May 2, 2024
Gracie and I took a trip last weekend to Delaware for the annual Doodles in Dewey event. I had heard about this event from someone last year, so I decided to try it out this year. It’s sponsored by Paws for People and held during the last weekend in April with fun dog activities just for doodles*. I booked a pet-friendly hotel near the beach and we hit the road!
On Friday night we arrived in time for the dog costume parade where dozens of doodles donned in varied, colorful costumes, strutted up and down the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk with their owners. Gracie didn’t participate in the parade but enjoyed it as a spectator. On Saturday, we went to the main event – a doodle doggie romp on Dewey Beach. The weather was cool and cloudy, but it didn’t dampen the excitement for the dog owners and the hundreds of doodles playing on the beach. I let Gracie off-leash and she had a blast. She romped with other dogs, chased tennis balls, played in the water, strolled along the beach, rolled in the sand, dug holes, sniffed out horseshoe crabs, discovered seashells, and received countless belly rubs. She didn’t want to leave.
Lots of pictures from the weekend are below.
*Some clarification, in case you are wondering about what defines a “doodle.” You can take any other breed of dog and cross it with a poodle, and – BINGO – you have a DOODLE. Most of the time you can figure out the combination of the doodle by the crossbreed name. A few examples: Goldendoodle, Labradoodle, Aussiedoodle, Cockapoo, Bernedoodle, Huskypoo, Schnoodle, Sheepadoodle, Saint Berdoodle, Corgipoo, Pugapoo, Dalmadoodle…the list goes on.
Slides from the costume parade:
Slides from Beach Day:
May 18, 2024
Early this morning I took Gracie out, fed her, and then I decided to go back to bed for a bit. I settled under the covers and it started to rain. As I began to drop off to sleep, I listened to the soothing sounds through the open window as the drops splashed onto the surfaces outside.
I woke up about two hours later. Gracie was sleeping soundly at the bottom of the bed. I got up and wandered to the kitchen. As I stepped through the hallway I saw a ripped-up plastic sandwich bag and foil fragments covering the carpet.
Apparently, what I “thought” were the “soothing sounds of the rain splashing” were, in fact, Gracie shredding the bags of doggie treats I had placed on the counter yesterday. While I slept, Gracie had pulled the treats off of the counter and then ate an entire bag of dog kibble (hence the foil fragments), two dog cookies (the ripped plastic bag), and a braided chew stick.
Bad doggie.
Raising Gracie 