes to wander around the tent and doesn't settle down. He may or may not have gone in and out of the tent all night - who knows?! My tent is a 6-person, so I usually put up the divider and Kim and Clay sleep on one side with Lenny, and I sleep on the other side with my two guys. Kool likes to go over to the other side and bother Clay when he's sleeping. :) I have no idea where Elsie slept. I brought her into the tent when I first went to bed, but I didn't see her the rest of the night. Kim thinks she slept outside.

Apparently, none of the dogs slept really well, since when we all woke up the next morning, they were dead tired. While we were waiting for breakfast, Kool curled up in my lap and slept for about an hour. After packing up and going home, all 3 dogs slept the rest of the day. It was a very nice, quiet Sunday.

My dogs do so well camping. We should go more often.

Tweet