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A Girl's Best Friend

© Cameron Walker

Welcome to the dog days of summer. A time for lolling about on the porch, curling up in a shady spot, digging underneath the house for the elusive scent of. . .

Wait a minute. You're not digging under the house, are you? What better way to get out of that habit and into the great outdoors than with your favorite furry friend. Whether it's a walk on the neighborhood trail, an afternoon trip to the beach, or an extended adventure, you and your dog can have a blast in the summer sun.

No doubt you have already explored many of the local hot-dog spots. But perhaps there is a place you have overlooked. Talk to other dog owners about where they take Fido and Fifi for a romp. A change may inspire both of you to make longer walks a luxury, not a chore. One excellent site to examine is DogFriendly.com (http://www.dogfriendly.com/). This site has information about local parks and trails, as well as farther jaunts, with links to trainers, accommodations, and dog products. Using this site, I found several leash-free playlands in my area:

Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA. While parking lots, picnic grounds, and other public areas require leashes, the trails are a dog paradise. In addition, you and your dog can swim in Lake Anza, provided you do not enter from a public beach. Watch out for the three-leaved bugger, poison oak—and bring some Technu along just in case.

Ohlone Dog Park, Berkeley (corner of Milvia and Hearst). This dog area is open 6aam-10pm on weekdays, and 9am-10pm on weekends. After playing, you can wander through campus (with your leashed dog) and down Telegraph Avenue to see the local color.

Lighthouse Beach, Santa Cruz, CA. This beach is a leash-free area from sunrise to 10am, and then from 4pm to sunset.

Redwood Park, Oakland, CA. (Skyline Blvd. between Snake and Chelton). Your dog can roam the west and east ridge trails without a leash. The stream trail, a redwood paradise, can be explored with a leashed dog—the ecology of this area is very sensitive to disturbance.

For overnight stays, check out the listings at DogFriendly and also on Travel Dog (http://www.traveldog.com/). Both sites have listings and links to dog-friendly accommodations. The two places that made me want to pack my bags were Sheep Dung Estates (for the name alone!) in Anderson Valley, CA and Puppy Zone in Whistler, B.C.

If you want to go backpacking or camping with your dog, it's important to know the restrictions in the area where you are headed. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) seems to have the fewest restrictions (http://www.ca.blm.gov), while dogs in national parks are restricted to campsites in most cases (http://www.nps.gov/). California's state parks, with some exceptions, allow dogs only in campsites and on paved areas (http://www.parks.ca.gov), but other states have different requirements. Travel Dog has links to states and provinces.