BigDogTravels

Spontaneous Austrian Road Trip

We knew we were going to go to the mountains with pup, so we packed all the essential for a day trip.

Water
Water bowl
Lunch
Poo bags
And of course the muzzle

In the car he is generally very good, the only times he cries is when we get to the field and he knows he is going for a run. So when we go long road trips we dont really worry too much. As long as he has something to chew – like his snake or his big elephant – and some blankets int he back to keep him warm.

We have a golf, which isn’t the biggest of boots, but he fits. On the floor of the boot we have put down rubber matter so we always put down a towel to so he doesn’t get too cold.

When we were about an hour away from where we wanted to go we ended up going to Austria instead.

Usually if we dont sleep in our house he will just sleep on the bed with us. He has done this since a puppy, o think the earliest we travelled with him was when he was about 4/5 months. We went over to Chinque Terra. Then be was small enough to fit on the bed when we slept- now its interesting. Haha. He is nearly 40kgs, and with two people in the bed it can be quiet cosy 🙈

For food, we bought just raw meat for him. The type you would put in stews. Tough meat. For him it’s amazing. A little treat because he is on hard food at home.

Now and then he will get raw meat at the house but not all the time. We dont want him getting used to eating it all the time. Also raw meat is a lot….especially when he is eating over 600g a day of food…..

The snow. The snow is the best thing ever in his eyes. He loved it, but I also think he doesn’t understand it.

We took him for a walk up one of the slopes – the same ad Italy, we always carry the muzzle with us.

Also if you see skiiers/boarders maybe put your dog on the lead. Drogon started to bark at them and for sure if he wasnt on the lead he would have been down that slopes in the no time.

For us, travelling with him at such a young has helped massively. Especially here as they can go everywhere over Italy.

Just remember the muzzle and all documents.

Safe Travels.x

Play Time

One thing we have noticed being out here in Italy, with a big dog, is that other dog owners aren’t a fan of him. To the extent that people will pick their dogs up or cross the road. Today one woman picked up her Golden Retriever puppy … like seriously?!

I dont know if it comes down to the stigma of being a Doberman, with them being attack and security dogs, but do you really think that we will take him out if he attacks other dogs or people…

When he was growing up he played with a mixture of different breeds, mainly being small though. When we came across a bigger dog, he didn’t really know what to do. With smaller breeds he knows he is bigger than then but with larger dogs he used to get slightly confused and didnt know how to react.

Growing up he always played with 2 Frenchies, but as he started to double and then triple their size, it was rather interesting to watch…

Now being 10 months he is nearly fully grown, and we have the perfect match for him.

A Rhodesian Ridgeback. His name is Victor.

When they play they are crazy. They will go nonstop for 2 hours straight. Victor goes for the ankles, Drogon goes for the neck then Victor gets his ears and so on, they are mental together.

When you watch them play, they look like they are fighting but they aren’t, they are just play fighting. If Drogon wanted to bite he would destroy anything in his path, but he knows how to play rough. For us, bringing him up with cats and being around other aninals it has helped with this.

You can tell if a dog hasnt been brought up round other animals…

My advice would be, if you are getting a large or medium breed dog, make sure they are always in contact with people and other dog especially bigger dogs.

Safe Travels.x

The House

So my partner and I live in a flat – we are looking to move so we have our own garden for pup. But our flat is actually rather large so don’t worry…

We also have three cats.

We started with two white cats; Tiffany and Romeo. Yes I know I didn’t name them. Then we got Drogon and then we got another cat; Luna.

You could say we don’t have a normal house for a Doberman – people are rather shocked when we say we have three cats as well as the dog.

When we first brought Drogon home the cats hated him. Like I mean hated him. Tiffany would hiss, Romeo would just run away but Drogon just wanted to play …

Now they all get on very well – yes sometime Drogon wants to play and they don’t. But they all handle each other well.

Luna. I call her “Luna the Assassin”. She was recused by a couple who found her half dead next to a river. Rovigo, well Italy is known for the stray cats so it wasn’t unusual. But this couple picked her up and got her took her to the vets. She ended up at the pet shop – the one we buy dog treats from.

We went to buy dog treats and basically came out with another cat. Yes she is feral and yes she is more crazy than Tiffany and Romeo but they love being at home together – if they didn’t they would be over that balcony in minutes (:

So I guess that’s us – welcome to our not so little family.

Safe Travels.x

Venice

My partner and I have been to Venice, lets say more than a few times. We had some friends over from England, so we thought we would go to Venice…and bring pup along with us.

First things to remember, when taking a big dog anywhere, you have to have a muzzle for them. Which to me is confusing, because isn’t it the smaller dogs that bark all the time and have the nick name ‘ankle biters’? Anyway, every place we go we have his muzzle attached to him or one of our bags. Usually people don’t have an issue with him not wearing it but some public transports you have to muzzle the animals.

Another thing to remember, if you are travelling by trains, which dogs are allowed – you have to have their documents with you; their booklet containing all their vaccinations.

Booklet and muzzle. You are ready to go! Oh and remember you have to buy a train ticket for the dog and validate it – like all train tickets!

Having a big dog out and about you have to expect the interesting looks and questions that you are going to get.

How old is he?

What breed?

What his name?

When we say he is only 8 months, people get more intrigued about him or slowly step back.

First encounter we had was just outside the station, next to the river. It was a man selling clothing items. Drogon – being a dog was sniffing the ground next to the stall. The man start yelling at us, telling us to keep the dog away from all the clothes, his nose is touching everything blah blah blah. For the record, he wasn’t touching anything, so I would recommend just stay about a metre or so away from those stalls.

Venice has a lot of water, and if your dog likes water, I would highly recommend that they don’t go in. Drogon on the other hand snuck in. As we were walking past he walked down the steps so casually and tried to go for a swim. In two places. So that was interesting and yes we got a lot of stares/glares/looks whatever you may want to call it.

One thing that I love about him being big is that he can look over all the bridges and he can be included in all out talks. Drogon for us is a big part of our family – other Doberman owners have their dogs for shows and competition, especially from our breeder.

Around Italy, you will always find free water fountains, which I find AMAZING and extremely helpful when travelling with all dogs. This saves you carrying around bottles of water to give to your dog, because remember Italy is hot and they need to drink too! We usually just carry a little plastic box that we can fill up for him – sometimes he refuses to drink from the tap because he doesn’t like being splashed with water but he LOVES being in water…

Also remember to bring the dog his food. Drogon is only 8 months so he still eats three times a day so he has to have lunch – this again was carry in a plastic box and he eats straight out of that.

One thing we also do when we go out walk with the puppy, is bring a bottle of water/empty bottle (to refill) with us for his pee. He hasn’t yet learnt to cock his leg yet, so he will just stop and pee right where he is. He then leaves just a pool of pee in the middle of the street/path, for us we then pour the water on the floor so it washes away a bit. Just for other people, as it isn’t that nice having a pool of pee just in the middle of St.Marcos square.

When we go to Venice we never have a sit down meal, we also find little take away place on the off streets, this time we went a s fish place – they do battered fish (prawns/calamari/squid) in a cone which was lovely. The place is called: Aqua Mais. Then we went to a pizza place – these aren’t your average pizza slice. They are made from focaccia.

Safe to say that pup wanted some too….

Safe Travels.x