Pet Friendly travel - West Jefferson, NC
-
A little bit of dog heaven in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina.
Here we are in another installment of the traveling Picinich dogs. Friday morning we loaded the car; seat belted the dogs into the back seat and headed on our 350 mile trip to the Dog House Resort in West Jefferson, NC.
The Dog House Resort is a log cabin bed and breakfast that was built with dogs and owners in mind. There are four guest rooms named for celebrity dogs – Benji; Lassie; Beethoven; and the Lady and the Tramp room which has an even more deluxe accommodation with a King size bed.
We stayed in the Benji room which like all of the rooms has a porch with an amazing view of the mountains; a fireplace; bathroom with jetted tub; mini fridge and log themed furniture.
The dogs had their own special amenities in the room; each had their own bed with dog “mints” and toys lying on the beds when we arrived. Bowls for food and water if you did not bring your own were waiting in front of the fireplace. Instead of a mini bar for the humans there was a dog “mini bar” which held the Furr me products - shampoo, perfume spray and a soothing spray to help dogs with separation anxiety.
The B & B dedicates their bottom floor to a doggie day care / pet sitting if the humans would like to take in the area or have dinner without their dogs. If you take your crate along you can also leave your dog in your room, which is what we did. Roger, the owner, will come and check on the dogs while you are gone. All that they ask is that you not be gone for longer than 4 hours max.
Onsite there is a dog park, this fenced in area I believe was about ½ an acre which slopped down a mountain. Chase and Zahra got some exercise running up and down that embankment! We sat at the patio table outside and read magazines while the dogs played.
Not to stray from talking about the dogs but I do have to tell you two legged folks about the wonderful breakfast that we had each morning that we woke up. I personally am not fond of waking up early on work days and I am definitely not crazy about waking up early while on vacation but when you smell home cooking as great as Roger breakfast you don’t seem to mind getting up early.
Every morning Roger offered orange juice, tea, coffee and fresh fruit for starters Then he would bring out the plate da la resistance our first morning was a quiche with eggs, bacon, hash browns and ham; Chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries, chocolate whipped cream, regular whipped cream and fried bananas our second morning; our last morning was blueberry muffins, biscuits, blueberry waffles with hash browns. It was very disappointing to wake up this morning back in our own house and realize that we would not be having an awesome breakfast like that this morning!
My husband told me on the way home that he was initially worried that a doggie hotel would have a doggie smell to it, the Dog House Resort smelled better than some non-doggie hotels that we have stayed at! There was no pet smell at all at the Dog House resort.
This is only second Bed and Breakfast that we have stayed at and it was amazing! We are planning on going back in the fall to go hiking and enjoy the fall colors.
The dog house resort is located in West Jefferson, NC way up on top of a mountain. Room prices range from $149 - $225 and they offer different packages which offer golf, massage for you and your dog and canoeing.
Phone: 336-977-3582 or E-mail: reservations@dog-house-resort.com
http://www.dog-house-resort.com/welcome.html
Saturday we did a 5 mile canoe trip on our second day down the New River with both dogs. Chase, our Puggle, could not wait to jump into the water but Zahra seemed more than happy to stay in the canoe. Eventually she did jump in and didn’t seem to mind the water that much. Once she was lying in the canoe again we had to cover her up with sweatshirts to stop her from shivering!
We went back to Zaloo’s Canoes on Monday and tried Kayaking with the dogs. This did not o over too well because Zahra can not be separated from Chase and we each had a dog in a kayak. This was a 10 mile trip which probably 9 of those miles were spent with Zahra trying to jump out of the kayak (successfully doing so quite a few times until I shortened her leash) and screaming like we were killing her. Eventually we got smart and put Chase and her in the same kayak and they settled down. I don’t think Zahra liked the Kayak as much as the Canoe.
The canoe / kayak trips were beautiful and so peaceful. Sometimes I forgot that we were anywhere near civilization because you could go what seemed like miles without seeing a house. The trees were so green and the water was crystal clear.
Our canoe trip was included in our B & B stay so I am not sure what the price was but the 10 mile kayak trip was $43.00 each which includes the kayak, life vest, and transportation back to Zaloo’s at the end of your trip.
The trip was overall amazing. I can’t boast enough about the B & B and it was nice to be “away from it all” in the small town in the mountains. If you are looking for a quiet peaceful place to hike, canoe or just relax with your dogs this is the place.
-
Sounds Amazing!!! I can't let my dogs see this post otherwise they'll run away & hitch hike to Zalos :eek: :eek:
thanks for sharing!!
-
Wow Jenn,
This sounds like a great place! And you all had time spent together - whether Chase and Zahra liked the kyak or not, they were happy to be with you. Good to know your DH is back home, too. Wouldn't it be nice if there were more places like this? They are hard to find especially with good references like yours. Thanks for sharing your experience . . . now I want to have breakfast for dinner!
-
Matt with Chase and Zahra
Zahra helping to finding our way
-
Jill, this vacation rocked and it was so much better since DH was home to enjoy the outing! I am not much for canoes I like to kayak better and I really think Zahra will learn to enjoy it in time. We are seriously considering buying kayaks now that my husband enjoys it as much as me (it was his first time kayaking). We will just keep trying it with Zahra and hope that she changes, if not she will stay at the kennel and we will just take Chase. I think she will change over time.
I wish I would have been more descriptive about the vacation but I was so worn out when I wrote that today that I could not put into words how beautiful, peaceful and serene this place was. Roger, the owner of the B & B was the most wonderful host and his breakfast was incredible. I didn't meet his wife Britta, she was out of town while we were there.
Our first night there were two other couples there so there was a total of 5 dogs. I wish they all would have gotten the chance to play together but we were up and out to go canoing early and never had the opportunity for the dogs to play with the other dogs. Sunday morning there was only one other couple with two dogs but they left after breakfast so again no chance for the dogs to play. Monday it was just us.
I can't wait to go back. You guys have got to drive down and check this place out!
DH has pictures of the B & B on his computer so I will post more on here once I have a chance to get them from him.
-
At the dog park at the B & B
Zahra praying that we don't take her back out on the kayak! Maybe a doggie massage would have been better for her …
-
This sounds like an amazing trip and you two hoomans enjoyed it even more! I would love to check out the place in person.
-
Sounds like a PAWSOME time was had by all! Definately a place I will look into for a vacation, plus it's not too far away from TN. Thanks for all the information and pictures!!!
