ROAD DOGS
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This is our new home! Gee I sure hope we get some grass soon!
In the Box
by Lorraine Clark Every parent or anyone else who is around children will tell you that no matter how big, great, entertaining, or exciting the present is, the box it comes in is often what the child plays with or in. There is a fascination with a big box one can get into. When we got new patio furniture and had three large boxes the chairs came in, we cut doors and windows in then, covered the boxes with pretty contact paper and let the grandkids have houses to play in. Often they would curl up in there with a blanket and a book for hours. Well, Truman and Barkley are no different. A recent trip to a big box store resulted in some nice boxes. We set them aside while putting the groceries away and then turned around to find both dogs had picked out their favorite box and climbed in. We decided the dogs could enjoy the boxes so their blankets were added and the boxes were placed against the wall where the afternoon sunlight comes in through the doors. Our cats also like to sleep in a box so the pets had to work out a schedule. Our grey Aggie cat, who is 18 years old and rules the house, gets first choice. If she is in one of the boxes, the dogs and the rest of the cats know to leave her alone. She gets what she wants. The other cats will take turns and Truman and Barkley are smart enough to know they need to share. Barkley especially likes the top box. He is able to jump right up there and get a better view. On a chilly day, both dogs will cuddle up in one box, under their blanket. They like to be really warm. A simple, often free, box can be fun for everyone. 
Truman and Barkley Getting Settled
After spending years on the road with their person driving semi truck over the road throughout the country, Truman and Barkley have a new adventure living in a permanent home. A new house has been placed on 3 ½ acres in western Nevada. The house is home to our person and her parents so everyone is together. This includes Truman and Barkley’s big sister dog Marley and 4 cats. Truman and Barkley now have lots of room to run. A band of wild horses roams across the property and some fences will need to be put up. In Nevada much of the land is public land and wild horses along with other wildlife are free to roam. The law is if horses or other animals aren’t wanted on the land, fences must be put up to keep them out without harming any of them. The move took longer than we had planned but now we are settled. A large deck has been added to the back of the house and new steps on the back door. Truman and Barkley are ready for new adventures on their new place. Days are spent running over the property, watching the horses, and sometimes chasing a jack rabbit or a covey of quail. Check back for more adventures of Truman and Barkley. 
Above: We have new friends. They are wild horses!
Below: Everyone has been working very hard. We try to stay out of the way!
We miss being on the road sometimes, but it is really good to be all together in our new home. We will check in again when our people unpack their computers!
Truman and Barkley Checking in for the New Year.
Our lives have changed some over the winter and we are now at home and off the road. Our person is going back to school and will be working off the road. We will be moving to our new home that is on 3 ½ acres just outside a larger town. We are excited to be moving and will have lots of space to run and play. We will post photos as the new place gets ready and we start to move. Our Friend Gabby came to visit the other day. We all played hard running through the snow and then had to have a nap. We got a fireplace and we really like sleeping in front of it in our beds. Life is good for us dogs. 
Holiday Barbeque
Sometimes it is hard to be on the road over a weekend or a holiday. Everyone else is home enjoying time with family and friends with all kinds of great food. We are often on the road. Our friend Ollie, another trucking Chihuahua mix, told us this story when we all met up at the truck stop. The company our person works for has set up a BBQ outside the drivers’ lounge where there is a small kitchen. So this past holiday weekend, we were spending the evening in the yard and our person decided to treat us to a grilled steak. We went to the store and got a great looking steak and some hamburger. She wanted a salad and a piece of fruit, but that wasn’t what I was looking forward to. My person fired up the grill and got the steak and hamburger cooking. Is there anything that smells better than a piece of beef on a grill? Not that I know of. When the meat was ready, she gave me the piece of hamburger while she sat down with her salad and steak. Wait a minute. What is this? You think I’m going to eat hamburger while you chow down on that steak? I don’t think so. With a little bit of whining and using my big brown puppy dog eyes, I was rewarded with a few bites of that delicious steak. She can have the hamburger tomorrow or maybe share it with me then. Tonight we dined on grilled steak and enjoyed the summer evening even if we were not at home. You got to make the best of where you are. Happy trucking and see you at the next stop. We had a great time exploring the dog park in Twin Falls, Idaho last week. This park has only been open for a year or so, but it is lovely. There is lots of grass to run in, fences to separate the big dogs and the little dogs, and trees for shade. This must be a very popular spot because lots of people came by and there were about 20 dogs all playing in the park. After a few days in the truck, it is so nice to get out and run full speed without a leash or the need to watch for the traffic. Sometimes we get to run in the truck yard, but then we have to watch for the big trucks coming and going. Being able to go to a dog park is just great. We can run all we want, meet new dogs, and make friends. We really appreciate towns that have dog parks. We will check back in later as we travel the roads of this great country. 
Enjoying the View
Truman and Barkley here checking in with all our followers. We are home for a few days and just made the best discovery. We love to ride in the front window of the truck as we travel the roads of this great country. Now we have discovered that we have a window seat at home also. There are four cats that live here at the house. They have two window seats they can enjoy when they want to nap in the window and soak up the sunshine. This grey cat enjoying the sun is Aggie. We have just discovered that we can go from the coach we sleep on up into the window seats. Now we can nap in the window and keep an eye on what is happening outside. It is great to be in the window just like we are in the truck. We will enjoy a little home time and then hit the road again. 
Truman and Barkley Meet a New Friend
Truman and Barkley send greetings from the road and say spring is on the way. A few days ago we stopped at a truck stop in Wyoming and meet another driver. She has a ranch and one of her sheep had just delivered three baby lambs. A mother sheep and nurse two but three are too much to take care of and feed. Because one of them was going to need constant care and feeding, she decided to take one with her on the road. We met her at the truck stop where she had stopped to feed the little on from a bottle and to change it. Yes, she had put diapers on it since they were traveling in her truck. That made things much easier and cleaner in the truck. She was going to be on the road for several days and knew she would have to feed the little guy every couple of hours. So if you come across a great lady caring for her new lamb, just know spring is on the way when new little faces start to appear. Of course most of them will be in the fields along the roads, but some little ones get special treatment when they need it. We hope the little guy does well and will soon be running in the fields with his brother and sister. We never know what strange sights we will see along the road, but it certainly keeps life interesting as we travel the highways. So long for now from Truman and Barkley. |
Adopted from a shelter, these two little guys are companions for an over the road trucker, daughter of the owner of Clark Publications. Together they travel the highways of this great country.
Hi, my name is Truman and I am a truckin' Chihuahua.
My person is a commercial driver and we travel the highways and roads of the United States. Sometimes we even go to Canada.We have been together about 3 years. Our pal Barkley travels with us. Both Barkley and I are rescue dogs from a shelter and we are really lucky to have a person to take care of us. Our job is to ride shotgun and keep our person company as we cover the highways.We have a home base where we stop every so often to get a bath and a chance to play in the yard with our big sister dog, Marley. She likes to have us come by for a day or two so we can all play chase and tug a war with our toys. We like the chance to play outside after being in the truck for several days. We have been keeping a journal and will post our adventures from time to time on this site. We see all sorts of sights from the road and have fun adventures. We hope you will follow our travels as we truck along. Until next time, greetings from the road.I was named Truman by a former owner, but when she passed away, I went to a shelter. I was lucky to be adopted after a few weeks. About 6 months, later my person decided to add to our family. She looked online to see who President Truman's vice president was and found out it was William Barkley. So that's how we ended up as Truman and Barkley. We like traveling the highways and meeting all sorts of other pets on the road, including other dogs, cats, snakes, birds, ferrets, and even an alligator in one truck. You never know who or what might be riding along side. We hope you will follow our stories. 
From the Road
Truman and Barkley here again, checking in. We really like to stop in a rest area or a town that has a dog park so we can have a good run. We can run as fast and as much as we want in dog parks. This makes a nice break after long hours or days on the road. The parks are always clean as dog people are very good about cleaning up after us. We are excited to be stopping soon at a great dog park in Dayton, Nevada. We have been here a few times and think it is wonderful. There is a big fence around the whole park to make sure we are safe. The park inside is divided for small dogs and big dogs so each can run without getting in trouble. There are lots of paths with places to sit for the people with us. Trees provide shade on the hot days and there is always lots of water all over the park. There are toys to play if your people didn’t bring any along with them. We wish more places would have dog parks. Our people like stopping here almost as much as we do. A stop in a park is a chance for a little fresh air, some good exercise, and a chance to visit and play with others. Our people feel the same way. Until next time, greetings from the road as we get back to work. We hope you will follow our stories and send us a post now and then at ruralnevadanews.com 
Truman and Barkley on the Road
Earlier this summer we were traveling Interstate 70 through Colorado when we saw a band of mountain sheep. These were right along the road and we got an up close view of the babies with their mamas. We thought they were really cute and wished we had time to make a quick stop to play chase among the rocks, but the canyon is narrow on this stretch of road and there was no place to pull off. As we travel the roads, we often see wild critters. In Nebraska, we see flocks of turkey. Wyoming is great for seeing antelope and sometimes deer. Nevada roads around our home in Ely often have elk crossing the roads. Cattle, wild horses, coyotes, rabbits, marmots, and snakes all can be seen along the roads and often are hit. Our person says when she was little her family would play a kind of bingo where each of them would try to get the most animals crossed off their list to win. That sounds like fun. We just like seeing what other animals are out there. Our person likes seeing most of the critters. Once she saw a tarantula in a rest stop. Another time there was an alligator. So sometimes it’s better just watch the road and not look for animals. 
Angel’s Story
We made a stop on a rural highway miles from any town. We all needed to walk a little and stretch. As we began walking away from the road into the sagebrush, we could hear a little voice crying. We looked around and found this sweet puppy. We think she was about 8 weeks old. We searched around but could not find any signs of other pups or a mom. It looked like this little girl was just dropped off in the middle of nowhere to fend for herself. Of course we weren’t going to just leave her out there. So she joined us in the truck. At the next town, we stopped at a store and got puppy chow, a sweater, collar, and some puppy pads for the floor. We named her Angel and we all think she is just wonderful. Of course, three dogs in the truck gets a little crowded but we traveled along getting to know each other. After a few phone calls to friends we located a family that was interested in adding a puppy to their family. After a few days, we were able to meet up and deliver Angel to her new home. She has been there for a few weeks now and reports that she has found her forever home and couldn’t be happier. We are thankful she has a new home. We just can’t understand how anyone could drop off an animal to just die. There are shelters that will take in animals and find them good homes. Truman and Barkley both remember being in rescue shelters and getting their home. We are happy to know Angel found a good home and we can visit her when we go through. 
Home for the Holidays
Truman and Barkley send greetings from home base. We have been home for a few weeks to enjoy some home time and take a break. We love traveling the roads of this great country but sometimes it is nice to be home and have time to run and play in the yard with our big sister dog Marley. We had some friends stop by to visit. Woofy lives in Las Vegas with her people and they came to visit for Thanksgiving. She lives with two big tomcats and so she doesn’t get the play chase and other games with other dogs very much. We had fun playing tug a war with her. She and Marley are about the same size so they could play a little harder. Marley likes playing with a big dog too. Another driver we know stopped by with her dog Ollie. She is a dark Chihuahua and we all had fun running around the yard. It is fun to hide behind the bushes and then chase each other. Most of this break Truman and Barkley have enjoyed lying by the fire after a hard play session outside. We got about 15 inches of snow a few days ago and we had fun helping shovel the walks. We can push a lot of snow with our noses and it is fun to hide in. We are heading back to work in a couple days and are ready to hit the road. We will send reports back as we travel the country. We really are best friends!
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