It’s that time of year again, the leaves are changing color, the temperature is dropping, and the days are getting shorter. However, there’s still time to enjoy while the temperature is pleasant. Here are six ideas to have fun outdoors with your dog:
- Explore a cool hiking trail
- Go camping
- Create a backyard obstacle course
- Go swimming
- Have a Picnic
- Take a training class together
Hiking with Your Dog
Fall is a great time of year to go hiking with all the leaves changing colors. It’s a lot more common to run into breathtaking sights especially with the sunset happening earlier. Your dog is sure to love the quality time with you and the outdoor adventure.
Camping
Camping with your family is a great idea if you want to go hiking for multiple days in a row. This way, all of you can explore the great outdoors, make long lasting memories together, plus who doesn’t love a good road trip? This is also a great option regardless of how much exercise your dog needs because it can be a more laid back or active outing.
Backyard Obstacle Course
If you don’t want to go anywhere, making an obstacle course in your backyard for your dog can be a fun time for the whole family. This allows you to be creative and totally design the whole course yourself, or if you’re short on time you could go online to find out how to make one.
If you have kids, or younger relatives to entertain, you could assist them in creating the course and then pretend to have a professional dog show where they have to introduce the dog(s) and then run alongside them through the course. You can give them both a score at the end and award the kid(s) with ice cream and a kong filled with peanut butter for the dog.
Swimming
Even though the temperature is cooling down, dogs are often more heat sensitive than humans. If it’s a hot day or even just a nice sunny one, a day in the water is well spent, especially when you can . If your dog doesn’t like the water, maybe they’ll enjoy a nap under a beach umbrella while you dive into a good book.
Have a Picnic with Your Dog
A Picnic is a great idea after any of these other activities or as its own outing. If you have an english bulldog, great dane, basset hound, or another less active dog, they would probably appreciate a picnic where they can relax in the shade and graze on some food instead of hiking or swimming.
Take a Training Class Together at Dog Gone Fun
Dog Gone Fun (DGF) offers a number of training classesincluding, group basic obedience, one-on-one training at DGF, and agility training. This is especially great for puppies so they can learn important skills they’ll use for the rest of their life.
If you would like to learn more about the various training classes we offer or other services like dog grooming, daycare, boarding, or our puppy program, then call us today at (517) 657-4300 and we’ll see what best works for you and your dog.