Summer is short. The dog years are shorter.
Here are ten things to do together before September shows up and ruins everything. No special gear required. No training prerequisites. No excuses.
1. Get ice cream. Eat it on the tailgate.
After dinner. Somewhere with a drive-through or a walk-up window. Order whatever you actually want without doing the calorie math. Get your dog a pup cup or a small vanilla cone. Sit on the tailgate, the hood, or a curb and eat it together in the parking lot while the sun goes down. This is genuinely one of the best things you can do with a summer evening, and it costs six dollars.
2. Morning coffee. Outside. With the pastry.
Find a coffee shop with outdoor seating. Order the pastry you always look at and never get. Sit outside with your dog and do absolutely nothing purposeful for thirty minutes. Let your dog watch people. Watch your dog watch people. Give them a little dog-safe piece of the pastry because it is summer and you are both allowed.
3. Go to a dog night at a minor league baseball game.
Almost every minor league team in the country runs dog nights during the summer, usually called Bark in the Park or Wet Nose Wednesdays or something equally delightful. Dogs get in, you get in, there are hot dogs and cold drinks, and a crowd that will stop to say hello to your dog approximately every four minutes. It is loud and festive and surprisingly manageable for many social dogs, and it is one of those evenings that just feels like summer in the best possible way. Look up your nearest minor league team and check their summer schedule. You will find one.
4. Find a Sniff Spot with water.
Sniff Spot is an app that lets you rent private outdoor spaces by the hour, often someone's backyard, farm, pond, or field. If you have not used it yet, summer is the time. Search specifically for listings with water access and book a couple of hours. Let your dog do whatever they want. Swim, run, roll, and investigate every inch of the property. You sit in a chair and watch them be delighted. This is enrichment. This is also a very good afternoon.
5. Go to a garden center and let your dog sniff every plant.
Not a hardware store. A real garden center with winding paths, shade cloth, rows of herbs, and people arguing about tomatoes. Bring your dog on a quiet weekday evening or early morning and wander slowly. Most dogs are fascinated by garden centers because they smell like dirt, water, fertilizer, birds, plants, and fifty other dogs who were there before them. You do not need to buy anything, although you probably will. Bonus points if you come home with basil you did not plan on purchasing.
6. Find a dog-friendly brewery or winery patio and stay a while.
Bring a mat or a blanket. Order something cold. Let your dog settle in and watch the world. This is settle practice disguised as a very pleasant afternoon, and you do not have to tell anyone that. Most cities and towns now have at least one patio spot with outdoor seating that genuinely welcomes dogs. Find yours and make it a regular thing.
7. Watch a sunset somewhere you have never been.
A new beach, a new lake, a new overlook, a new park on the edge of town. Just pick a direction you do not usually go, drive toward it an hour before sunset, and see what you find. Bring water and treats. Sit somewhere with a view. Watch it with your dog. This costs nothing and is quietly one of the most restorative things you can do on a summer evening.
8. Get on the water together.
Paddleboard, kayak, canoe, boat ride, ferry, whatever is available to you. A lot of dogs take to water vehicles faster than you expect, especially if you introduce it slowly and let them get comfortable before you ask anything of them. If your dog is a swimmer, find a spot where they can get in off the board or boat. If they are not, a slow float with a dog curled up at your feet is its own kind of perfect. Life jacket on the dog. Non-negotiable.
9. Sign up for the one thing you have been curious about but talked yourself out of.
Nose work. Lure coursing. Dock diving. An intro agility class. That trick training workshop. Whatever it is that you have been meaning to try but kept thinking you were not ready for, or your dog was not ready for, or the timing was not right. Summer evenings are long. There is time. Sign up for one class, one session, one intro event, and see what happens. The worst-case scenario is that you both try something new, and it is not your thing. The best case is you find the thing that makes your dog absolutely lose their mind with joy, and you spend the rest of the summer doing it.
10. Go somewhere new. Just the two of you. Overnight.
Pick a town you have never been to, two hours in any direction. Book a dog-friendly hotel or cabin. Pack light. Have no agenda beyond showing up and seeing what is there. Walk around. Find somewhere to eat outside. Sleep somewhere new. Come home the next day. Bonus points if it involves a road trip with the windows down and something good on the speakers.
This one sounds bigger than it is. It is just a Tuesday night and a Wednesday morning somewhere that is not your house. Do it once this summer, and you will understand why some people never really go anywhere without their dog again.
Whatever you do, enjoy it together!
Want more articles like this one? Join Wag & Wonderment Canine Club today and get 30 days free!