Thank You Sheraton For Taking Our Pets During Hurricane Irma

I was not planning on having to evacuate due to Hurricane Irma. That all changed a week ago Friday morning when I received an alert with an Immediate Evacuation order for the zone I live in on the west coast of Florida. As many of you know, I was a full time RV'er after the death of my husband for a couple of years. I could no longer travel in my motor home and decided to settle in Weeki Wachee, Florida. I no longer live in my motor home, but in a park model still in the RV park I fell in love with. I live a couple of miles, as the crow flies, from the Gulf and on that Friday, Hurricane Irma was expected to still be a category 4 hurricane when the eye of the storm was expected to pass right over where I live. My brother lives on one side of me in his motor home and my Mom and her little Yorkie, Tinker, live across from me. I received the alert about 11 am. I called my Mom and my brother to let them know we needed to leave. I was hoping to be on the road by 1 pm.

We all got loaded up in my car and left at about 2:30 that afternoon. I dearly love my brother, but he can be one of the slowest moving people I have ever known. Looking back, I can laugh about it now, at the time, I was ready to wring his neck. I had both my mother and myself ready with all three of our dogs by about 12:30. We got on the road heading north with most of Florida, I think. It took over 15 hours to go what normally takes a little over 3 hours up the west coast. The dogs were great travelers through all of it.

I knew Belle would do just fine. She had traveled with my husband and myself when we would take our 5th wheel to go camping. She started camping with us when she was just 4 months old. She was born with no retinas, so we decided when she was just a baby if she could not go, we did not go. She had always been completely blind, so we did not want her put in positions where she was uneasy. She traveled with me and our two miniature Schnauzers when I went on the road in my motor home. They were great travelers too, but I have lost them to old age over the last few years. My main concern was Abbie, my wonderful Min Pin. I do not really know Abbie's story. She was 8 weeks old when I got her. She had scars on her back and was terrified of people. I held her almost continuously for several months with her snuggled up next to my neck. She came to know I would not hurt her and my brother would not hurt her. She accepted our Mom when she moved to Florida also. She only has one or two other people I have come to call "her people". She is still afraid of anyone else even though she is over 3 years old now. I hope she learns people will not hurt her and she does not have to be afraid as she gets older. She is not aggressive. She just gets very nervous and definitely keeps her distance. I have about decided it was probably kids who hurt her. She barks at kids, and gets very anxious. She definitely gets into flight mode. She settled right down on a pillow in the back seat with Mom and Tinker. Belle traveled on Paul's lap in the front seat.

My brother, Paul, got on his phone and started working on finding us lodging for the evacuation. He searched all the towns going north on Hwy 19 as well as in Alabama and Georgia. He was at it about 3 hours when he found us a room at the Sheraton Bay Point Resort, in Panama City, Florida. He booked the room not knowing if it was a pet friendly hotel or not. We would have taken turns sleeping and staying in the car with the dogs if it was not a pet friendly hotel. It turned out this was a wonderfully pet friendly hotel. It seemed there were more dogs staying at the hotel than children. There is a dog walk area with a poop bag dispenser. They provided pee pads for the people who had not brought them and wanted them. I definitely had mine with me and placed them on the floor of the room, just in case. We did not need them, but better safe than sorry.

I was so proud of Abbie. She did really well. She did not become anxious walking around the hotel unless someone reached for her. She would go up to people to sniff at their legs. I explained a little of her story to the people we came into contact with and they were great with her. She learned about the elevators really quickly. We would walk down the hall and she would sit to wait for the elevator doors to open up. She would then get in and sit in front of me until the doors opened back up again. She was always the first one off, heading right to the door going out to the lounging area in the back of the hotel. While there, we had breakfast at an outdoor table for one of the restaurants at the hotel. She would lay at my feet while we ate. There were several restaurants with outdoor seating at this hotel. There were many dogs sitting outside with their owners at these restaurants.

The hotel gave out poop bag holders to clip on leashes to anyone who needed them and also set out bowls with fresh water at some of the outdoor seating areas. The hotel was at capacity with all us evacuees and our pets but the staff made sure we all felt welcomed. Thank you, Sheraton Bay Point Resort. You made a difficult time so much better.