SAHSHA SHENANIGANS - AN EPIC TAIL
- Nov 11, 2016
- 5 min read
Sasha is our boxer-pit mix, light-brown dog who believes she is a human. Don’t argue this faulty logic with her or her human sisters; you will lose. Many of you have been personally greeted by Sasha’s spastic burst of excitement at our door, including whip-like tail wagging happily. After that short burst of bliss, she is off to do what Sasha does best; take a nap.
This is what has made her the perfect travel dog. We estimate that Squish (one of many of her nicknames) sleeps about 20 hours per day. With a spinal injury from her puppyhood before we adopted her, napping seems to fit her lifestyle well. While that small injury can slow her down some, she makes up for it in spunk and love beyond measure.
On this two month journey from Arizona, Sasha and her family have slept in 18 different “homes”….and counting. Learning to walk everywhere on an extendable leash has included rather tangled results, around posts, trees, our legs, and even her own four legs. It has included shoving through a “No Dogs Allowed” gate, slamming locked beyond with dog on leash on one side and owners holding leash on the other. After a not-so-quick rescue from several hotel staff, we learned to tighten the leash a bit.
Through this journey, Sasha has found her true love; squirrels. She has learned to swim in the ocean, making special note to not lazily lap up the water while swimming as she did in Lake Pleasant. Salty ocean water is just gross and leads to un-lady like drooling. She has learned that the latter half of her breed (boxer-pit) is banned in some counties and as such, was unintentionally introduced to a life of crime, being “smuggled” quickly through town in the safety of the minivan. She has also learned that her greatest workout continues to be resistance training via pulling on the leash with all of her strong willed might. Due to this and a healthy diet, she has packed on some extra muscle lately.
We have learned that some places welcome dogs with open arms, while many do not. Finding dog friendly lodging and outdoor seating restaurants has proven tricky in some places and easy in others. In Virginia (our most dog-friendly stop), she was welcomed on any beach as well as shops and outdoor eateries. In Georgia, we found that the nearest dog-friendly beach was in South Carolina. However, places that welcomed her did so with treats, pets, kind words, and love. For that, we were grateful.
Places that did not welcome her; well, we moved on quickly. We found one beach in Florida that claimed to be dog friendly, only to arrive to “Only service dogs”. We did make note that several rather vocal (dare I say yappy?) and full of personality (dare I say misbehaving?) lap dogs have been welcomed in all places sporting “Service Dog” vests. The thought did briefly cross my mind to try this trick but my dog, also, is too misbehaving to get by as a service dog (and we like to stick to honesty as the very best policy).
All of these shenanigans have led us to our most challenging doggy issue yet; getting Sasha to the US Virgin Islands where our new boat awaits. After checking virtually EVERY airline that flies to St Thomas, she is welcome on approximately NONE. Well, there is one, a private charter costing $14g’s. Yes, fourteen thousand dollars. Next, we checked on shipping our new catamaran to Florida on a large cargo ship. Again, the cost was in the thousands to keep our pooch via bringing the boat here.
After much searching, Michael thought he had found a possibility to get Sasha to the boat with us. United Air is the ONLY airlines to fly Pit Bulls and they require an aluminum reinforced cage at a rate of about 8 times what a normal crate costs plus an additional hefty flight fee. We thought this was the ticket, as they fly to nearby US Territory, Puerto Rico. An additional flight via private charter was found to allow us (and Sasha) to island hop on a 9 passenger plane from Puerto Rico to St Thomas. However, the major snag came when we discovered that Puerto Rico passed a law in 1998 banning any breed or mixed breed of American Staffordshire or Pit Bull, which includes confiscating and euthanizing them if brought on their soil. Needless to say, we ran, not walked, away from that possibility.
After exhausting every airline (including private charters) and boat charters as well, we have decided the safest option for our sweet pup is to ship her home to dear friends in Arizona for a few months. This will allow us to fly to St Thomas, refit the boat, and sail it back to Florida where she will be permitted to board and sail anywhere we want to take her. There will still be islands she cannot disembark, but we knew that going into this. This brings us to our current plans.
This Wednesday, Sasha will fly west to AZ while we fly south to St Thomas. There will be tears from all on Wednesday when we part ways at the airport. However, we would never risk her life for our journey. It is a short time apart while she is at “Summer Camp” with her canine friends at our dear friends’ home. We know she will be well loved and spoiled rotten until we can reunite. In fact, based on prior stays with these animal loving friends, Sasha will require a little retraining because she is sooo spoiled by them :).
The blessing in this is, the refit should go faster AND we will be back to AZ to visit our family and friends after we arrive back to FL. We look forward to seeing our loved ones sooner than planned! In the coming days, we are boxing and shipping our belongings from Miami on a large freighter, getting Sasha to the vet for another health certificate, getting the borrowed van back to its home, setting up haul out and refit work on the catamaran, finding a temporary home and transportation in St Thomas, learning to drive on the left side of the road, and filling in the details of moving to an island and completely remodeling our next home.
We have learned, the difficult way, that traveling with pets through the Caribbean is not for the faint of heart. Many of the islands we will visit require recent health certificates from vets, requiring regular vet appointments. Rabies shots are required within 3-6 months, as the 3-year rabies vaccination we had come to enjoy is not really accepted outside of the US (as far as we have researched in the islands). Our pup is now well medicated and vaccinated against a host of parasites and insects that could otherwise harm her.
The joys far outweigh all of this.
Sasha is one of the kids, pink leash and flower embellished pink gingham collar and all. She has grown up with our girls, being the center of dress up, dolls, tea parties, and snuggling up for movies and popcorn. She has been a road trip trooper, making wherever her family is, home sweet puppy home.
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