Guest Blog: The Cross-Country Hangover

Occasionally, we hear great stories from customers and share them with the staff. In this case, we thought we’d share one with the rest of our cage-free canine community.  

And thanks to Molly Brennan and Kenny Barry for stopping by on their way across the United States. We never really thought about it before, but we are right in the middle of the country for anyone thinking of swinging by like they did.

 Take it away Kenny.

My wife and our two pups, Louis and Amina (@shortercollies), recently decided to move from Pittsburgh to San Diego. We were all excited, especially the dogs.

We mapped out a two-week, 2,400-mile road trip with a weekend stop in St. Louis—namesake of our noisy-but-loving terrier mix.

The itinerary was simple: hit the road and visit some friends and family for a few days to break up the trip. The problem of what to do with our pups during our stops was more vexing.

Our dogs are adorable, but they can be a little shy and clingy when it comes to new environments and overly-excited kids.

Fortunately for us, our St. Louis connection had an idea: board them overnight at The Watering Bowl. Pessimistic but hopeful about the likelihood of being admitted, we got them up to date on their vaccinations and booked a weekend stay.

We walked in and saw their names on the little welcome sign, and we’re pretty sure they did, too. With a little coaxing from the staff, they passed the Sniff Around with flying colors before we nervously dropped off our pups, uncertain about whether they’d ever warm up to a strange place in a foreign city.

So, of course, we scoured the TWB Facebook albums for evidence of those familiar floppy ears and wagging tails. And it turns out, we were more nervous than they were.

Louis and Amina jumped right in and treated the place like their own mini summer camp. In fact, we weren’t entirely sure if they even wanted to go to San Diego anymore.

But that’s when the hangover hit.

We’d heard and read about it, but you can’t appreciate it until you see the difference between two separate 9-hour car rides.

The rest of our journey was a breeze. And we like to think they enjoyed the trip a little more because they had a chance to meet some new friends along the way. Oh, and sleep a lot. (We actually had to wake them up to go to the bathroom en route to Oklahoma City.)

So, thanks to The Watering Bowl for making their visit as memorable as ours. We’ll definitely be back if and when we get another chance.

Thanks Kenny, Molly, Louis & Amina. We thoroughly enjoyed having you. San Diego sounds pretty great. Maybe we should consider a new location out your way.