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From Detroit to Vermont
You can’t go wrong with Vermont. It’s beautiful, has many dog friendly trails and parks, and friendly people. Over the Fourth of July break, we planned a trip to Basin Harbor in Vermont, a Forbes recommended pet-friendly resort, for a break. While Vermont was great, Basin Harbor wasn’t fantastic. More details below.
Our trip started with a small hiccup. Due to weather conditions, our United flight departing our small airport in the Michigan was deprioritized for landing in Chicago, the hub we were connecting to. After the departure time was changed for the 3rd time to being 90 minutes late, we made a decision to cancel our flight and drive two hours to Detroit to fly with Delta instead.
The Plane
Our single flight to Burlington International Airport (BTV) was on a CRJ900 (9E). Nomii’s expanded carrier fitted perfectly below the seat in First Class and once the plane was in the air, I could open the expandable side of the bag and gave him more room to stretch out. However, he still chose to be curled up into a ball as he slept through the flight – that’s his preferred sleeping position 🙂
BTV is a mid-size airport and so easy to get around. The rental car stations were just outside arrivals and the parking garage is connected by a skybridge.
Review of the Resort
Basin Harbor was just a quick hour’s drive away from BTV.
As mentioned, I booked Basin Harbor because it was reviewed well in a Forbes article on luxury pet friendly resorts. Well, if you do not expect perfection after paying almost $1k a night, carry on. If like me, you look for good quality accommodation, attentiveness, and consideration, here are reasons why I rate our stay at Basin Harbor just past average at 3 stars:
What I love
1. The pet friendliness – patio and outdoor dining options meant my beloved pooch doesn’t need to be left alone. Water for the dog was served together with our tea and coffee at breakfast. There are so many doggy guests that you don’t feel out of place.
2. Dining options – good quality and variety at great price points.
3. Activities and Estate – very lovely grounds for walking around and where possible, dogs welcomed. We enjoyed the cruise we took around the lake and the many walks, including on trails, on the property.What disappointed me
1. False advertising?? – I booked the Pawish package and the webpage says it comes with a bunch of trinkets including collar, leash, travel bowls, a charm, and amenities. At check-in, I was handed a small box containing 2 doggy biscuits, a poop bag and a piece of printed pet rules. There was nothing else in the cottage for my dog. The next day, I called Front Desk and described what I received, and the response from Greg was “That’s it!” Nothing riles me up like false advertising does so I emailed the concierge who handled my reservation and was told it was a misunderstanding. Someone came by to drop off the leash, collar, dog bowl and another little box with 4 doggy biscuits, another poop bag and 2 pieces of badly cut paper printed with the pet rules. No sign of the charm. Never mind. We don’t need another souvenir…but I wished the items were at least nicely presented in a bag or something and made to feel special.
2. Stench in the cottage – we were placed in an extremely rustic, dark and dingy cottage that had a bad stench in both toilets. We arrived in the evening and were too tired to do anything. The next morning, when asked by Front Desk how our stay was going, I mentioned the smell and the person made a face but did not offer to look into it. So I emailed Concierge who sent someone to look into it. The person came, acknowledged the bad smell, sprayed disinfectant, and told me to call again if this doesn’t solve the issue. Of course it didn’t solve the issue. Once the smell of disinfectant dissipated, the smell was bad and I informed the concierge. Nothing was done and by the 2nd morning, I couldn’t take it anymore. I escalated the matter to the resort’s 5th Generation Host who finally offered to move us to a different cottage. This other cottage is brighter, more spacious, better located, does not have a stench, and I’m told is in a different rate category. So beware that paying close to $1k a night doesn’t guarantee a great cottage.
3. Disappointing dog beach – off a rocky patch at an incline, some dogs probably enjoyed it but there were sharp rocks around and not inviting. I didn’t see any dogs swimming off the dog beach.
It is obvious Basin Harbor is a beloved family tradition for many based on our conversations with other guests. However, for us as first timers, it was not easy. Other than the issues above, they assumed we knew where things were and how things work, and instructions on where to meet for the cruise, for example, was vague – the email was missing the location and needed clarification. There were also no introductions to the various facilities. We feel 100% like outsiders…which even prompted thoughts as to whether we were assigned the poorer cottage because we’re not regulars.
I don’t know what the Forbes award winning travel writer saw that prompted him to include this resort in his list of luxury locations – that’s not a word I would use to describe the resort. Maybe the price? Basin Harbor feels, at best, like an extra large, family run, middle-of-the-mill playground.
It is a historic hotel with some fascinating historical tales and artefacts. Just note that history has a smell that’s sometimes bad, and roughness around the edges.
After Thoughts
So I posted my review to TripAdvisor and the resort responded that because it was a busy period, they were limited in their ability to change cottages for us, rushed to correct the gap in the Pawish package, and that I should have called to reserve a cottage instead of booking online. Well, I’m just sharing my experience and people can decide for themselves.
Dog Chapel
One of the days, we made a day trip to Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury to visit the Dog Chapel and Stephen Huneck’s Art Gallery. Huneck designed and built the Dog Chapel as a tribute to human’s spiritual bond with dogs. Many leave messages and photos of their departed dogs in the Chapel, making it a place full of love and sadness. I guess it’s also fun to see who your dog is playing with over the rainbow bridge.
On the grounds of Dog Mountain is a swimming pond and several trails you can walk with your dog. Leash is optional on Dog Mountain. Nomii’s recall is not reliable – he rockets back but runs off again – so he was on his leash all the time.
Huneck passed in 2000 but giclee prints of his work are available for sale.
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A Dog’s Cold Weather Wardrobe
Short hair, skinny legs, big ears, and small body – Nomii shivers in the cold! This winter, Nomii is experiencing the lowest temperatures he’s ever felt and we are doing our best to dress him right. Reading so many sites, I hope we’re doing it right. But if the dog ain’t shivering, we’re probably close to getting it right I guess! We even have a HOT TIP for getting dogs used to wearing boots!
Nomii has a collection of clothes in his wardrobe. The photos aren’t representative because some are in the wash.
Having gone through fall and now the start of winter, here’s what we’ve learnt.
No clothes needed 12C/55F and above
In fact, Nomii enjoys this temperature very much. It’s cool and comfortable and he’d sometimes lay in the grass and just enjoy being in the chilly air.
Stock up on basic fleece tees
These sleeveless fleece are great for indoors when it’s cold outside. Nomii wears these to daycare where they play indoors if the weather’s nasty but gets some outside time if the sun is out. Between 5C/41F and 12C/55F, he wears his fleece tees on walks too. We get his from Gooby Pets.
They are also great as base layers.
Insulated and water repellent jackets for wet and cold
Nomii has a few insulated parkas in various weights for colder temperatures. Anything below -2C/28F, we start layering especially if there’s wind chill. Our go-to are the Powder Hound Winter Dog Jacket and Furness Dog Jacket from Ruffwear. Insulated jackets should come with leg straps to help the base of the jacket cover the dog’s rump better.
For the ears
Since Nomii has big ears that stand straight, they get cold very quickly when we’re outside. When the temperatures are low, we add a snood to keep those adorable ears warm.
Sweaters for a more polished look and transition weather
Well…a cute pullover or sweater is great for indoors or a visit to someone’s home. They look great but I feel aren’t as functional as the fleece tees. We do layer using sweaters as base layer but it’s not something we do often.
For transition weather, in addition to sweaters, Nomii has a cool looking navy blue trench coat and a merino pullover from Mungo and Maud. They feel soft and comfortable.
Toweling coats for after showers
We typically shower Nomii once a week and continue to do so even in the winter because he plays outdoors, with other dogs (i.e. often covered in drool) and sleeps in bed with us. In winter, it is even more important to keep him warm after showering with warm water and we have this custom red dino onesie with a towel material on the inside that dries him up in no time. He has a non-toweling onesie with legs too and that’s more for looking cute when out and about.
These dino coats are from Barker and Browns. Her workmanship is superb and her order list is long. Be prepared to wait but they’re worth it.
Boots for a pooch – HOT TIP
Nomii’s skinny legs shiver very quickly if he walks in snow. Boots are important for him to enjoy being outside on colder days. Like many dogs, the first time we put boots on him, he was extremely uncomfortable and walked in that weird way we see on many videos. We hated it as much as he did – it wasn’t funny. But we needed to find a way to help him get used to them.
Nomii’s dad had a stroke of brilliance – why not put boots on him and then let him out into the forest immediately where he’ll be so distracted by the smells around him that he forgets about the strangeness on his feet! We did just that and it worked!!!
He got used to boots on his front legs very quickly but oddly, it took a few more minutes for him to walk normally on his hind legs.
By the way, we tried a few pairs of socks with shoes and boots before finding that these Soft Shield Boots from Canada Pooch worked the best for him. The double fasteners – velcro strap just above the ankle and cinching toggle at the top of the boots – keep his boots mostly in place. They do slip a little, but not off his feet, and we don’t need to do more than one adjustment per walk. He even scored points in his disc dog league wearing those boots!
So far, we’ve been taking Nomii out for walks during warmer parts of the day. Looking at the weather forecast for winter, we anticipate there will be days when it would be wiser to stay home. We’re making a list of things to keep Nomii entertained and exercised – both mind and body – on those days. Hopefully, the poor pup won’t suffer too badly from cabin fever.
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Indoor Potty for Small Dogs
Before Nomii came into our life, we had prepared ourselves to take him downstairs – we live in an apartment – several times a day to relieve himself. Such an activity comes with dog ownership and our dinner dates with friends who have dogs often involved scheduling meeting times after their dogs’ evening walk/toilet break. We didn’t like the idea of using pee pads because it felt wasteful AND we were pretty sure most dogs cannot resist ripping up paper of any sort. And then, we were introduced to indoor toilets, which are perfect for a small dog like Nomii.
There’s a HUGE TRAVEL BONUS that comes with using an indoor potty – I will elaborate at the end of this post.
Such indoor toilets typically involve a piece of artificial grass and a receptacle of some sort under it. The receptacle could be a simple tray or a low platform with a tray on which you would place a pee pad or collect pee with. In some countries, such as the US, there’re also options with real grass instead of artificial grass which comes with a subscription for regular grass replacement.
After some research and a recommendation from Nomii’s trainer, we chose to buy our indoor potty from Petgreen.
The above picture is a screen grab from http://www.petgreen.com and I do not own this picture. We set up the potty in our guest toilet and when Nomii arrived, potty training commenced immediately.
After drinking, before and after crate time, every few hours and whenever we think Nomii needs to relieve himself, we would lead him to the potty and get him to go onto the grass. The smart little pup learned very quickly….but not before we humans lost our patience….because his command for going potty is “Hurry up!”.
So before long, Nomii knows about toilets and potty. He would have accidents but we know he knows. It took a couple of months before he was solidly toilet trained. He has accidents very rarely, and usually it seems it’s because he’s mad at us for something.
The Huge Travel Bonus
As promised, here’s the Big Travel Bonus that comes with training Nomii to use an indoor potty like this. He has come to learn that he can relieve himself on fake grass…even without the platform. So now, when we travel, we pack a piece of artificial grass and pee pads and this combination becomes his mobile toilet! There’s no need for us to hunt for grass patches near accommodations or to go out into the dark and cold night/morning in a strange place hoping the dog would pee/poop before something scary happens. Life saver.
We’ve also met another dog owner who uses only a 6 inch square of grass on a pee pad to indicate to her dog where he is to pee/poop. Brilliant. We haven’t tried that…don’t think we will.
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Santa Barbara, California, with a Dog
Dog beaches, dog parks, and dog-friendly hotels and restaurants – there are plenty of these in the U.S. and we visited some of them when we were in Santa Barbara, California, in November 2022. One important tip – restaurants are allowed to have dogs only in patio dining area so if you’re bringing your dog along, travel when the weather is good enough for outdoor dining.
Heavy rainfall marked our 2 days in Santa Barbara. But we made the most of what we could.
Hotel
I had points to use with the Hilton chain so we booked two nights at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. The beach is an easy walk across the road from the hotel…but alas, rain upended all plans and we did not get to explore the beach much. Nomii our dog was welcomed at the restaurants onsite.
The Set, a bar and dining space, serves lunches and dinners. Nomii was able to be with us on his little mat and was largely ignored – which is not a bad thing. No water for him was offered but no one told us he couldn’t be with us either.
We had breakfast at The Roundhouse, another hotel dining space. Located near the pool, the dining area has a well covered outdoor patio, and allowed us to sit at a table within the hotel. Again, Nomii was welcomed and it turned out our server has a Boston Terrier himself. It’s always fun to bond with strangers over Nomii.
The food at both places was fine. It wasn’t mind blowing nor was it bad. What was most important was that we were able to dine properly with Nomii at our feet instead of having to pack meals and eat in the hotel room, and that was such a treat.
Dog Parks
In spite of the rain, we managed to visit 2 dog parks.
Woof P.A.C. Park
Because we had a 2 hour drive to our destination upon landing, we planned a dog park visit close to Santa Barbara Airport to give Nomii a chance to run, stretch his legs, and burn off some energy. Woof P.A.C. Park in Santa Maria was a perfect first stop.
The park is located on a little hill in a residential area and looked really good. We were excited walking up the slopes and because of our excitement, failed to read the body language of the two dogs that were already in there. They came running up to us and the owners said they were friendly, so we let Nomii off leash and off he ran.
However, it turns out that those two dogs were aggressive/reactive, and chased Nomii, with one almost nipping at his leg. Fortunately one of the owners had a tennis racket with him and he blocked his dog, and we managed to grab hold of Nomii, leashed him and walked out. I told the owners their dogs bite and we will wait until they’re done before we returned.
I guess they felt bad because they left not long after…and we had the park to ourselves.
We’re lucky Nomii wasn’t injured and we were kicking ourselves for not being careful. Dog parks have a bad name because owners don’t know or don’t manage their dogs well. We typically avoid dog parks but since we don’t have space for Nomii to exercise in hotel rooms, we typically will visit dog parks when we travel for the purpose of giving him a run.
Jody Giannini Family Dog Park
Located in the Morro Bay area, the Jody Giannini Family Dog Park is situated within a bigger park, the Del Mar Park. You’d need to walk a short distance into the park and then around the fence of the dog park to get to the gates. There’s a little bump of a hill in the dog park that’s fun for the dogs to race up and down on.
When we arrived, there were three dogs in the small dog section. This time around, we were much more careful and observed the dogs before going in. Two of the three dogs were reactive towards Nomii and so we walked away. However, their owners quickly told us they were leaving. The third dog seems fine and so we went in, let Nomii and the dog greet each other before letting Nomii off leash…and off they ran tearing up and down the hill after each other.
The owner of this third dog is a lovely lady. We chatted about life in California, where we’re from, Chinese food, and of course, her dog. It’s a pity but it seems she’s allowed her dog, a rescue, to boss her around. She says that if the dog is snuggling her and she moves thereby making the dog uncomfortable, he will nip her… But she doesn’t seem to be making any effort to change that so I guess she’s ok with it. *shrug*
This dog park isn’t fancy but it’s clean and there’s a working tap to provide drinking water for the dogs. Within the park near the car parking area are clean public restrooms for humans. And Nomii met a herd of cows.
Dog Beach
We visited just one beach – the Morro Bay Dog Beach – and wish so much we could have gone to more if the weather had been better.
The Morro Bay Dog Beach is apparently an off-leash beach but the dogs we encountered were all on-leash…which we much prefer anyway! It’s quite a workout walking on the soft sand from the parking lot to the actual beach but it was worth it. The beach itself is clean and a long, long stretch to walk on.
Nomii nosed the air, chased the little waves, dug in the sand and had a blast!
Restaurant
Well…like I said at the very beginning, patio dining isn’t available when the weather is cold. Many restaurants had already closed their patios. However, one afternoon, when the sun was unexpectedly Californian, we found ourselves at Taco Temple in an unplanned random stop for lunch. Turns out we chanced upon a hot local favorite!
We ordered the specials of the day – scallop tacos and a shells and chorizo soup – and both were excellent. The seafood was obviously super fresh and the soup was so rich yet refreshing at the same time.
Our favorite thing about Taco Temple? Their response when we asked them if we could dine with Nomii in the Patio area – that Nomii was more than welcomed!
Dining out is just so much more enjoyable when a restaurant isn’t just pet-friendly, but welcomes pets. Of course, Nomii is usually well behaved and most people wouldn’t even realize there’s a dog at our table.
If it were easier to travel from our home base in Michigan to Santa Barbara, we’d visit again. It’s a nice little city and there’s so much we didn’t get to do and see because of the rain.
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Disc Dog Sport
He races, he leaps, he flies, he catches and he fetches. Nomii is extremely high energy and very smart so I’m always looking for something to do with him.
One random day, when I was once again hunting online for ideas of activities I can do with Nomii, I chanced upon something called UpDog, a disc and dog sport event where dogs catch flying discs. More Google dives later, I found that “disc dog” is the broader category of sports associated with dogs catching flying discs. And more searches later, including on Facebook, I found that we have a disc dog team in the tri-city area called Tri City Disc Dogs! And that a fall league was about to start!
And so we showed up and signed up.
Our experience has been so positive we keep going back for more. The emphasis on fun, growth and bonding with your dog is what we love. The community is amazing – we always feel welcomed and encouraged to ask as many questions as we want. Nomii doesn’t score very well but he has a blast every time he’s on the field.
But let’s back up a little and break it down a bit.
What’s Disc Dog?
Disc dog is the sport of dogs catching flying discs. There are many different types of disc dog games and the main ones are “Toss and Fetch” and “UpDog”.
What’s Toss & Fetch?
It’s exactly what it says – you toss a disc and your dog catches and returns the disc to you…and you go again. You could also throw rollers, i.e. roll the disc on the grass and your dog needs to catch it before the disc falls flat on the grass.
The field is divided into 5 scoring zones – from 0, 1, 2, 3, and 5 points – 10 yards apart. Your score depends on the zone in which your dog catches the disc in multiple throws over 60 or 90 seconds. You play in a league of at least 8 people. More details here.
What’s UpDog?
UpDog is actually a disc and dog sport organization. UpDog Challenge offers many different games involving your dog and his discs. There are disc only set-ups and disc and agility type of play too. The games are all time bound and every game you play earns you points and “achievements”, which are digital badges. If you earn enough points in a year, you qualify to join the UpDog International Challenge, which as far as I can see, are US only events.
How do I teach my dog to catch discs?
I’ve met dogs who just aren’t interested in playing fetch or catching discs. Luckily for us, Nomii lives for the game of “fetch”.
While this video is old, I find it very useful for planning how I teach Nomii to catch discs, .
When your dog has learned how to catch discs and enjoys it, keep the disc away when it’s not time to play. The fact that he doesn’t get to play this game unless you initiate it and he does it with you increases the value of the game and helps you build relevancy and bond as well.
Doing the disc dog league together with Nomii has been very enjoyable for us humans and Nomii seems to know that when he’s on the field, it’s game time. We’ll keep doing it until he stops showing excitement for the sport.
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Life with Nomii 