Bring your Best Friend Along!
Mutt Muffs
Early this year we adopted a Golden Retriever puppy. At only 7 weeks, we went to pick him up from his birth home and bring him back with us. We traveled by air, in our plane, and thus began his life as an RV-dog! We brought him home in a tiny kennel lined with some leftover soundproofing foam from the airplane project, to protect his puppy hearing. Long-term though, there is NO WAY I was willing to haul a soundproofed kennel around. Since I don't exactly live in a cave, I'd seen the Mutt Muffs product in advertisements all over the place. I'd always been curious as to how well dogs would REALLY take to them though.Well as it turned out, we have some awesome friends, Scott and RaNae, who had a dog equipped with MuttMuffs, and they said they were working out well. Armed with at least one positive feedback experience, I was motivated to make the jump and actually pick up a pair.
When we first got the little feller, he was only about 12 lbs. He was so small I didn't really know if he'd be able to wear these things. But sure enough, according to the size chart, he would fit in the low end of a size Small. So I jumped online and ordered them. When they arrived, they came in their own little black carrying bag, and we pulled them out and fit them. It was amazing...we actually had something that would fit the dog fine!
We didn't take too many flights at that time of the year, and the ones that we did were spent focused more on actually getting flying, rather than taking photos, so I don't have any shots of him as a tiny puppy, but in the first couple of photos below, he's still wearing the smalls as he was getting ready to grow out of them. Knowing that Golden Retrievers don't stay small for long, we quickly emailed Michele McGuire of Mutt Muffs and got a size Medium on the way. Of course, these also fit wonderfully now that he had grown. These are pictured below.
We've now been able to take him with us on a few longer flights, and he does just wonderfully! He sits in the back with the kids, and either sleeps (most of the time) or looks around. My wife had a comment about how comfortable he must be....she said, "When you put the muffs on him on the ground, he seems to want to take them off. But, when he wears them in the plane, he just seems to KNOW what they're for, and he leaves them on happily and enjoys the ride".
Interestingly, she then found almost the same words from another user review on the safeandsoundpets.com website.
So if you have always wanted to bring your mutt along with you when you travel, definitely think of their comfort, and invest in a pair of Mutt Muffs. Dogs aren't nearly as much fun when their deaf......they'll never come when you call. Don't make your dog learn light signals just because you don't care about his hearing. ;) If you have an RV-10 with 4 seats, but don't fill them with people, fill them with your best friend!
Safe and Sound pets will be at OSH 2008 - Hangar A. Booth 1081
For a funny tidbit, see the bottom of the page.
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Funny story tidbit while we were discussing taking the dog on a flight with the girls one day...
Our youngest says, "Mom, Charlie has had sex". Mom says "What was that?" (Trying to see if she heard correctly).
"Mom, Charlie has had sex." Mom: "What is it you're saying?"
"You know, those things that he wears on his ears.......(and with a clearer voice...) headsets. Why, what did you think I was saying?"
"I thought you said Charlie has had SEX.", says Mom.
"Mom, what's sex?".... And so it begins....