Vermont with Dogs, Part Two

We had so much fun in Vermont, I need two blog posts to tell you all about it! This was our first time staying in a hotel with two dogs. We stayed at La Quinta. Even though I reserved a plain old queen bedroom, they upgraded us to a queen bed and a couch. Because of that there was plenty of room for the dogs. And Brooks found the bed very comfy!

There were no fancy amenities for the dogs, but they felt welcome.


We even had a good sized table and chairs, so we could take our free continental breakfast back to the room and not leave the dogs alone. There wasn't a ton of room at the hotel to walk the dogs but....

The hotel did have clean up stations and Scoopy Doo bags!

We spent some time on Lake Champlain. while my son and son-in-law fed the gulls...

Kelly and Brooks checked out the view.

Kate made some cookies in the shapes of hearts, hands and paws (and dogs!) to celebrate my new book.

And here's the happy family! (I love Brooks' tongue!)

Here's the thing. I enjoy getting away, and thought it was fantastic that we were able to take the dogs with us everywhere. We ate in the room or at picnic tables and didn't miss eating out at fancy restaurants. The dogs seemed pretty content, although we were all busy and exhausted. The thing is, when we returned home, both dogs were ill. They had, what I call, intestinal distress. Vomiting, diarrhea. Then, Kelly had bloody stools. It looked pretty scary so I took her to the vet's. Well, after exams, analysis, blood work, (and $300 later) it seems that their symptoms were caused by traveling stress. They didn't seem to be stressed. Just look at Brooks relaxing on the hotel bed! They were at our sides at all times, so it wasn't a high stress situation.

Now here's the thing-- the last time we went away (we don't travel a whole lot!) we left Kelly at home, and our son stayed with her night and day. She should have been pretty comfortable in her own home, with her favorite boy, yet when I returned she had an ear infection and a lick keratosis. Most likely caused by the stress of us being away. So...if it's stressful for us to leave her home, and it's stressful for her to travel with us....what are we to do? Any ideas? Never travel again?!