Maddie’s Morning Out

Summer is a fantastic time to take adventures with your best friend. Dog Fence DIY encourages exploration beyond the fence!

I don’t know about you – but I’m ready for some sunshine!  For “Sunny South Florida” it’s been downright dismal around here lately; with the exception of the humidity, you’d almost think that we live in Seattle.  Rain, rain, rain, and more rain.  That’s all we’ve had for the last 2 weeks, give or take a break in the action here or there (a big thanks to Tropical Storm Andrea that came through yesterday to compound all the rain we’ve already had).  And as hard as it is to keep a toddler and pre-schooler inside during the rainy weather, we have fur kids that aren’t huge fans of the rain either.  While our cat Sonoma likes to watch the rain from her perch at our front door, she’s not so much a fan of the thunder and lightening that often comes with it.  The thunder and lightening don’t seem to bother Maddie, but the rain really cramps her style.  How’s a dog supposed to get any exercise (or potty breaks) with so much rain?

But this morning when I woke up and didn’t hear the rain hitting my window, a sound I’ve become all too familiar with, I thought, “Yay!  Sun!  Finally!”.  We had to do something to commemorate this occasion.  It simply couldn’t pass without here being a celebration of sorts.  So I decided to take Maddie out on a long walk – but not just any walk…  

When we moved into our house last August, a neighbor told me about this great dog park that we had right in our community.  A place where lots of dog owners go to celebrate the end of the work day and let their furry friend stretch their legs off leash.  It’s not officially a dog park, it’s just been adopted as one, and sure enough, between 5-7pm each day it’s packed with dogs.  But in all the months that we’ve lived there, we’ve never been there.  Not once.  Today was the day!  At first, I thought we would just head over there after work, but then I thought better of it…if anything, our weather has been worse in the afternoon.  I couldn’t risk this good weather passing.

So early this morning Maddie and I jumped in the car and drove over to the unofficial dog park in our neighborhood – we actually could have walked, but with the ground still saturated from all the rain, we decided to spare ourselves the muddy feet and paws we would no doubt have gotten if we decided to walk.  We were there in just a minute or two and Maddie wasted no time running around.

Oh and there was lots sniffing to be had…

And of course a ton of rolling in the grass.It looks a little like dog sunbathing, doesn’t it?

By the end of our visit, it was clear that Maddie didn’t want to leave.That’s her “don’t even think about making me leave this wonderful place, Mom” side-eye.  But I did have to go to work.  Instead, I promised that we would definitely be back, in addition to all our other dog activities that we have planned for this summer – Take Your Dog to Work Day is June 21st, the Miami Marlins are hosting Bark in the Park on June 30th, and we have several trips to the dog beach scheduled.  But it’s great to know we have such a great place so close to us.  You know, when the weather is nice…

Do you have any summer activities planned with your dog?  Any places they really like to go?

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dog Fence DIY’s Beyond The Fence Campaign.  All thoughts, opinions, and experiences are my own.