Dogs in hotels

My dogs have traveled so much, they are used to the hotel routine. I usually leave the fan on the air conditioner running, and at night I leave the bathroom fan on. This drowns out a lot of exterior noise for the dogs.

At this hotel, two interesting things happened yesterday. First, the fire alarms went off shortly after I arrived. This is the second time in our "careers" this has happened. Our room is a handicapped accessible room, so the alarm was very loud and a strobe light was flashing. Both dogs were extremely stressed.

I have a routine in hotels, too. My coat, purse, key to the room and dogs' leashes all go in the same exact spot. I can find them even in the dark and leash up the dogs. This routine is exactly for a fire alarm and us needing to evacuate quickly. I leashed up the dogs, grabbed my pursue and coat and held them tightly as we left the room. I put them quickly into the Escape. I also got in the Escape and was prepared to pull it out of the parking lot to a nearby parking lot when the alarm stopped. I move the vehicle so it doesn't get trapped in by fire trucks and emergency vehicles next to a burning building. Vehicles with full fuel tanks don't do well next to burning buildings.

Luckily, it was a false alarm. However, I wanted to share our routine with blog readers to get you thinking about it for yourselves. I've heard stories of people assuming it was a false alarm and leaving their dogs in the hotel. Then they weren't allowed back into the hotel for hours and at one location there was a small fire in the kitchen. I prefer to assume the worst and get my dogs out safely, then investigate.

The second thing I'm pleased with was the way both dogs, especially Ian, reacted to neighbor dogs who occasionally barked yesterday evening. They were small dogs, and their owner did a good job of keeping them quiet, but they did have several rounds of brief barking. The only reaction Ian gave was a low growl a couple of times. He immediately quieted when I asked. Devon never reacted. When the dogs barked in the middle of the night, neither dog stirred.

I was very pleased with my dogs in the hotel. And too bad I don't have a camera right now. Ian is sprawled on half the king-sized bed. He loves hotels!