Adventure Dog Blog

When I took my dogs to live in a small village along the coast in Mexico, I didn’t realize that swimming in the ocean with a collar on was going to prevent problems. My big dog Anna is a real water dog, she’s always in the water if she can be. Living near the ocean meant she was always wet, almost 24/7.

Soon, I noticed my dog smelled terrible, like something was dying. It took almost a week to discover a spreading rash beneath her collar. The vet said it had started because the collar was wet and keeping her skin beneath it moist all the time, a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

In Mexico, I was able to just remove Anna’s collar for the duration of our stay, but had we been adventuring somewhere that she needed to wear one, it may have become a problem.

At ActiveK9.com I found a neat product called the Spiffy Dog Collar and it might have been nice to have one when we were in Mexico.

The Spiffy Dog Collar is made with small air chambers, designed to wick away water and cause the collar to dry faster when wet.

If you have a dog that loves the water, you might want to give a collar like this a try. You can find it, and other products, at ActiveK9.com.

A dog camp located North of Toronto Canada, at Camp Dog Wood North you’ll find activities like Animal Communication, Freestyle, Agility, Search and Rescue, Tellington Touch, K9 First Aid, Disc Dog and more.

Offering informative speakers, activities, demonstrations, a complimentary wine & cheese meet and greet, opportunities to have your dog(s) herding instinct and as a Canine Good Neighbor, a mini craft show, and onsite photography sessions.

This year’s camp (2006) is from September 15th through to the 17th. Visit Camp Dog Wood North’s Website for more details!

My dog Anna has a huge nose, I mean immense! I can only imagine how much she can smell in one sniff. And of course, if you own dogs, you know that sniffing is really natural and fun for dogs.

Tracking is when a dog uses their nose to follow a scent trail. You’ve probably heard of police using dogs to track crimminals. Well tracking is an awesome activity that you can enjoy with your dogs!

According to The Tracking Page, any dog can learn to track while some are easier to train than others. On their page, you can also find tracking logs on how the webmaster trained various dogs to track. There’s also information about books on tracking, links to websites on tracking, a glossary of tracking terms, and a section of sample tracks you can use with your dogs!

Visit The Tracking Page for more information on teaching your dogs tracking!

In an earlier post, I wrote about a dog pack that carries water so you don’t have to carry it for your dog. Now I’d like to tell you about Dog Packing!

Dog packing is when you use a backpack on your dog so that he/she can help you carry the load when hiking and adventuring.

Dogs are strong and according to the Guide to Dog Packing, they can carry about one quarter of their own body weight! That’s a lot if you have a huge dog like Anna around. She weighs around ninety pounds at the moment, so that means she could easily carry twenty pounds in a dog pack.

I bet she could carry Mr. Meaty in a backpack on her back!

Read the Guide to Dog Packing for information on training a dog to wear a pack, fitting a dog with a pack properly, trail etiquette and where to get further information for planning your trip.j

Go hiking with your dogs and go Dog Packing!

Considering I’ve taken my dogs adventuring in Mexico and spent lots of time with them on the beaches, by the rivers, and in the jungle, I don’t feel a lot of concern when I think about taking them camping.

However, camping with dogs in North America probably means a lot of on-leash activities and being careful about proximity with other dogs, and children. There are other hazards as well such as ticks and heat exhaustion.

If you’re thinking of going camping, this useful article titled “Camping With Your Dog(s)” will help you to cover all the bases and have a wonderful camping experience.  Don’t be afraid to go camping with your dogs!

I’ve always loved teaching my dogs tricks and I’m always on the lookout for new things. I attended an obedience class once where the teacher had taught her dog some “dance” moves. I thought it was a pretty cute idea, but I didn’t realize that dancing with dogs is a whole sport of it’s own.

According to Wikipedia, Musical Canine Freestyle is “is a modern dog sport that is a mixture of obedience, tricks, and dance that allows for creative interaction between dogs and their owners.”

You can find out more information on the sport, find online classes, and find links at the Musical Dog Sports Association.  Dance with your dogs!

Something I’ve always found difficult when adventuring with my dogs is having to carry a massive water supply. My dogs drink a lot of water, so when hiking, I can easily find myself carrying two litre pop bottles of water. Considering how heavy water can get, I was pretty excited when I saw this item on the ActiveK9.com website.

The H2O On the Go Hydration System Dog Pack is a backpack your dog can wear that carries water. This way, your dog can carry his/her own water supply when hiking or adventuring. The custom designed valves provide water for pets AND people, so you could even have your dog carry water for you as well. The pack holds 56oz of water.

I’m giggling just thinking about tricking my dogs into carrying MY water now!

Visit ActiveK9.com and make your dogs carry water too!

A camp for dogs and their people!

With seminars and activities for you and your dog, you can choose to be active, or just sit back and relax together. Activities for dogs in past camps have included things like agility, crafts, costume contest, makeovers, flyball, scouting, frisbee, lure coursing, pet tricks, tracking, and more.

Accomodations are offered in dorms for females, males, or couples, private rooms, tent or RV, and offsite.

Being a parent, something that I noted is that you can bring your child to camp also as long as you can supervise them and your dog(s)!

Check out the Dog Days of Wisconsin website for more details. Have fun at camp with your dogs!

My dogs were in need of some travel dishes for when we take long trips by car, or for those days we want to do more than just hit the park for one hour.

I saw a set of canvas travel bowls for dogs made by Outward Hound at the store before leaving for a long road trip and thought I’d try them out. This particular set is a food dish and water dish all in one easy to carry bag. Put food into the bottom compartment, zip the top half back on, and then fill the top with water and use the handy drawstring to close it up.

I wasn’t sure whether the drawstring would keep the water secure in the bag while driving around, and I didn’t know if Mr. Meaty would want to put his head into a bag to lap up his water, but neither of these things turned out to be issues in the end.

I filled up the bottom with food, zipped on the top and filled that with water. I closed the drawstring and stood the bag up behind my seat in the truck. We travelled for seven hours, getting in and out several times, and using the bowls twice. Water didn’t spill anywhere as the bag stayed upright without any issues, and Mr. Meaty was happy enough to dive his face into the bag to drink when he was thirsty. My issue was keeping Anna’s big nose out of the bag long enough for Mr. Meaty to drink too!

So far I’m really pleased with the Outward Hound Food n’ Water Port-a-Bowl. If you’d like to give one a try, you can buy them at Active K9 online.  Get travel bowls for your dogs!

I have had so much fun with my dogs at the beach, both at lakes in Canada and along the coast of Mexico. My dog Anna loves to swim and it’s so funny to go under the water and look up at her, her legs churning and her fat butt floating. Mr. Meaty likes to run and play in the sand and get just a little wet along the edge of the water. He’s always covered in sand, and if you don’t look out, he’s rolling all over your towels and blankets to get dry. Dog hair and sand everywhere!

It’s really hard to find beaches that will allow dogs, especially in North America. A really popular dog beach is the Huntington Dog Beach in California , located 37 miles south of Los Angeles. The dog beach is one mile where your dog is free to roam and play offleash, both in the water and in the sand. The only rules are to maintain control of your dogs at all times and to pick up any waste and dispose of it in the trash cans.

Visited by more than 100,000 off leash dogs each year, you might be surprised to learn that dog beach is renowned for being “the cleanest beach in the twelve mile stretch of Huntington City beaches”, according to the President of the Huntington Dog Beach.

Visit the Huntington Dog Beach website for maps and directions to the beach, information on making donations, and even purchasing hats and shirts!