It’s a Dog’s Life: Lovely Weather for a Sleigh Ride Together

As Christmas approaches, Teddy considers the various modes of transport that are used in the run up to the festive season, as explained by his human translator Helen Stockton 

The month of December often seems to involve more traveling than usual. There are journeys to buy presents and food, or to collection points to pick up things ordered on-line. Then there are trips to visit familyand friends to indulge in seasonal socialising.

‘Her Indoors’ normally goes up to London, at some point in the month, to do something festive with ‘Junior Her’, usually involving train journeys. 

Myself and the apprentice, Bear, occasionally travel by train. I settle down resignedly in the interesting detritus on the floor, but Bear tends to be restless. She likes to investigate her travel companions, a behaviour which, like lying in the aisles, is generally far better tolerated when perpetrated by a dog rather than a person. 

Most of our non-perambulatory travel, however, is by car, which I quite enjoy. After all, what is a dog travel seat but a form of dog bed on wheels? I just settle down and have a snooze, secure in the knowledge that ‘Them Indoors’ can’t go wandering off anywhere. The apprentice, Bear, on the other paw, isn’t terribly keen on car travel, so she often tries to climb into my dog seat which, a bit like traveling on the tube in rush hour, is a bit of a squash. 

Some of our journeys seem to take rather longer than intended due to factors outside of our control. It took us seven hours recently to get from East Sussex to Dorset due to a road closure, but this pales into insignificance next to a friend of ‘Them Indoors’ who took eighteen hours to fly home from a long weekend in Jersey. He could probably have swum back quicker! ‘The Juniors’ rely on the trains to get home for Christmas, so we keep our paws crossed that everything runs smoothly and they are not held up. 

It’s just as well that Santa Paws has his own transport. Flying in a reindeer powered sleigh sounds like a sensible idea – although I do wonder how he deals with air traffic control. I suspect he has some kind of top priority, like Airforce One. Now that I’m a senior dog, I have a buggy for longer outings, but I don’t have reindeer to pull it, just ‘Her Indoors’, and she tends to grumble if there is an incline. I wonder if Santa has the same problem with Rudolph and team.

In spite of the sleigh, Santa must walk a fair distance on Christmas Eve, and this, of course, is a mode of transport we dogs are most familiar with. It’s also a good way to burn off the Christmas excesses, so if you want an extra mince pie, just go for a stroll!

Happy Christmas!