We call it Camp David.
No, not that Camp David. It’s just an ordinary home in our neighborhood — meaning nice, but not extravagant. David owns it.
When David vacations, he uses house-sitters and also likes lots of traffic going in and out, for obvious reasons. If that traffic happens to involve dogs, all the better. Big dogs = best.
So we take Bow and her daily playmate, Ryu, to David’s backyard, which is large, multi-tiered, with fun features such as a super-soaker of a hose, a tall staircase, a campfire area and all manner of plants and trees to smell.
Bow sniffs around a bit and makes for the hose. Her eyes say, “Come on, already, let’s splash about.” Ryu runs up and down the stairs like an athlete training for a big event. And they get their snacks at the campfire ( minus the fire).
A change of scenery is exciting to them. A mini-adventure. It’s like kids going to a friend’s house to play.
We do the same for our dog-owning neighbors. Our backyard offers jungle-like tunnels, a fence with a pitbull and chihuahua on the other side, and a view of the street facing our house for barking up passersby.
In fact, much of our neighborhood network does it.
It’s great for fur families and a very good security technique.
