What did your dog do on summer vacation?

I remember the days when heading back to school meant reporting to the class what you did on your summer vacation. It was always fun to tell my friends about how I spent the summer riding my horse, swimming in the creek or  lounging in a hammock reading the Ranger Rick magazines. The year there I got to report about my “BIG” vacation to St Louis and the elevator trip to the top of the Arch was a highlight!

So in the spirit of end of summer and back to school here’s what I did this summer with my dogs:

Diva got to try her hand at Dock Diving when the event came to town in June. Thanks to some helpful tips from our friend and expert Dock Diving participant, Sue Barnes, Diva didn’t do half bad…more importantly, she had a great time. If you’ve never heard the “Toller scream” google it and take a look at what an excited Duck Toller sounds like. Guaranteed to make you smile. 🙂

We also put in new landscaping at our house this spring…so protecting tender new plants from digging dogs was part of the summer agenda. Here we are at the end of August and our pack knows what is off limits.

The Adventure Challenge we issued in May took as to many great places this summer. Some old standbys,  like the Mississippi water front on the south side of the Julien Dubuque Bridge and some new adventures like walking in the rain on the Calcite Loop at the Mines of Spain. We also discovered some cool little parks here in Dubuque, IA. Unfortunately they are still off limits to dogs. 🙁 BUT we are hopeful that all the work we and other like minded friends put in with meetings and petitioning this summer will pay off as our city Council tackles the issue this fall. Hopefully the vote will go in our favor that the ban on dogs from city parks will be repealed. With any luck, next summer will offer some great new places to visit for us dog lovers with our canine friends.

The highlight of summer 2012 was traveling to Colorado and visiting Rocky Mountain National Park with both my kids and Diva. My kids and one of my dogs…there isn’t a better combo than that.

Our “Dog Days of Summer” were filled with lots of fun adventures and hopefully we made life more fulfilling for all the dogs we trained and had in daycare this summer at That’s My Dog! As we head into the cooler fall weather be sure to get out with your companions and continue to make great memories. If you need some inspiration to get out and about consider signing up for Kelly’s upcoming hiking with your dog class. Registration is limited so call soon!

 

So tell us, what did your dog do this summer?