I hope you are all enjoying some time with the furry love of your life on Valentines Day! Chloe and I plan to spend the day in a very warm fort watching romantic comedies and dog movies ALL DAY. In the meantime; we have realized that it is kind of tough to keep socializing during these freezing cold COVID days. What have you been doing to be social with your dog? I have complied a lovely list of SIXTEEN super fun activities you can do with your dog, for Valentines day, a dog birthday, a super fun weekend or any other old day when you’re wanting to hangout with your best friend!
Hiking
My favorite socially distant activity! Chloe and I love spending time outside, and hiking is one of our absolute favorite activities. There is an easy way to make sure your hike is deserted! Sunrise hiking. Yeah, you heard me. Noone else does it! It is a great way to ensure a trail is empty on an adventure.
You can also use the all trails app and search for “lightly trafficked” hikes, compared to heavily or moderately trafficked hikes. Search in nearby National Forests; as National Parks and State Parks have remained pretty busy. I also like to wear a bandana around my neck (that matches Chloe’s of course!) that I can pull up as a mask when I am walking past people on the trail! Hiking is a super fun, social distant dog friendly activity these days.
Water Days: Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Digging up Sand
It may be -28 below in Northern Minnesota these days; but we can always dream of summer and the incredible warm days on the water! Chloe loves spending time on the water; and it makes for a great socially distant activity! My kayak is 10 feet long which makes it easy to keep away from those around us in the water!
Forest Bathing
I’m not even talking about taking a bath! Which would also be a fun socially distant activity- but I am talking about using mindfulness and meditation while dwelling in nature. I recently learned about this activity. It is a great way to savor nature with your dog! Basically you use your senses to enjoy nature. I like to focus on one sense for each hike or nature excursion- if chloe is running off leash at a national forest; I use my ears to listen to her happy hopping; or if it’s sunrise I’ll focus my eyes on each thing the light touches. You can also journal to experience and reflect about nature.
Picnic Date
I mean, who doesn’t love a picnic date? Chloe and I love to support local small restaurants by ordering to go and enjoying our food somewhere outdoors! As restaurants become more open; we can sit outside and enjoy our dinners as well.
Dog Friendly Museums
This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy time with Chloe! There are many local museums or history walks that are dog friendly! We found an awesome history walk at Crow Wing State Park in northern Minnesota; and we also found the airplane museum in Fargo as well as the visitor center in Fargo are both pet friendly! As museums typically encourage ‘no touching’ of items; and they are usually pretty quiet we found this to be an awesome socially distant adventure near us! Give your local museum a call to find out if they are pet friendly!
Camping
I mean, maybe it’s a no brainer, but Chloe for sure LOVES to watch me try to build a fire. In fact, she participates by destroying my stick design everytime I try to get a fire started. It is quite entertaining! And then I always wonder how she feels when I light her pile of toy-sticks on fire. Nonetheless; Chloe loves camping! We camp all year- winter, summer, fall and spring!
Central Minnesota free camping
Cross Country Ski, Skijorn, Snowshoe
One of my favorite things about having Chloe as an adventure partner, is that she has the capacity to learn any number of new things! Our current northern Minnesota winter-time escapade is learning how to skijourn! Chloe is doing wonderfully; and hopefully will be ready for a fun trip to the Boundary Waters; Skijorning around the ice here soon!
ATV, Motorcycle, Dune Buggy, Snowmobile
If you’re looking for something fun to do with your doggo, that may be something new but also something enjoyable, try some off-road adventures! Chloe has not yet tried these activities, and she might struggle because she is not one of those dogs who likes to stick their heads outside of windows. She is one of those dogs who loves adventure though, so we might have to try it out sometime 😊
Flea Markets or Farmers Markets
One of my favorite stories is how Chloe passed her Certified Good Dog Citizen test in the middle of the Soda City Festival in Columbia, South Carolina! Chloe loved to see all of the dogs, cats, smelly food and people walking around in this crowded downtown event! It prepared her very well for exploring downtown areas like Salem, Massachusets over Christmas, and the very pet friendly Bridgeport Mall, outside of Portland, Oregon. It is sad how much shopping has changed over the past year! However I find exploring downtown areas and supporting the businesses is a great way to spend time socializing with your dog; as long as you’re wearing a mask and washing or sanitizing your hands after you/others pet your pup!
Downtown Salem Massachusetts
Dog themed Movie Night
From the puppy bowl to Lady and the Tramp; there are so many dog themed movies! Some dogs can see that there are dogs on the screen; and other dogs can hear the barking and shaking dog noises. Chloe loves to see dogs on screen, and it makes her really glad to have a virtual friend for a while!
Scenic Drive
One of my favorite ways to explore safely during the pandemic is to find a scenic drive near you! You might be surprised at the number of scenic drives that are close by. Of course you have options like the McKenzie River area in Oregon and the Golden Road around Mount Katahdin in Maine- but did you know that the Sheyenne River Valley National Scenic Byway hides it’s beautiful views just over an hour outside of Fargo, North Dakota? Even Oklahoma has the Talimena National Byway that hosts outrageously gorgeous views, especially in the fall. You can find scenic drives using a simple google search.
Cape Meres, Oregon
Dog Park Adventures
Some dogs are dog-park dogs; other dogs are not, and that’s okay! Chloe is a dog-park dog but only during times when it is not extremely busy, otherwise she gets anxious. We love to find new parks with new friends; but Chloe also enjoys using daycares and rovers to spend time with friends! This is an awesome way to make sure your dog is keeping up his or her social habits during the pandemic; and also an awesome way to have a doggy break if you’re needing the house to be quiet while working virtually.
Dog Beach at the Florida Keys
Virtual Dog Party
There is nothing better than being on a zoom call with your dog! I think having a virtual party with a lot of dogs would be so much fun! We’ve hosted a few events on our barkingembarkers facebook page that have been all kinds of fun; and a great way to spend time with your dog; and talk to friends who also have dogs!
Learn How to Do Dog Yoga
Dog yoga is SO much fun. There are a couple ways to do this- non traditionally which is basically pulling up a yoga youtube video (Yoga with Ariadne is super fun, and she always includes her doggo), and following along, while your dog is laying down near you, trying to lick your face or sit on you, or participate in any way possible. The other way is to include your dog in some movements. Practice moving their body into a gentle down dog, chivasna, and match your breathing to your dog’s breathing! It is very soothing and you might just find your pup laying belly up, asking for more.
Dog Yoga for the Win
Go Fishing
Fishing is a great activity to do with your dog! While fly fishing is maybe not the best because you have a flying wand wisking around and scaring your pup; regular fishing is a blast! Chloe likes to stare into the water and bat at any fish trying to make their way up stream. She also occasionally jumps into the water and scares all of the fish away. It makes for a pretty entertaining, socially distant activity!
Fishing in my backyard at the Orchard in Oregon
Baking with your Dog
I am not the best cook, in fact Chloe is probably a better cook than I am if we’re being honest. I do enjoy it though, and approach baking with some major enthusiasm! Especially on Halloween (as pictured).I just don’t like following rules. Thankfully, there are a number of dog treats that don’t involve much trouble- sweet potatos and dog biscuits are a couple of my favorite to cook up for Chloe. It is so much fun to make pretty special dog treats and temptations for Chloe!
What activity do you want to try with your dog during the pandemic? Have you tried any of these? Would you add any other tips or tricks to make pandemic life even more fun? I hope you all have had a great month so far! In the mean time, happy tails and happy trails to you all.
Find BarkingEmbarkers on Social Media! You can find us on our
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Puppy snuggles and rom-coms sounds like the best weekend especially with the cold weather! I love all these fun ideas! Ive never heard of forest bathing! Sounds like an awesome thing I should try! And I love that Chloe likes to watch other pups on the tv! That’s too cute!