Rodney had his first ride in an elevator today. For those of you who don’t know what an elevator is, it’s a closet with no clothes in it. That sounds uninteresting, but get this; it’s a magical closet. The automatic door opens, you get in, the door close behind you, opens a few seconds later, and voila!, you’re in a different place. Yes, it sounds unbelievable, but I assure you it happens every time. As a matter of fact, when the door opens, you may be in a different time zone, too. Don’t quote me on that, I’ve never actually looked at my watch before getting in and after getting out of an elevator. It does make one wonder if that is how people time travel. You really shouldn’t knock the idea, after all, Clark Kent can turn into Superman in a phone booth, right? And it stands to reason that if I can travel through space in an elevator, why wouldn’t I be able to travel through time in one, too? I know, the logic is baffling.

Anyway, I’m always fascinated when I travel by elevator. Rodney, the almost-four-month twerp, however, seemed unfazed by his first ride. I guess, he’s different that way. Why did we travel in an elevator, you ask? Well, we entered an agility trial that is four hours away from home, so we’re staying in a hotel for the weekend. Our room is on the second floor and the folks are too lazy to walk up and down the stairs. In retrospect, taking the stairs 15 times a day with 5 dogs and multiple bags could be a bit exhausting.

I really enjoy staying in hotels. It feels like a vacation to me.Admittedly, a hotel in Hawaii or Bora Bora would feel more like a vacation, though then you would have to contend with quarantines or cannibals. Still, I like everything about hotels; the exciting new smells, the different surroundings and especially the extra attention from the folks. Dad walks us much more often than he does at home and mom plays with us more than she normally would.The one thing that I don’t enjoy about staying in a hotel is the rules. There are only two of them, but you do not, under any circumstance want to break them – trust me. The first is “no sniffing the same spot in the hotel room for any longer than two seconds”. If you break this rule, you will be told in no uncertain terms to “leave it”. Furthermore, the voice will be elevated and you can almost feel the panic in every syllable. The second rule, which only applies to us dogs, is “thou shalt not speak”. And I mean at all. No uttering a word. Zilch. Zippo. The breaking of that rule is met with an angry “quiet!” along with a very dirty look. These two rules almost take all the fun out of staying in a hotel…almost. 

If you enjoy Christina’s writing, check her books out! She is the author of “Chester Gigolo: Diary of a Dog Star” and “Insider Training: Chester Gigolo’s Dog Training Secrets Revealed” for which she won the 2016 DWAA Captain Haggerty award for Best Training Book and the 11th Annual National Indie Excellence Award (Animals & Pets). She is also a contributing author to “Animal Stars: Behind the Scenes with Your Favorite Animal Actors”. She has written multiple articles which have appeared in various international publications.