Our Expensive trip away…
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Last Thursday we all travelled over to Melbourne for the Basenji Specialty. We left at lunchtime to drive the 300ish KM's to catch the overnight boat to Melbourne, from Devonport…
We had bought 3 soft crates, (after much mucking around, tyring to get the 3dogs into crates in the brand new car...), for $50 each, (obviously all money is in Australian dollars).
All is well, the dogs travelled really well. It was a calm trip over...
Sitting in our hotel at dinnertime, on the Friday evening, and we hear scratching at our door, open the door, and who is standing there, with his ears flat back on his head, grinning at us, with his little helicopter tail rotating a million miles an hour :D . Saba, of course... Dogs are NOT under any circumstances allowd into hotels in Aus, ( with the exception of Service dogs of course). This tail movement is something we have never seen on him, either !!! I might just add here, that this motel was on a very busy 4 lane highway, too... Im sure you know what was going through our minds too... B's and highways just dont mix :(...It was quite warm so we had the back of the car open for them...
He had chewed a rotten big hole in the front of the crate... Ok, both girls go into the 1 crate, and Mr Destructo gets his own, till we can get to a pet shop to buy another... We do that on Sat am, before the Specialty, $130 later...
BUT........................................ Sitting at a well known take away outlet, while Mr Saba is getting his coffee, I hear a noise, look in the rear vision mirror, and what do I see................................... Vanda is standing on top of her soft crate :eek:, and then I see Ochre's ears popping through the ruddy big whole they had ever so quietly chewed through... By now Im ready to pack up and go home :rolleyes:.
Go to the show, and at lunchtime Mr Saba goes back to the Pet shop and buys 2 wire crates, for $65 each... Girls crammed into 1, Saba in the other...
Get home and settling the dogs for the night, and what had they done, chewed through 2 extender leads, and 3 collars :eek:. By now I didnt know whether to laugh or cry, so I did both :)... Total for replacing all these items was $90...
Glad to say that we arrived home safely, with everything else intact, and no more out of pocket expenses :D:D:D...
So total extra money spent on the buggers, was.................... $498, and all I can say, is Thank Dog for Credit cards...
Still love them though, just wish I knew a way I could make them pay the $500 on the credit card !!!
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My oath, did they corrupt her, or what !!! My poor little niave baby :D… NOT...
I should also say.... At the dinner we had after the show, word had got out about our disasters, and we became the laughing stock of the room, all in good fun, of course... They couldnt believe that we have had B's for 2 1/2 yrs, and didnt know that soft crates were a HUGE no-no with them... I must confess, the thought did go through my mind.... BUT, clearly for not long enough :D:o
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WE had to replace lap belts in the car, 3 times because of basenjis chewing…I had no idea they were SOOOOO expensive...
Got to love these dogs! -
What a great story..I laughed, felt bad and in the end, felt good..I am not the only one with a (bad/typical)basenji in the household..
Sorry about the expense..how did the specialty go? -
WE had to replace lap belts in the car, 3 times because of basenjis chewing…I had no idea they were SOOOOO expensive...
Got to love these dogs!yep, i learned years ago the most expensive part of a 1973 VW was the seatbelt. Now everyone has thier own KennelAire crate.
And this comes in handy:
http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=879&ParentCat=255&string=vent lock -
Ooooooooops I did forget one thing… (I knew I hadnt remembered something, but try as I might, I couldnt figure out what it was :o...).
On the Sunday morning, we put the collars on them, to take them for a walk, (prior to going to the Melbourne Zoo, till we boarded the boat back home...). Off we went, and suddenly there is a scream from Olivia, (other daughter), and I look up, Ochre was off the collar, it had broken, (it was one of those clip together collars, not the normal buckle ones, NEVER again will I buy one of these collars :mad:), she was running towards the 4 lane highway, till Saba seemed to block her way, so that Imogen, (who had Saba), dived onto her, cos she wasnt going to come back, I am sure... Im not sure how many people were still asleep at the time, cos I am damn sure we woke them with all our shouting !!!)...
Yep at this time I was in tears, and I really couldnt get back home to Tassie quickly enough :eek:...
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Thanks Wizard… I was laughing at us as much as my 'new friends' were :).
sharronhurlbut... I knew enough, NOT to leave them free in the car, at any time ;)... Thank Dog...
Basenjimamma... I too can laugh, and I did feel bad, enough to cry even, (and Im no crier, let me tell you !!!)... Both my girls were third in their classes, Vanda was in Puppy bitch, (6-12 months), and Ochre was in intermediate bitch, (18 months - 3 yrs, and she was the youngest in her class, all the others, apart from the class winner, were 2 and a half...)... I learnt heaps, had the oportunity to see, in the flesh, some of the dogs from other states tht I had heard tons about, but, not seen, so that was great... I was VERY happy with how the girls, (human and dogs), performed...
Rita Jean... I keep thinking about the 'what if's', and it still sends a chill up my spine :mad:. I am just so glad that he wanted to see us, not the new surroundings :)...
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saba, love your photo..very clever! Sorry this is off topic.
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saba, love your photo..very clever! Sorry this is off topic.
Thanks sharronhurlbut… I have to thank Saba's breeder, Kylie, and also Millissa from Zandeena Kennels, for putting that together, and I luuuuuuuve it :D:D:D
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Must say, my b fella even managed, over time, to get himself out of a wire crate. I knew he was trying and put wire around what I thought were the weak spots. But I came home to my apartment one day an he was there to greet me at the door. He got through the top of it. After that, and having nothing of the destruction I had been afraid of, I just left him out. Good call, 'cause those crates are not cheap.
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Must say, my b fella even managed, over time, to get himself out of a wire crate. I knew he was trying and put wire around what I thought were the weak spots. But I came home to my apartment one day an he was there to greet me at the door. He got through the top of it. After that, and having nothing of the destruction I had been afraid of, I just left him out. Good call, 'cause those crates are not cheap.
Bart…
Wash your mouth out with soap and water................................ There is NO way any of my 'kids' would dare to dream of doing that....................................................... Would they :p:p:p
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What an awful experience for you! I'm sure all our hearts got beating faster wondering how we would react in such circumstances - these little dogs test us to the ends of our limits don't they? I can imagine how scary it was when Ochre broke loose and ran for the highway! Keeping and loving Basenjis teaches all of us how to handle stress better than we ever thought we'd have to! So glad everything is better now…
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Just thinking about how lucky we were that he wanted to come to us, and not go and explore his suroundings ;)… Everytime I think about it I am soooo grateful, cos the other option, just doesnt bare thinking about :mad:
As for naughty Ochre, well how she responded is just so typical of her, Im just so glad that my daughter had the ability to pounce on her...
It was so lucky, even if it did add a considerable amount of grey hairs :)...
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Well I just know that you are not going to believe me on this one :D:D:D…
I went to get our plastic bag that we took over to Melbourne, with our grooming stuff, for the show. We have pulled this house apart, I can asure you, and we CANT find it anywhere :mad:... In the bag we had a single, white fine leather lead, 2 bling leads, 2-3 brushes, our VERY expensive furminator, white chalks, many sprays, etc, etc. They are not here, and we cannot find them anywhere. I have no frigging idea where they have gone. We have pulled this house apart trying to find it. I would estimate that the value of all the stuff that has apparently disappeared of the face of the earth, would be about $200-$300, to replace :mad:
I am so angry :mad::mad::mad:. We have a show this weekend, and all we have is heavy ACD showing stuff, which looks aweful on the B's. I quickly emailed the lady who made the bling leads, yesterday, and just got a reply from her. She is going to make the 2 leads for me tonight, and post them tomorrow, and all I can do is keep all my fingers and toes crossed, that they arrive by Firday, (although knowing my luck, this wont happen:()...
I really hope this is the end of our disaster :p. Do I want to go to the mainland next year, for the specialty ??? NO, definately NOT at this stage ;).
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laugh, I have to think that the b's are sitting back, watching you take the house apart..and saying "yes, you owe me $5.I knew she would freak"…
Been there and done that...
Hope the rest of the week goes better for you.
