by Sheryl Wall
Traveling with Westies is always full of adventures, and traveling with Natisa and Cosette is no exception. They love to go in the car for a quick trip to town or for a longer adventure to San Diego. They even enjoy the rides to the vet or groomers—until we arrive. They are Therapy dogs and when we do visits at senior homes each week, they both try to be the first in the car to go. I think it’s like a competition for them. They will go anywhere with me.
Natissa
My favorite trips with my dogs are always the Agility Trials. Our Westies have to explore the hotel whenever we arrive before they will settle in. Cosette used to try to explore every inch, even the counter and end tables. She had to get on and check them out, but then she would settle in for a nap and be fine the rest of the time. Once she even tried to get into the bathroom sink. We have traveled so many times now that she doesn’t feel a need to follow this ritual anymore. It was hilarious to watch, though. 
I enjoy going to pet-friendly towns with my Westies. In Half Moon Bay, CA we went to the Starbucks drive-through, which included free dog biscuits for our girls. We walked the town and got to enjoy restaurants, stores, and galleries with our friend Jennifer and our Westies. Most of the stores and restaurants offered our pups water and biscuits. One restaurant we went to even had a doggie menu. Even if the towns aren’t dog friendly we can at least stop at pet shops like Petco along our travels. I find that these trips are great training opportunities for working on social skills. They are now comfortable going most anywhere.
Kiana (Sheryl's daughter), Sheryl and Cosette
In the summer we like to go to the lake, and one year Cosette tried swimming with us. She decided she didn’t much like it though; she would much rather ride on a float lounger instead. She prefers to go in the pool on the float lounger whenever we go swimming now. Westies definitely know what they like and don’t like and will always make their desires known.
We enjoy trips to the mountains, and Cosette and Natisa have their own snow coats for our adventures. I tried the snow boots one year but they were not going to have any part of that. I think we lost half the booties in the snow because they kept kicking them off. 
I love going on vacations with my Westies and we always have a great time. I don’t know where our next adventures will be, but I do know that we will have fun wherever we go. All I have to do is say, “Want to go in the car?” and we will be off.
Check out more pet related short stories and articles in our pets section. With Christmas so close, don’t miss Sheryl’s article about Christmas with Westies!
Great story! We always traveled with our Scotties either on vacations or locally. They were so well socialized, we could take them almost anywhere. Of course Pet Sense and Petsmart were favorite places, but they enjoyed Lowes even more – riding in a carriage and receiving attention from all the other customers. All I had to say was: Want to go to Lowes? and they ran to the door. I sure miss those days.