In the Netherlands, it's starting to feel suspiciously like autumn again, and I'm finally lying in the sun on a Tuscan beach. River and Charlie are next to us in the sand, dogs are all around, and for the first time this holiday, we're doing absolutely nothing.
As I write this, we are at Bau Beach, a dog beach on the Tuscan coast. And honestly, this is exactly one of those moments when I realize how much we're actually enjoying this first holiday with the dogs. We are also staying at a very dog-friendly park, Le Pienacce by Sandaya, in a beautiful chalet with an enclosed veranda, which is really great if you have dogs!
Before we left, I found it quite difficult to estimate. Driving through France, Switzerland, and Italy with two dogs sounds fun, but it also means a car full of stuff, looking for dog-friendly accommodations, and a bit more research beforehand. We've been on the road for a few days now, and it's been much easier than expected. River and Charlie seem to find traveling almost natural. A new sleeping place, a different environment, a day in the mountains and then back to the coast: as long as we are with them, they seem to be perfectly content.
Traveling to Italy with two dogs requires a bit more preparation.
Of course, you don't just get in the car without any preparation. For travel within the EU, River and Charlie have their European pet passports, are chipped, and have a valid rabies vaccination. Especially with a young dog, it's smart to check this well in advance, because for a first rabies vaccination, there's also a waiting period before you're allowed to travel.
Since we're traveling with two dogs, we also have a cargo net as a partition in the car. This is also relevant in Italy: when transporting multiple pets, they must be safely separated from the driver, for example, with a suitable partition.
Something I didn't think much about beforehand was the rear windows. The air conditioning works fine in the car, but if the sun is beating down on River and Charlie for a few hours, it's of little use in the back. So we use sunshades over the rear side windows. Not exactly the most exciting holiday item we've bought, but it's one I'd always take with me again.
From Swiss mountains to sand between their paws.
What I particularly like about this trip is how many different places we experience together. A few days ago, River and Charlie were walking among the mountains and waterfalls in Switzerland, and now they're on a dog beach in Tuscany.
Bau Beach is ideal in that regard. You don't have to decipher the beach sign to see if a dog might be welcome between 06:14 and 06:37; you can just go to the beach together. For us, that's important anyway, because if we take the dogs on holiday, we really want to include them as much as possible in what we do.
However, River and Charlie are not exactly water lovers. They inspect the sea extensively, and a wet paw is just about acceptable, but their enthusiasm stops there. Other dogs here run straight into the water. Ours seem mostly happy that we've arranged a beach bed.
Paracord for River and Charlie, BioThane® for the water enthusiasts.
Since River and Charlie barely swim, we mostly use our paracord dog leashes here on the beach. They are light, comfortable to hold, and for how we use the beach now, it works perfectly.
For a dog that immediately forgets it ever lived on dry land at the sight of water, I would choose a BioThane® set. The main advantage remains simple: sand, mud, and water don't get absorbed by the material. Just rinse it off or wipe it with a cloth, and you're done.
I particularly experience that convenience this holiday with the BioThane® harness that River and Charlie wear. Beach sand, dust from a walk, or a bit of mud: it gets on faster than you think, but it's also clean again in no time. It's during a holiday like this that you realize how nice it is when dog accessories don't need a separate wash program after every walk.
The BioThane® harnesses are not yet online in our webshop, but we can make them if you are interested. If you are interested, you can simply send us a message.
I see a lot of leashes here that need a holiday.
What also strikes me on the beach, by the way, are other people's dog leashes. And especially how many of them look like they wanted to retire three holidays ago.
Wet fabric leashes, sand everywhere, knots in places where a knot was never intended, and sometimes complete constructions where I can no longer tell where one leash ends and the other begins.
It's probably a good thing that my Italian and German don't extend beyond the bare necessities, otherwise I would probably have already told several people here, unasked, that it could all be a lot easier.
Although I must admit that an impromptu sales pitch in swim trunks might not exactly be the international growth strategy we had in mind for punq.
Our first holiday with River and Charlie.
Beforehand, I mostly thought about all the things that would become more complicated by bringing the dogs. Now I mainly notice what it adds. We are automatically outside a lot, stop along the way in places we would otherwise have driven past, and experience the journey in a completely different way.
Of course, we have more stuff with us and plan a little more consciously. But otherwise, we're actually doing exactly what we prefer to do at home: walking, being outdoors, and dragging River and Charlie everywhere.
Only now with Tuscan sun, cypresses along the road, and sand in places where sand absolutely shouldn't be.
For a first holiday with two dogs, we could have fared worse.
0 comments