Tag: dogs

Traveling with Sadie

July 11, 2026

Sadie and I embarked on a long anticipated getaway this week. We visited a place that’s been on my personal travel wish list. I also wanted to see how well Sadie handled traveling for a few days to an unfamiliar location. We spent three days at the Laura Walker State Park in Waycross, Georgia. I rented one of the pet-friendly cottages, complete with a lake view. An unexpected, but very welcome bonus, was the really nice, shaded dog park adjacent to the visitor center.

My plan was to hike the park trails, explore the surrounding area (3 quilt shops within a 1 hour drive) and have a mini-quilt retreat. I know South Georgia is hot and muggy in the summertime. That said, the extreme, brutal heat of the past few days was not expected, nor was the smoke from burning debris leftover from logging activities in the vicinity. This meant outdoor activities were limited to short walks and frequent visits to the dog park instead of hiking park trails. We explored pet friendly businesses in the area, but mostly stayed inside our cool, air-conditioned cottage.

Overall, Big Girl handled the trip well. She made herself right at home in the cottage once she saw her water bowl, food bowl, bed and a non-skid throw rug laid out. She was not a fan of the laminate and tile floors in the cottage, however. We have carpet and hardwood floors at home, with scatter rugs strategically placed on the hardwood for traction. I had to buy a second non-skid rug to place in front of her bed, so she could easily find her footing when she got up. The beach towel wasn’t cutting it.

I’d definitely like to visit again in the early spring or late fall – when the weather is cooler – to take advantage of the trails and to be able to drink my tea from the screened porch each morning as I look out over the lake (without sweating at 6:30 a.m. and without the smoky smell).

Sadie, now a BARK ranger!

Expanding our therapy dog visit reach

April 30, 2025

A while back, I posted that some fellow therapy dog teams who live north of me had decided to focus on visits in the far flung NW metro Atlanta suburbs. Sadie & I were invited to join them for events whenever we can. Since my own Tuesday R.E.A.D. kiddos are in the thick of standardized testing through May 6th, I’ve done exactly that.

Yesterday, our group visited with 7 first grade classes at a school in Cherokee County. Sadie & I will help out on another visit with fifth graders next Wednesday. Fortunately, the drive is a reverse commute, so these visits fall within my preferred 30 minute travel window – even if the distance is a bit farther. Distance-wise, it’s similar to other specialty events we attend around the metro area, minus the traffic hassles. I will say it was great to see some folks and dogs we haven’t seen in a while.

Until this year, all of our visits have been done under the umbrella of a local therapy dog group. Sadie has a logoed vest and I have several logoed tops to wear on visits. Now that we make visits independently and with another group, Big Girl and I need to add some generic therapy dog items to our visit wardrobes. My friend suggested a therapy dog harness/vest for Sadie, a therapy dog t-shirt/non-logo polo for me and some trading cards (minus any group logo) to hand out at events. He said this will make things easier, and a lot less expensive, for me. Wise advice.

Go with your gut

March 8, 2025

When you work on a quilting project, it’s normal to second guess your choices with regard to color, thread and block placement sometimes. But have you ever had your inner voice get a hold of you and say, “Girl, fix that before you go any further!”? I have.

Summer camp @ the SQTM is coming soon. I won’t be volunteering in June. I listened to my gut – I’m headed to Pigeon Forge to take classes with 3 teachers on my list. I probably won’t have this opportunity so close to home ever again. Volunteering at July’s camp is TBD. If they’re not holding an a.m. spot for C, then we’ll do CraftLAB-summer school edition that week instead. It’s 100 mile round trip every day and commuting to the p.m. session only is not an option. Traffic is too brutal. I did that my first year volunteering. Most days, I spent more time commuting than I did mentoring my camper. Never again.

By listening to said gut, I fast tracked the new SUV purchase after realizing it simply wasn’t worth it to sink any more money into my previous vehicle. I’d already narrowed down the list of potential new SUV candidates a few months earlier. Now, I don’t worry when I travel to quilting events or therapy dog visits with Sadie. Nor do I have to worry about the effect of tariffs on repair parts and vehicle prices.

Sadie and I are in our own therapy dog bubble with school and library visits. We do affiliate with a local group, but I also do some visits independently. My local group usually has an influx of visit opportunities every spring. When checking the visit sign-ups today, I noticed there weren’t that many for my side of town. I also noticed I wasn’t seeing Sadie’s usual friends signed up for visits. My spidey senses started tingling.

My gut was correct. Made a phone call to another handler who confirmed something was amiss. The very active contingent on my side of town decided to focus on visit opportunities in the far northwest suburbs. They have now officially formed their own group separate from the original group. Well, that certainly explains a lot. I told the handler to include me on the group’s email list. We miss seeing them and might be able to join them for some future visits.

Years ago, there was a nasty split in local therapy dog circles. One leader wanted to stick with READ programs only while the other wanted to branch out to include other forms of therapy dog activities. Teams were forced to choose sides and it got ugly for a while. Hope there’s no repeat of that this time around. We’re all into therapy dog volunteering for the same reasons.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com