Did I Forget the Dumbbell????

The first obedience trial of the year for us is 10 weeks away.  Which means it’s time to start packing for the trip.  As a dog show approaches, some people get more and more stressed about how their dog will do in the ring.  I have sleepless nights worrying that I don’t have enough time to pack. 

 Long before dog show mania came into my life, I used to travel fairly regularly to scientific meetings. In those days, my philosophy was simple: a few changes of clothes, a handful of toiletries, and above all: Don’t forget the wallet or the slide carousel.  (Remember slides?   Remember how at least one slide inexplicably turned itself upside down for every presentation?)  If I had my wallet, I could buy anything I had forgotten, except for my precious slide carousel.  (You’re thinking, what if she forgot her dress clothes to give the presentation?  You can’t pick up a formal outfit at a hotel gift shop.  Ah, these were scientific meetings, where “formal” was defined as a shirt with buttons. And, if your T-shirt didn’t have an advertisement for your favorite beer, well, that was close enough to formal.  Honest to God, at one meeting, the Director of our department, who was giving the keynote address, didn’t realize he was wearing mismatched shoes until he got to the meeting.  If he hadn’t said anything, I don’t think anyone would have noticed he had one black shoe and one brown shoe.)

But, back to dog shows.  The unhappy reality of travel with dogs is that remembering your wallet won’t rescue you from whatever else you forgot.  The hotel gift shop might have emergency underwear, but not many of them sell that dumbbell sized just-so to fit your dog’s mouth.  You certainly can’t forget the EXTRA SPECIAL DOG TRIAL TREATS.  But really, it’s the sheer volume of stuff that makes dog show packing so daunting.  The big modern world is not made for dogs. You have to bring their world with them.  You have to bring their shade, their bedroom, their dishes, their toys, their food, their SPECIAL TRIAL TREATS, even their bathroom accommodations, aka poop bags. And don’t forget the flashlight!  Real drag, finding the poop on the hotel lawn in the dark by stepping in it.  Or worse, finding some other dog’s poop in the dark at 2 am in the morning on the hotel lawn.  And how the heck do you clean the poop off your shoes in a miniscule hotel sink?

Having to remember all that stuff means a List. A Long List. Actually, at least two Long Lists. Because you need different Lists for the shows that are close by and the shows that require a hotel stay.  My Lists started simple. A string of mustn’t forget items on a page.  I added subcategories, breaking items down by themes: clothes, dog food, people food, dog equipment, etc.  The thematic divisions evolved into sublists for each container: sublists of “regular clothes” for the black duffel bag, “show clothes” for the small blue duffel bag, dog food that didn’t need refrigeration for the brown paper sack, kitchen items in the small laundry basket, and so on.

I added packing sequence to my Lists, beginning with the items that could be loaded into the van the weekend before the show weekend and ending with the items that I absolutely had to remember the morning I left.

I added Things To Do to the list: Program the route into the GPS. Fill the gas tank the day before.  Make the SPECIAL DOG TRIAL TREATS at least a week in advance, distribute them in labeled containers and stash them in the freezer.  And, doG forbid, do not forget the SPECIAL DOG TRIAL TREATS in the freezer the morning of the show.

I know people that say they don’t train the week before a show, so the dog will be fresh or less stressed, or whatever.  Me, I would train the week before the show, but I’m usually too busy revising my List or trying to cram too much stuff in the van-top carrier.