Check out these fun ideas we recommend to do with your furry friend!

Hiking

We love hiking around us, even if it is just a short walk around the neighborhood. Going up the Blue Ridge is one of our favorites, especially around fall time when all the leaves are changing and it is cooler out! We like to invite other dogs and friends to do a pack walk around the mountain. Look for a few hiking spots near you and don't forget to invite your friends and make sure it is pet-friendly!

Pet-Friendly store outing

There are a lot of great opportunities when it comes to taking your pet with you! I like to take my pets to stores that allow pets such as Lowe's Hardware, and Tractor Supply, and pet stores like Petco. We make sure that if we do not know if our pet is allowed, to call ahead/look it up online before going out! We always make sure we do not take our pets into stores, like Walmart, where food is present as that store only allows service dogs to aid a person with a disability. There are lots of resources on what a service dog is, at https://www.ada.gov/topics/service-animals/ . We also love to go into our local downtown area and it provides good exposure to all the different sounds and environments. Our local hobby lobby is also pet-friendly so we like to work on obedience and dog/people neutralization when we go there. Our dogs love their food, so we just take a couple of scoops and put it in a treat pouch to make sure we always have something to reward the good behavior!

Pet-friendly events 

We have a lot of pet-friendly events near us! There are some places near us like wineries and cellars that are pet-friendly. There are lots of family parks we like to go to and walk at, and a lot of different events like our local festival of lights and our local halloween festival. Just look up pet-friendly events near you and see what pops up! You may find something that you can bring your furry friend to!

Trick Training

Have you ever seen those dogs on commercials or on social media doing different things and wondered, "I wish my dog could do that!" Well, I have some news for you... They can! All you have to do is look up some helpful videos and maybe even order a trick training book or two, and you are on your way to training your dog to do some cool stuff. This is a great way to bond with your dog and it gives them something to do rather than sitting on the couch all day! Most dogs love doing tricks and learning new things, so go out and try something with your pet today!

 Keepsakes

Did you know that there are multiple ways to keep your pet forever? A lot of pet stores, online and in-person, have different keepsakes that you can purchase. They have a lot of paw print options that you can do, you can paint on an ornament and put their pawprint on it, you can also do different keepsake kits with your pet, you just have to look them up and see what you would enjoy doing! 

• Have any other ideas of fun things to do with your pet? Leave a comment below!