Rebel Blog

We are a dog family and we love to travel. This means we pretty much insist on bringing our dogs everywhere with us, which also means we tend to drive to most destinations, no matter how far. To ensure our dogs were good travelers we began taking them on long car rides as young puppies and haven’t stopped since. 

Early this year we embarked on a weeklong trip to Lake Tahoe, Nevada and for the first time ever brought all three of our dogs; two rambunctious Dobermans and a spoiled rotten Maltese.  What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? Well it must have turned out all right because we recently returned from a 15-hour road trip! We know this might sound crazy, but over the miles we have complied some survival tips for traveling and road tripping with our canine companions and we’d love to share them with you.

While we don’t claim to be experts, we just have our own experience and accumulated knowledge as far as what has worked well for our pups.

5 Tips for road tripping with dogs:

1.     Make the car an awesome place.  Because two of our dogs are large Dobermans, they take up a lot of legroom, so in order to keep the comfy on long car rides we give them as much room as we possibly can. We pack the backseat of our SUV and give them the entire trunk area to spread out in. Stocked with comfy bedding and plenty of peanut butter stuffed bones, those two live for long car rides.

 2.     Stop often.  When it use to be just the two of us we would get in the car and drive nearly straight through to our destination, stopping only to refuel and grab more Redbull. But now, we make sure to stop every couple hours at the most to let the dogs stretch their legs and get a good drink. While it’s not always an option, we like to try to find places where they can run off-leash for a few minutes to really burn off steam. We love our Dog Park Finder app for this.

3.     Keep their same routine. No matter where we are in our travels, we always try our best to keep our dog’s feeding schedule the same. It helps to prevent uneasy tummies, and ensures they are relaxed and enjoying the trip too. Even if it means stopping on the side of a desolate road in the near darkness to let them eat at 6 p.m., well then that’s what we’ll do.

4.     Bring their favorite things. Packing light only applies to people. When it comes to our dogs, we bring their travel beds so when it comes time to sleep they have a familiar place that smells like home for them to curl up. We also tend to over pack toys, but in a dog’s world I suppose there is no such thing as too many toys. And as long as the dogs are happy, that’s all that really matters.

5.     We are notorious for using Dog friendly apps and websites to plan the best possible canine incorporated trips, here are some of our favorite links! There are tons of websites and apps for specific cities and even countries too, so if you're international be sure to check some of those out too. 

• Doggoes has a really cool clickable map that lets you search for dog parks by region, and there's an app to go with it: Doggoes.com
• We love Bring Fido for it's easy search-ability and list of dog events taking place nationwide: BringFido.com
• Pets Welcome is great for finding pet friendly hotels and places to stay. Searchable by city, route, or even size of dog (great for large breed dog owners): PetsWelcome.com
• Go Pet Friendly has a fun interactive Facebook page, and we love to follow their traveling adventures with their two pups, Ty and Buster: GoPetFriendly.com
• Luxury Paw focuses on higher rated accommodations for traveling with your pets, for classier vacations and places to stay: LuxuryPaw.com

Yesterday we brought home our newest foster boy, G dog. Although we have had him for less than 24 hours we love him already. He is one of those dogs whose sweetness immediately steals a place in your heart. 

When we went to pick him up from his current foster mom he was curled up on a bench beside her and the sight of the two of them together nearly broke our hearts. She didn't want to let him go, but after rescuing G from the streets and getting him all his shots and caring for him, there was simply no way for her to keep him any longer. It was by chance that we even met his savior, Barbara, in a store an hour and a half from our house. We struck up a conversation and some how got on the topic of dogs, and she told us G's story which we wrote about here.

G's Story: While driving one day back in January Barbara noticed a boy throwing rocks and yelling at a scared looking dog, she immediately stopped her car and got out to intervene. After assessing the situation she scooped up G and brought him home with her. She searched for his owner, posted signs and Craigslist listings, but no one stepped forward to claim him. She of course did what any dog loving soul would do, she kept him. She had him neutered and got him all his shots and a rabies certificate, and in the meantime she fell in love with this sweetheart of a dog. 

Fast forward four months later to today, due to personal circumstances she had to give him up. Hearing the story and meeting this wonderful dog we could not let him fall victim to a shelter. Barbara had rescued him from entering the shelter system and we wanted to make sure he stayed the same happy boy he was, undaunted by the confines of an unfamiliar holding cell. So, for now he lives at the rebel house; playing, sleeping, and loving life along with our rebel pack.

G is a seriously AWESOME dog! He is equal parts mellow and playful. He became instantly attached to us humans and follows us around the house. He sleeps at our feet and is generally just easy going and quiet. And when it's play time, he is nothing but energy. He runs around the backyard and plays beautifully with our two dobermans and little maltese. He knows how to read other dogs and plays very well. He loves people and has lived with children, which he also loves and is very gentle with.  

Name: Gallute, but we call him G

Age: Estimated 2 years

Breed: Staffordshire Terrier mix, he has a beautiful dark brown coat with a white and spotted chest, paws, and muzzle and soulful brown eyes.

Gender: Male, neutered

Health: He is in excellent health and is up to date on all his shots and rabies vaccination. He is a medium size dog with a solid build.

Temperament: G is lucky, because although his start in life is unknown, we do know that he was rescued before he ever found his way into a shelter. He is the sweetest dog, very playful, spunky, and affectionate. He is wonderful with people and children and would make a great family dog. He becomes very attached to his people and would do best with a family or individual who can show him a lot of love and affection. 

Location: Southern California

If you are interested in adopting this sweet boy or would like more information, please email us at woof@crazyrebels.com.

We have a soft spot for bulldogs. There is just something about all those wrinkles and that adorably squishy face that we can't resist. We could not have been more excited to start our Sunday at Brunch for the Bullies to benefit the So Cal Bulldog Rescue. This particular event is one of their biggest fundraising initiatives for the year and we feel so honored to have been able to contribute to the cause. Crazy Rebels donated a custom portrait to their silent auction, and we cannot wait to see which lucky bully took home the final bid (because we get to draw him or her!!!). In total the Brunch for the Bullies raised over $18,000 to benefit the bulldogs in rescue, which is just so very incredible!

SCBDR currently has over 75 dogs in their program which is an all time high, so every bit of generosity really counts. 45 of those bullies are in awesome foster homes and the other 30 are getting love and care at a kenneling facility. Some very special English Bulldogs made an appearance at the brunch where they received the star treatment and attention.

Such a great turn out So Cal Bulldog Rescue!

When we first saw a picture of the Bad Dog art exhibit going up at the Orange County Museum of Art we knew we had to see it first hand. This 24-foot tall sculpture, created by L.A. artist Richard Jackson, of a dog peeing on the wall has garnered more attention than any single exhibit at OCMA. And yes, the dog really does "pee" yellow paint! 

The plaque in front of the exhibit reads: "Bad Dog," by artist Richard Jackson, is a temporary sculpture installed at the Orange County Museum of Art. The 28-foot-high puppy has his leg lifted on the side of the museum and is rigged to spray yellow paint on the side of the building. "Bad Dog" is part of the "Richard Jackson: Ain't Painting a Pain" exhibition, the first retrospective devoted to the 74-year-old artist. "Bad Dog" was created especially for the exhibit.

The exhibit runs until May 5, 2013 so if you have a chance we highly recommend taking a trip to check it out.

We are so inspired by the genius creativity of people!