Ms. M and Mr. B Travels: Complete Details Tomorrow

Just back from traveling and meeting new friends, more details in tomorrow's post.

How to Be a Tourist with Your Dog Series: Chicago Sidetripping to Harbor Country, Michigan

While there is so much we love about living in the city, sometimes we long to get away from the concrete, sirens, and blaring lights.I think fellow Chicago dogs Lola and Franklin were feeling the same way when they shared this dog-friendly retreat a mere side-trip away from Chicago. With doggy doors, spaces to run, beaches, and soothing pet-spa music to help the pooches feel at home, this sounds like every city dog's dream.

We just returned from a week in Harbor Country, Michigan with our two dogs, Lola (big pitty girl) and Franklin (little shaggy guy). Lola and Franklin are fellow Chicago city dogs (in fact, Lola is a NLOL alum like Ms. M!) and don't often get to run in wide open spaces or go swimming, so we decided to find a not-to-far away retreat for our summer vacation this year and take them with us.

We found the perfect rental house on homeaway.com, called "It's A Dog's Life" boasting a large fenced in yard with doggy door and lots to do with the pups. Worried that it might not be as great in reality as it looked online, we loaded up the car, and drove the 80 miles to our temporary home.
As soon as we saw the "Have Fun Lola and Franklin" message on the chalkboard in the entryway, we knew it was going to be as good as we hoped. The back yard was beautiful, and the dogs loved being able to let themselves in and out of the house. They relaxed on the deck

and explored the yard

and chased rabbits.

Not only was the house dog-friendly, but the owner provided a list of places to go with your dog. We took them to Weko Beach where they cooled off in Lake Michigan and hung out on the beach.

We did the tourist thing in New Buffalo.

We tried going for a hike but the bugs were too bad to even stop to take a picture. There was even CDs of pet spa music to soothe the dogs in an unfamiliar environment when the humans went to the nearby brewpub.

And the dogs enjoyed napping on new beds and couches

(sorry mom! I don't always make the bed on vacation). We're planning a return visit with the pups in the fall, when we can get that hike in and see the fall color.

We love exploring new cities and getting ideas about things to do with our dogs, and as one reader pointed out, pitbull owners should always doublecheck the BSL laws to make sure your route is pit bull friendly. In case you missed them, you can also read about things to do with dogs in Austin, Florida, Portland, Richmond, Seattle,  Kansas City, Nashville, Alaska, and Chicago. And you can read about roadtripping with 4 large dogs, boating to the Bahamas with a pit bull, and specific tips for roadtripping with a large dog (NYC to rural Tennessee). We are still accepting posts, but we would like to receive everything in the next few weeks.If you would like to share your hometown, please click here for more information or contact us through our Facebook page.  

Living European with Dogs: Pier Picnics, Inspiration from Copenhagen

One of the most important things we learned from our recent trip was that it wasn't about needing  to travel far away, but finding ways to recreate our favorite aspects at home, and of course with our pooches. During our travels we were lucky enough to go to Copenhagen, a magical city of brightly painted buildings, modern design, elegant girls on bicycle outnumbering car traffic, and a classic amusement park from the 1800's located smack dab in the middle of the city. Is it a wonder Hans Christian Anderson made this his home?

 But then we realized one downfall: everything was insanely expensive. An ice-cream cone was $8, fifteen dollars for a drink at a bar, and $25 for a hamburger. While one guy at our hotel told us he rarely went out, we quickly learned how to do Copenhagen like a local. They would go to the store, grab a six-pack of beer, and sit along the pier. The pier would be packed with people hanging out and sitting along the sidewalk.

Every chance we had, I kept asking E if we could go back to sit by the water with the beautiful buildings, and I thought it would be the one thing I would miss. Until I realized Chicago has its own beautiful waterfront views:

With city skyline:

 We decided to hang out with the pooches along the waterfront having our own 'pier picnic'. It's not really legal to drink in the city parks, so we did keep it legal, and Scandinavian, with this sparkling pear drink from Ikea.

With 18 miles of lakefront path, there are plenty of opportunities for different views and bigger crowds.

Chicago Korean Festival

After the dog walking club, we took the pooches to Chicago Korean Festival up on the northside of the city, near  Ms. M's old stomping grounds. We thought that it was important for the pooches to experience the other half of their heritage. Though the pooches probably never had Korean food until they stayed with my mom, I'm pretty sure that they are now 50% Korean with all the kalbi, pear apples, kampungi and other Korean food my relatives give them. My family and extended family have only had shih tzus, so bringing the two pups to meet everyone was a big deal, but everyone loved them. My 80 year old, 4'9" grandmother and big ole Ms. M quickly became good friends, sitting together on the sofa (which is not allowed at home), sharing pear apples (also not allowed at home), and watching Ms. M's favorite Korean dramas (we don't even have a TV).

So when we entered the festival, Ms. M thought that every older Korean lady was either my mom or my grandmother waiting to give her pear apples, just like how she thinks every Asian male in our neighborhood is me. Oftentimes she will turn around and watch an Asian or sometimes Latino male ride away on a bicycle, thinking it's me even though I'm holding her leash,

so she must have been really confused at the festival. The festival had all things Korean such as kalbi and kimchi, women playing the gayageum,  Pucca cell phone charms, Tae Kwon Do demonstrations and bboy battles.

Our pooches were like a tourist attraction, people were pointing, staring and talking about them in Korean, but luckily several people were curious enough to come up and talk to us and pet the pooches, so it was a good day for Ms. M and Mr. B and they even ate some kalbi (no bones) at the festival.

The Limits of Educating

 We really enjoy being part of this online dog community where people are educated, supportive and really work to create positive experiences with our dogs. I love how we can all recognize the importance of 'Spring Training', understand how all dogs can be a work-in-progress, and work to interact positively with other dogs and people in our communities. But lately I've realized how this group is probably the exception rather than the norm. And this support and understanding doesn't always translate to our physical real worlds. Now I'm wondering the extent of how we can use this positive education in our real lives, and how well it will be accepted.

I realized this after coming home from our really positive experience with our dog walking club.We have written before about our ongoing problems with a neighbor who lets their large 'family-friendly' dog run down our street off-leash; they literally play fetch in front of our building. The dog is at least 10 feet ahead of them at all times, and will not respond when called. Despite asking several times to not approach our dog, they will disregard our request and freely let their dog barrel towards the pooches. I actually had two altercations with them this week, once when I was walking in the street to avoid them and their dog actually came out into the street to follow us. The second time we were going into our building when the dog came bounding up to us. This time she told me "It's not my fault your dogs aren't socialized".

Despite my anger, I thought maybe I could use this as an opportunity to explain to her why it was a problem. How dogs on leash can feel threatened and can react when an off-leash dog rushes and invades their space and it can set them up for failure.
How our dogs are in training and I don't want them to meet other dogs and get excited and expect that walks are for playing.
How I know if a dog leaps at our dogs they will probably leap back. And with a combined strength of 150 pounds, plus a tangle of leashes, this could become a dangerous situation for me as well.
How we have other ways of socializing our dogs which are positive, controlled, and set them up for success.
How it's not fair to people who are afraid of dogs, or have fearful or anxious dogs and choose not to interact with other dogs.
Instead, as I tried to explain why I needed her to restrain her dog, she just kept walking and refused to listen.

This is especially frustrating because we work very hard to contribute positively to our community, but I don't know how to continue with someone who is not willing to be rational and understand the situation. We have been working with the police, but they have to actually witness the incident to issue a citation. What does everyone else recommend?

Dog Walking Club: Sunday Morning Jaunt

Despite some morning sprinkles, and navigating through several half-marathon street closures, we met with a great group of dogs and owners excited to share a morning walk. What better way to spend a Sunday morning than strolling along the Chicago lakefront path with skyline views, enjoying great company and amazing dogs?
Making his big Chicago debut was adoptable dog Mr. Pink (above) newly sprung from the city shelter where he narrowly missed meeting his 'date on the calendar'. Beyond being absolutely gorgeous (my camera cannot even begin to capture the true essence that is Mr. Pink) he was excited to work on his leash manners and socialization as he begins his search for his future family.
Our pack also included newly adopted sweet, sweet Daisy.

Gentleman-dog Dude showing off his goofy side:

Social-butterfly Daria who was so excited to attend and did a great job of focusing her energy on the rhythm of the walk.

The return of newly adopted Torre with his 'chilaxed' attitude:

Super-smiley and newly-adopted Willie (who came with sister Nabi). Just look how hard it is for him to contain his smile:

Adorable Petey who did an amazing job staying focused. I'm not sure whether it was his intense concentration or looks that kept reminding me of Miss M:

And demure Nabi (little sister to smiley Willie) who despite being a bit shy, held her own in the group. Even though they're adopted, I think they share a smile.

Even though the group had varying levels of socialization and excitement, the walk was successful because we respected boundaries and space making it a positive and comfortable walk for everyone. And the pooches had the socialization benefits of walking in a pack without ever having to physically meet on leash.
We have been excited about the response to the walking club, and we're looking forward to future walks.
Make sure to check our Facebook page for updates, until we all meet again:

How to Be a Tourist with Your Dog Series: Austin, Texas

I had heard rumors that Austin was one of the most dog-friendly cities, so I was very excited to receive this post showing how true this seems to be. From live-music festivals to dog canoeing, and unique opportunities like bat-watching and food trucks, it seems like there is much to do with dogs.
Besides being an amazing tour guide for both Nashville and Austin, Lindsay is very involved in dog rescue and has recently helped with Charlotte's Recovery (have you checked out how amazing smiley Charlotte looks lately?) Charlotte is so close to meeting her goal to cover her medical bills, and we know how much every bit helps. If we could get about 100 people to bring their lunch to work for a day, or give up buying their daily coffee, and contribute the $5 to help Charlotte instead, this would meet the goal. Her Chipin page is here.
And here are some things you can do with your pooches in Austin:

I like to think that Austin Texas is one of the coolest cities around and not just because I spent the first 25 years of my life there and am constantly thinking of ways to move back. When I lived in Austin I didn't have a dog so it's only now that we have three and we go back to visit my family that I truly see what a dog friendly town it is. Your canine tour guides are Emma and Ellie who you might recognize from the Nashville post. They came down with us to visit Austin and Ellie wiggled her way right into one Texan's heart and now makes her permanent home in Austin. We miss her tons but she is happy girl and because she got adopted by a family friend we get updates! Also, are Millie (my friend Tara's dog) and Jigger (my brother's dog: my brother writes a blog about cocktails tipsytexan.com which explains his dog's name).

Let's start with music because after Austin is the live music capital of the world. There is "blues on the green" (http://www.kgsr.com/blues/) a music festival held in Zilker Park. It's free; you bring your blanket and your picnic and your dog and you listen to amazing music in the middle of the city. This is Jigger enjoying Alejandro Escovedo. 

Zilker park (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zilker/) is also home to Barton springs (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/bartonsprings.htm), a natural spring fed pool that stays under 60 degrees despite the 100 degree summer temps Austin days can sometimes reach. Now pooches aren't allowed in the gates of Barton springs but just outside is what's known as poor mans pool where anyone can swim for free. Here we see jigger and Millie having fun in the water...

Nearby you can rent a canoe and go boating on town lake (now known as Lady Bird Lake) your dog is welcome as long as they wear a life preserver.

Also in Zilker park and near the lake is the hike and bike trail a four mile loop around the lake that is totally dog friendly. So much that right off Barton springs road is a off leash dog area. It's not a dog park because there is no fence but there are always dozens of dogs playing frisbee or catch and then jumping in the water to cool off.

Just a few steps away is the congress avenue bridge home to one of the largest bat colonies in the world(http://www.yelp.com/biz/bats-under-the-congress-avenue-bridge-austin). On summer nights people flock (ha) to watch the bats take flight at sunset.

Again bring your blanket, your picnic and your dog. Here are Emma and Ellie enjoying the bat flight (I couldn't get any good shots of the bats).

Near this dog area is a statue of Austinite and blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughn. Here are Emma and Ellie paying homage to his genius.

South of the bridge is South Congress avenue a once hip and happening part of town that fell onto hard times and became known for Drugs and prostitutes but is now once again hip and happening. There are tons of great places to eat shop drink and relax on south congress but I want to mention three of my favorites. My Favorite music venue is the continental club (http://www.continentalclub.com/Austin.html) that hosts amazing music. Got Fido? No problem because directly across the street is the hotel San Jose (https://www.sanjosehotel.com/index2.php) a dog-friendly boutique hotel. We got married in Austin last year and we and our guests stayed here and it was incredible....plus the coffee shop jo's (http://www.joscoffee.com/congress/jossouthcongress.htm) is in their parking lot and it's awesome too.

Austin is home to several airstream/food truck food courts and they are also dog friendly, http://austinfoodcarts.com/. There are several farmers markets in Austin that are dog friendly. Here are Emma and Ellie checking out the Sunset Valley farmers market where my brother sells coffee most weekends. 

Unrelated to dogs but definitely worth seeing is  the Alamo drafthouse. Most recently famous for its stand on texting during films http://cf.drafthouse.com/she_texted_we_kicked_her_out2.html

So let's see: lots of dog friendly restaurants, music opportunities an outdoor opportunities. No BSL! Austin really is a great dog town!

We love exploring new cities and getting ideas about things to do with our dogs. In case you missed them, you can also read about things to do with dogs in Florida, Portland, Richmond, Seattle,  Kansas City, Nashville, Alaska, and Chicago. And you can read about roadtripping with 4 large dogs , boating to the Bahamas with a pit bull, and specific tips for roadtripping with a large dog (NYC to rural Tennessee) . We are still accepting posts, but we would like to receive everything in the next few weeks.If you would like to share your hometown, please click here for more information or contact us through our Facebook page.  

DoggyStyle: On Crates and Tepees

 

We've written before about how Mr. B lives in a tepee instead of a crate. It's usually the first thing people notice when they come over:

Mr. B used to have a crate when we first adopted him, but we quickly learned about his crate anxiety. He is ok staying in a crate with the door open

But when he was in his own crate with the door shut, he developed extreme anxiety. He would work ways to wiggle his huge body out. And if that didn't work, he used his head as a battering ram to bust out. We still wanted to give him a separate place, as we feed the pooches in their beds. But most importantly, Mr. B needs the bigger bedroom  to store all of his toys:

And keep them safe from Miss M: