Travel is for the dogs…and cats! – Photo Essay

Everywhere we go it seems we stumble upon some adorable pooch or kitty that Lisa is just dying to take home. Since we can’t actually take them ALL home with us, we have to settle for the next best thing – sharing some of their photos and stories along the way.

These bull terriers (above) we met walking down the streets of Prague were full of personality. They greeted every passer-by with a nod, then went on with their own conversation as if it were the most natural thing in the world for two dogs to be conversing on the sidewalk.

This spooky beauty greeted us one evening in Monsagrati Alto, Italy while we were waiting for a local restaurant to open. We’d walked down the hill from our house-sit and were sitting on a bench when out of nowhere out little visitor appeared. He/she was very curious of us and kept a close watch until the smell of freshly cooking pizza pulled us inside to eat.

Tucked amid the ruins in the ancient city of Corinth, Greece, a mother and her pups found a quiet place to rest. One of the local tour guides said she was an excellent mother and had raised several litters of healthy puppies even with busloads of tourists coming by every day. It seems the entire village makes sure she’s well fed and looked after. Looks like this stray found a safe place to make her home.

It was a foggy morning in the Italian olive groves near Lucca, Italy and I almost missed the little face peeking around the planter. Only a soft meow let us know she was just above our heads. Even without the animals, we found Italy to be one of the most charming places we’ve been on our travels.

Full of curiosity, this tiny ginger kitten followed us as we explored the ruins of Ephesus, near Izmir, Turkey. It was rather shy at first, but with a little patience, we quickly won its trust. Now if only customs would allow a kitten in my carry-on!

One of the hardest things about traveling long-term is that you have to give up owning a pet. But a huge bonus for us for us has been discovering house-sitting which allows us to love a pet (or sometimes four) as though they were our own. These aren’t pictures of our house-sitting pets, we’re saving them for a special post all their own. These are random little critters we’ve found on our travels and taken home with us in our minds. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!