Amore

Jul 4, 2017
3 min read

Updated: May 7

One of the things I was worried about the most, when thinking about Sammy in Europe, was our planned trip to Venice, Italy. Of course, I did some research. I found out that that's where Sammy really needed a muzzle. On the water taxis, ferries, etc., The internet said, "Muzzles required."

Also, I was wondering what it would be like bringing Sammy into Italy from Slovenia.

I'm glad to say that crossing borders are no problem these days. But, back when I was a college student and traveling throughout Europe, I remember those early morning border stops - the guards would wake us up in our sleeping cabins, shining bright lights in our faces and demand our passports. Nothing like that now. Just drive on down the highway, no stopping, no waiting, no passport showing involved.

***And, for those of you who want to travel through Europe with your dog, the Health Certificate is good for many European countries (just so you know).

The infamous Health Certificate.

So, getting into Venice was really no problem. We parked our car at the GIANT parking lot on the outskirts of Venice, and had to drive all the way up to the rooftop - 10th floor. Then, getting into Venice was just a matter of walking across a glass bridge. No problem, right. Well, with luggage and a dog and 90 degrees, kinda a problem. And, did I mention that for Sammy, the sun pounding down on him is like wearing a black, fur coat. Poor boy. I ended up having to carry him a part of the way - he kept just plopping down. Luckily, we didn't have to walk too far to our Airbnb, about a 10 minute journey once we crossed the bridge.

Sammy doing his thing!

What I didn't know, and what turned out to be both good and bad was that our Airbnb hostess, Valerie, is a dog lover. She fawned over Sammy, continually petting him and repeating, "Amore" with this Italian accent (even though she's Irish). That's the good part. The bad part is that she has a dog of her own - a Pitbull named, Chanel. If you know me at all, you know that I'm terrified of Pitbulls and the reason being that Sammy likes to bark and attempt to attack Pitbulls (this is the only quality of Sammy that I have a problem with). At this point, what could I do - I couldn't tell Angela, "I'm not staying here, for sure!" I had to live with the fact that for the next 48 hours, Sammy would be in close proximity to a big, female Pitbull named Chanel.

Meet Chanel

This is where I had to express and make my fears and anxiety known - crystal clear - no matter how I was perceived, or how embarrassed or ashamed I felt. I told Valerie straight out that there was to be NO contact between Sammy and Chanel, at all. And, I said this more than once, maybe even more than three times. Valerie was great and we came up with a game plan - Chanel was going to stay in a back room whenever she was in the apartment. Then, on our second day in Venice, when Angela and I were visiting synagogues and museums, and we needed to leave Sammy in our dark, cool room, we shut the door, latched the lock from the outside and taped a sign on the door that said "DOG INSIDE - DO NOT ENTER!"

Everything worked out. Chanel and Sammy never met. Which is the best thing that couldn't happened because as we were departing our Airbnb and leaving Venice, our incredible and lovely hostess Valerie said, "Yeah, Chanel can be quite aggressive with other dogs sometimes." I'm glad she didn't tell me that upon our arrival!

Overall, our stay in Venice was great. Venice is pretty dog friendly - Sammy went into coffee shops and dined with us at outdoor cafes and restaurants. The only downsides about bringing a dog to Venice would be 1) the heat, 2) the crowds and 3) the lack of trash cans (for poop). Seriously, there are NO garbage cans in Venice!