whether i was giving him the best life possible. i said i need to go on a road trip with my dog and bond with him. reporter: that s how ben decided to take his labrador mix casey on a road trip. but this wasn t your average road trip. it was a 13,000-mile, 32-state, four-month motor home adventure across america. and it s all in the new book travels with casey. the author, a new york times magazine writer, wanted to better understand his relationship with casey. but he also wanted to explore what makes america dog crazy, just how crazy? there s one canine for every four humans in the u.s. more than 50 million households have a dog. that s the highest dog ownership rate on earth. and americans now spend roughly $40 billion on dog products and services each year. we do spoil our pets in ways we didn t really used to and, you know, dogs are now considered family members and a lot of people consider them their children.