Activity Challenge – Inspiration for fun days out with your dog

Yesterday I shared my blog about the Activity Challenge on Social Media, and then a number of people asked me if I would like to make an Inspiration blog. So today an article with all kinds of fun days out for you and your dog, which you can possibly write down on your popsicle sticks!

When I started writing my popsicle sticks, I first thought about which categories I wanted to make. Some ideas for categories:

• Off-leash areas
• Day Out
• Be active together
• Activities for a higher budget
• A day out with all your dogs (if you have a lot of them, like us)
• A day out with 1-2 of your dogs (if you have a lot of them, like us and can’t/don’t always want to leave with the whole group)

I chose a different color for each category, but you can of course also use natural coloured sticks. The handy thing about choosing your own color is that you can take your limitations and possibilities of that week into account when picking up your stick for that week (for example, I don’t always have the time and money to go away for a midweek with the dogs, haha!). Now you are going to write an activity on each stick.

Off-leash areas

I will not write all off-leash areas in the Netherlands below, because then it will be a very long list, but I have these on my sticks:

• Loonse & Drunense Duinen in Noord-Brabant
• Grevelingendam, between Zuid-Holland and Zeeland
• Wassenaarseslag in Zuid-Holland
• Landgoed Groenendaal in Noord-Holland
• Dunes and beach in Noordwijk, Zuid-Holland
• Beach Ouddorp in Zuid-Holland
• Soesterduinen in Utrecht
• Chaamse Bossen in Noord-Brabant
• Hondendijk Monster in Zuid-Holland
• Bentwoud in Zuid-Holland
• Galderse Meren in Noord-Brabant
• Lage Bergse Bos in Zuid-Holland
• Mastbos in Noord-Brabant
• Schoorlse Duinen in Noord-Holland
• Balijbos in Zuid-Holland
• A walk around the Vesting van Willemstad, in Noord-Brabant
• Mallebos in Zuid-Holland
• Bernisse in Zuid-Holland

Day Out

There are a number of nice parks, museums and other places of interest where dogs are more than welcome (provided they are kept on a leash, of course, and check the website of the park/museum in question for other rules in advance), such as:

• Archeon
• Keukenhof
• Ouwehands Dierenpark
• Dierenpark Amersfoort
• Prehistorisch dorp Eindhoven
• Castle ruins and caves in Valkenburg
• Openluchtmuseum Arnhem
• Tiengemeten

Be active together

This can really be anything! Think of things like:

• Go geocaching with your dog
• Go Stand-Up Paddling (SUP) with your dog
• Rent a boat and go sailing together
• Attend a workshop
• Go for a swim together
• Go do gundog training
• Go do scentwork training
• Go do brainwork/puzzles with your dog

Activities for a higher budget

You can think of things that are a bit more expensive, such as renting a holiday house for a few days where dogs are welcome. But this entirely depends on what exactly is ‘a higher budget’ for you of course, I can’t look into your wallet!

A day out with all your dogs

Some of the activities listed above can be done with all your dogs if you have a lot of them (like us). Certain off-leash areas do allow a maximum number of dogs per handler, so always check this before departure. Then you will never be faced with surprises!

A day out with 1-2 dogs

Other of the activities mentioned above are better done with 1 or 2 dogs. Many of the parks and museums are not really fun for you to visit if you both walk three dogs on a leash, and not every location allows multiple dogs. Many of the ‘being active together’ activities are also more enjoyable with one or two dogs. Stand-Up Paddling becomes very ‘exciting’ with five dogs on the SUP I can tell you, haha!

Do you have any tips?

Feel free to share them with me if you want! Then I’ll add them to the list (and to my own sticks, hihi) 🙂

As I mentioned in the other blog, you write a different activity on each popsicle stick, and you put all your popsicle sticks in a jar. From that jar you choose a weekly (or monthly, or whenever you want) stick for an activity to do with your dog.
Have fun, and don’t forget the hashtag #dogblogstickchallenge when you share photos and videos on Instagram!