Chicagoing: Enjoying An Old-Fashioned Vaudeville Carnival

 The other weekend we awoke to find an old-fashioned, vaudeville carnival landed smack dab in the middle of our local neighborhood park. Flanked by a view of the Hancock on one side and the a huge historical church on the other, the 2 big top tents, carnival midway, rides and fire-blowers transformed our local Chicago neighborhood into something more magical.

 This was the first year for the Brilliant Corners of Popular Amusements festival in Eckart park. The big tents had indie music and European circus acts, and there was also a small section of Renegade crafts, Farmers Market booths, carnival midway games and rides, and vaudeville performers roaming the grounds.

 We were extra excited we just received our new Gatsby-esque Silly Buddy polka-dot bowties (worn as a pink 'hairbow' by Miss M) and the pooches dressed appropriately for the occasion. Of course, a couple of pit bulls in bowties had a lot of people curious, and they received a lot of attention and petting. Coupled with their good posing and behavior, some people even thought they were part of the acts.

 We even had our friend Nabi from Sociabulls join Miss M for an early morning walk to benefit rebuilding the playground at Eckhart park. Though Nabi was all smiles, Miss M didn't seem so happy about having to get up so early in the morning.
Though some of the carnival workers were charmed by our pups and gave them each a small plush toy (which was later reclaimed by Mr. B).

On Our Daily Walk: The Church Carnival

Going on our daily walk this weekend we stumbled upon this church carnival.
And it's not every day that you find a church carnival complete with midway, Ferris wheel, and dragon ride. While it was fun for us to see, it actually freaked out the pooches.

Miss M. was terrified of the spinning dragon ride. She couldn't stop staring.

And Mr. B. was ok until he saw the Shooting Pigs game. He seems to have some kind of family allegiance to pigs and he started barking at the pigs. Needless to say, it got us thrown off the midway and back to our regular walk.

Daily Walk: Miss M and Mr. B go to the carnival and other stuff

Before we knew it, we were in October, which is the greatest month to sit in front of the TV or in my case in front of my computer with a TV tuner (we don't have a TV) and waste the day and night away watching every game possible. However, there is a small catch to my ideal weekends and evenings: the weather. Whenever the weather is nice, A loves to go on these long walks around the neighborhood and enjoy whatever event Chicago throws our way. This weekend, we walked all the way down to the carnival near the West Loop. Miss M was so excited to take her very first ride on a ferris wheel, 

but sadly, pooches are not allowed and Miss M made sure we knew how she felt about this injustice. On the other hand, Mr. B was having a great time, winning new best stuffies. 

Sadly, he couldn't remember that he left his new best stuffy on his head. On our walk home, we decided to stop by the United Center. The funny thing is that I bike by the United Center twice a day, everyday and the only time we ever go to the United Center is to catch a Bulls or Blackhawks game. Walking the pooches really help us appreciate all the great sites and sounds of Chicago. Since we live pretty close to the United Center and going to a game is fairly common, we take the statues and all the other touristy aspects of the United Center for granted. 

Miss M was especially perplexed by all the tourists posing Like Mike... 

The highlight of Mr. B's walk to the United Center was not the statues of Stan Mikita or Bobby Hull behind a fence, but the famous pigeon behind the fence. 

Soon enough, the United Center will be so crowded that Mr. B won't be able to pose with the famous pigeon. Here are the pooches giving us their best game face.

Things to Do in Chicago with Dogs: That Time the Pups Tried to Crash Riot Fest

While Chicago has a lot of really big music festivals, one thing that was unique about last weekend's Riot Fest was that it was a huge festival held in a park smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood.
Our neighborhood.
The festival brought tens of thousands of people streaming into our neighborhood, and Friday night we rushed home to hunker down knowing it might be hard to leave all weekend. We heard with the traffic and road closures it took some of our neighbors two hours to get home (normally a 40 minute drive) and they had to park as far as a mile from their home. It brought so many people to the area that cell phone service was spotty all weekend.
Though it did have a really, really good line up with Weezer, The Cure, Jane's Addiction, Slayer, The Flaming Lips, Wu-Tang Clan, just to name a few.

The pups were not so excited their favorite stomping grounds were blocked off, but they were excited to see so many people in their neighborhood.
Mr. B even tried to score some tickets.

E and I ended up going for a bit just to check it out.  Somehow they crammed 7 stages, a carnival and non-stop rows of the best-of carnival food (funnel cakes! cheese on a stick! poutine!) into our park. We saw The Nationals, Flaming Lips, and Wu-Tang Clan. We saw part of The Cure and the beginning of Weezer which was playing the Blue Album in its entirety! Though the crowds were so bad, jostling, and completely drunk by that time that we just decided to run home where we could hear everything clearly, sans crowds, from our deck.
It was kind of fun to hear everything clearly, sans crowds, on our deck.
This is what Miss M thought about the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones.

Though they weren't too impressed by Slayer.

Also:
At least the pups were able to legally do this.
Our favorite non-dog activity that allowed dogs!
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City Dog: What You Never Knew About Fall Dog Walks

For the past 8 years of city-dog ownership we have been out there each and every day, multiple times a day, walking our pups. And for 8 cycles of seasons, we're finally starting to 'get it' to prepare for the changes we find each season.
Out of all of the walking seasons people usually guess that fall is one of the best. The temperatures are cool enough that pups don't overheat, and the streets are lined with beautiful fall foliage, but we finally realized to watch out for these things:

The Problem with Dog Poo and Leaves:

While all the leaves blanketing the grass do look nice, it's also a huge problem when trying to pick up after our dogs. With even a single glance away (Look at that black squirrel!) the poo suddenly becomes camouflage and it becomes a "Where's Waldo" of trying to clean up all the poo among the leaves.
Knowing how hard it is for me to find it when I'm actually trying, I know there are so many other bits of camouflage poo among the grass just waiting to be stepped on.

Piles of Leaves:

All summer we can see all types of trash strewn across the streets and sidewalks. Fall only looks more beautiful because this trash becomes hidden among the leaves. I never realized that leaves could become a type of carnival game for dogs, until our first fall when Miss M went diving into a huge pile of leaves emerging with her prize of... a dead rat. Usually Miss M has a good 'drop it' command, or I'll just pull it from her mouth, but this was the only time she refused to let it go. So we were at a standstill for about 10 minutes (or at least it seemed like that) as the rat's tail dangled, swinging in circles from her mouth until she finally become bored.
Now I make sure to pull them away if the pups become too interested in a pile of leaves.
Though I guess I didn't learn my lesson entirely after Miss M dove into a snow pile and pulled out an entire gyro (but that's another story of another day).

What the Darkness is Really Hiding:

Fall becomes really hard because daylight savings time suddenly immerses us into a world of darkness. Both our morning and evening walks are both done in the dark. Sure we have the anticipated difficulties of making sure cars can see us, and watching for other dog-human walking teams rounding blind corners.
But the worst part...darkness brings out the rats. And not just any rats, these are football-sized city rats who are bold enough to actually walk down the sidewalk beside you.
Mr. B doesn't care about the birds, the squirrels, or the black squirrels, but his kryptonite is the rats. Seeing a rat is enough to send him squealing and running. Which makes it really hard to keep him from pulling on our walks. And it also makes our walks feel like a horror movie where Mr. B is constantly reacting to things under cars, behind bushes, and in piles of leaves.

Leash Handling:

Fall can be a weird time because you don't want to actually admit it's cold and wear your cold weather clothes. But at the same time, it can be really cold!
The biggest issue is that my hands get really cold which makes it really hard to get a firm grip on a leash. Or if the leash slips through my hands it hurts that much more because my hands or so cold.
It really does feel like over-kill to bring out my gloves on what is just a crisp fall day, but after all of these walking cycles it is what I have learned to do.

Also:
What they don't tell you about city dog poo
And these problems with in the spring.
MacGuyver with dogs!
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Things to Do in Chicago With Dogs: West Fest Street Festival

Among the big summer events we look forward to is West Fest street festival. The festival closes off Chicago Avenue filling the normally busy street with bands, food booths, carnival-type games, pony rides, and even a doggy food truck. But all with a bit of an edge.

The pooches enjoyed getting ice-cream from the Fido to Go food truck:

But didn't enjoy the bath portion very much. Miss M even reverted back to the 'raised by wolves' Miss M because she was trying to do the after-bath zoomies while on leash.

 The pooches were also excited to meet up with some of their Sociabulls friends: Derby, Buddy, and Boomer.

All the pooches were a big hit mingling with their human admirers:

City Dog: On Finding Things to Do with Our Dogs

While our pups always have an extra-full social calendar, someone had a good question wondering how we figure out so many things to do with our pooches.
We have gotten a bit creative, and here are some things we do:

Staying Aware

Since the Internet has made our adventures so public, we always have the incentive to be on the lookout for different things to do with the pooches. Chicago is generally very dog-friendly and most outdoor places, and even many indoor places that don't serve food, will be dog-friendly.
Most of the time we will have visited a location or event beforehand to be able to judge how crowded or drunken the crowd might be before taking our pups. The worst thing they could ask us to do is leave. The only time I was ever asked to leave was at Joanne's Fabrics when I was holding former foster dog Jack Frost in my bag.

The major exceptions in the city are Millennium Park (they have park security guards that ride around on Segways and I was once disciplined for sitting on a wall in the park), Lincoln Square Folk and Roots Fest, Circus in the Parks, the sand area of human beaches, and music festivals. The only place I have ever heard of in the entire city that actually discriminates against specific breeds is the Randolph Street Market which advertises being dog-friendly, but has this confusing, discriminatory statement.

Some unusual things our pups have done: Shakespeare in the Park (Mr B was even 'part of the play'), Visited Navy Pier, Movies in the Park, Shopping at the Downtown Nordstrom's Mall, a Vaudeville Carnival, and Wine Shopping.

Being Creative

While the city does have many specific walks and festivals just for dogs, lately we have been avoiding them seeing that they can be so over-stimulating.
We try to find things that we enjoy doing ourselves and decide if it would be fun, safe, and comfortable for the pups to join us. We found we don't run into many other dogs, so it's a good way for dogs to get exposed to new things without the added excitement of other pups.

We have taken our pups to join us for Lakeside picnics, drive-in dining, art-filled walks, sitting in squares, local shopping, and neighborhood explorations.

Annual Activities:

Through the years we have figured out some of our favorite, annual, can't-miss activities. Many of these tend to be a bit more crowded, though we have figured out some strategies to keep these safe and comfortable for our pups.

These activities have become a bit more Deja-vu on our blog, but we really look forward to: Chicago Pride Parade, Halsted Halloween Parade, Watching the Chicago Marathon, St Patrick's Day, CHIditarod, Dog Trick-or-Treating, the Secret Air-and-Water show.

And we are always interested, how do you find dog-friendly activities to do with your pups, and what are some of your favorites?

Also:
Follow this link to see everything the pups do in the city
Dog-friendly Shopping
Dining Outdoors with Dogs who are Uncomfortable with Outdoor Patios
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