Vermont Paddle Pups…A Dog Blog which shares and encourages safe, respectful, and awesomely fun outdoor adventures with dogs…

What started out as a canoeing blog has blossomed…into a narrative about 4-seasons of adventure and excitement…year round fun with our great mutts!

Starring:

Gryphon   A yellow lab mutt (possibly some Chow in there?) who was 4 months old, and newly arrived from a kill-shelter in South Carolina, when we adopted him in 2010.

And Edgar Allen Pup who joined our family when Gryphon was 3 years old. A black lab mix, he also came from a shelter in South Carolina, and was brought to the local shelter here in Vermont. He was adopted once, but after 3 months, that family returned him to the shelter….we were fortunate to be able to bring him home to his 4th, and final home.

FALL 2015 Updates! 

What a year it has been….in some ways a very difficult and challenging year, and in other ways, a wonderful year that saw us participate in many of our favorite adventures.  We have been selected as ambassadors for two very fine companies, BackcountryK9.com, and Tubbs Snowshoes, and our gear room keeps getting filled with more delightful winnings! We have been involved in local outdoor associations,and volunteered goods and times for these non-profits….all part of our attempts to be responsible and involved outdoor folks and dogs. Off we go for another winter season, and sooner than we know it, paddling season will arrive once more. Please enjoy our blog!

FALL 2014 Updates and News

Well, another summer has come and gone….some sad family events led to changes in our plans, but we were able to get out and reach our target of 40 paddles on the water, and also completed quite a bit of hiking. We now make preparations for the winter, and hopefully a great season of snowshoeing, skijoring, and kicksledding. It is always fun to return to the sites of our paddling exploits during the frozen, cold, wintery months of November through March…the changes in appearance of these places can be striking, but provides a different view of the beautiful area where we live.

SPRING 2014 UPDATE–Here we go again! Check out our Reports from the Water for weekly ( well, usually weekly) blog entries about our outdoor adventures. As described in the following paragraphs, this blog began as a way to document our introduction of Edgar as a paddle Pup. Well, he is now an experienced, and well-traveled Paddle Pup, and we are expanding our horizons and our adventures.

PRE-WINTER UPDATE NOVEMBER 2013—  we will periodically be posting photos and videos of our winter adventures….so don’t think we, or the dogs, sit on the couch all winter waiting for spring canoeing!

FALL UPDATE  October 20 2013

As the summer comes to a close—-fall has come and is in the process of leaving. The leaves have turned their glorious colors, and now have fallen to the earth. Stick season is here, and the weather forecast includes some snow next week.

It has been fun to write this little blog. A bit indulgent at times, perhaps. but a way to share how we have integrated a little rescue dog into our family. We have each learned from our paddling experiences over the past 5 months. Thank you for spending a bit of time with us!

SPRING 2013  .….For the past 3 summers and autumns, we have enjoyed wonderful canoeing adventures with our dog Gryphon. He was 6 months old for his first trip, and as he grew, our trips lengthened (as did our canoe!). He loves “going for a ride in the canoe boat”, and last fall, we began remote canoe camping with him.We recently added a young rescue pup to our family; Edgar has no canoeing experience, and he is quite a bit more frisky than Gryphon.We decided it might be fun to document our adventures, as we begin training Edgar with dryland training and canoe familiarity, upcoming this spring (once our snow leaves).We expect we’ll get wet more than once, but what fun we will have!

We’ve begun dryland training! The snow is gone from the yard, and the boat is out of hibernation. Our target for first on-water excursion/training is in three weeks ( Mid-May). We’ll see how it goes!