My favorite thing | Being in the car

Going for drives with mommy and daddy is one of my absolute favorite things to do.  It's right up there with chewing a bone that still has plenty of meat on it; running around the park chasing squirrels; lounging around the bed in the morning getting my belly rubbed by both parents; teasing Dorothy, playing hide and seek with mommy and fetching my ball.

Any time mom or dad say 'Baxter, let's go in car' I run straight to the front door and wait for them to hurry up and go.  It doesn't matter if we're just going up the street to get milk from the corner store - I'm so excited just to be getting in the front seat!  It does tend to make me mad however when they muck around getting ready though while I'm patiently waiting and wagging my tail by the door.  I worry that they've forgotten so I leave my station and look for them.  Once I find them (usually in the bathroom putting last minute touches on their hair or clothes), I bark once to let them know they're taking forever and run back to the door.  After a minute, if that hasn't worked, I'll start yelping and crying on the spot to let them know I'm loosing patience.  If that still isn't working, I'll go right up to them and cry and bark next to them until they say 'ok, ok Bax!' then I know they're right behind me and lead the way back to the front door again.

Most of the time I don't need to resort to anything else but there has been the odd occasion where I've had to try other tactics because it seemed like they'd completely forgotten their promise to 'go in car.'  On these instances I try one of these two things: making mommy pity me or resorting to anarchy.  The pity tactic involves me slumping my shoulders,crying all the way down the hallway to the bedroom, hopping onto the bed and sighing very deeply.  The bathroom mommy's in has a full view of the bed so this always gets her attention and makes her think I'm upset - that's why this tactic is my favorite because it ensures sympathy cuddles and if I'm really lucky, even belly rubs as well as immediate departure!

The anarchy tactic is very different: it involves throwing a tantrum but doesn't always work in my favor because sometimes it makes mommy mad and say things like 'maybe you should stay home until you adjust your attitude.'  But when it does work, it also involves immediate departure. This move is basically me jumping up and down on the spot like a kangaroo I saw on TV once, barking and growling.  If I'm really mad I'll push my luck by jumping on mommy - although this may backfire entire if she's wearing pantyhose and I put a run into it!

Once we're finally in the car, I always sit in the front passenger seat on mommy's lap.  The only time I ever go in the backseat is when I'm wet, covered in mud, being silly, or needed by Dorothy who always sits buckled in back there.  I couldn't last in that spot!  Up front, I can see all around and smell the fresh air that always blows in directly from the vents.  Sometimes I get lucky and mom rolls the window down: sticking my head out of the window is the highlight of the whole trip but I'm more than happy just looking around and eventually curling up on mommy, she always holds me in a way that I can lay down and keep looking out of the window... Bliss!