Camping!

Joshua and Tiesto got to go camping for the first time during the month of April. Our first outing was a bit of a bust and thank God only one night, we did not bring the sound machine or mosquito coils and I forgot the Poison Ivy invested every corner of America. Our second outing was much more successful with only one hiccup!


Tiesto does not like being apart from Joshua and I. He especially loathes my absence but is much happier when Joshua is around also. Mark was setting up camp and Joshua and I were walking around while Tiesto was tied to a tree. He is never tied out anywhere and lives in our house with us. The most he has experienced is a crate. So this did not go over well. He commenced screaming . . .I didn’t panic because I knew once we all got settled he would get over it. However, our “neighbor” two tents down did panic. He came over and said,

“Sorry, I don’t want to be a pest but I can’t handle that.” I explained it would stop once we settled and that he was a baby puppy in a new situation. He responded,

“Well, he better stop.” And biked away. I was hot to trot for a second, then thankful that he told me instead of the park ranger. My seething calmed down as Joshua and I began making a stick fort right next to the now happy Tiesto. All he wanted was us near.

Later that night two doors down and across the road from the “Can’t handle that” guy, there was such a din I couldn’t believe my ears. It was 11 pm! Laughing and cackling like a gaggle of geese and it refracted off the night air and trees like they were using megaphones! I could not stop laughing! Especially since I have so done that, complain about a tiny matter to only have a bigger annoyance in the same genre pop up. For instance, my work schedule and that of my spouse used to so differ that we only got to sleep in the same bed. I used to whine about just sleeping together until he got orders and we spent the next three years not even getting to sleep together! So I laughed at the distress that guy must be feeling and at the irony that he must be realizing just happened. I also pitied him as I started falling asleep to my son’s sound machine, he probably didn’t have one of those.

Tiesto does great camping. We take his crate and that helps him relax. We go to the beach early in the morning to play fetch and then again later during everyone else’s down time so we don’t have a crowded beach to worry about. Tiesto loves fetch, he is a nut over it! We have to take his bucket of water to the beach cause he’ll go until he is thirsty and then wonder why the ocean just ain’t cutting it for hydration. Silly, puppy! Since he has to be on a lead at all times in the campsites these fetch sessions for him are a great release! I’ve noticed that if he has pinned up energy it affects his whole outlook on the world. However, a simple game of fetch with straighten him right out. When he is old enough he will join us on long hikes and runs. Right now as a baby he cannot do that as it might hurt his legs and hips.

So the second camping trip was a great success! Tiesto, for me, makes camping that much more fun!