Activities For Dogs With Owners Who Like Baseball

As mentioned above, major league, minor league, and independent teams often have doggy-designated park days where owners can bring their well-behaved dogs to the park, as long as they are leashed and well-handled. Larger, more professional teams and parks usually have fewer days throughout the year, while teams further down the minor league ladder or independent teams may even assign a day of the week or have events every few weeks where dogs are welcome. Look online to see what teams are nearby. You may be surprised. Many smaller clubs only advertise through local business or the radio, so hop online and see what you can find. Tickets for independent league teams and low minor league teams can be as cheap as only $5!

Once you find the right team and event day, snatch up a ticket, grab your dog and head out to the park! You'd be surprised how many well-behaved dogs can co-exist in one place and many owners find great joy in being able to socialize with other owners and dogs in a setting that isn't a standard dog park. Some parks even provide dog-appropriate activities, which is even better. Plus, you'll get to take in some baseball in the process (and most likely some hot dogs as well) and your dog will likely be excited and thankful that they get to experience so many new sights, sounds, and smells!

If you already have a local dog-friendly diamond, you're good to go. Just grab your dog and stopwatch and get out there. If not, grab some old rags and place them in a diamond pattern around 90 feet apart (you can use 75-90 shoe lengths as an estimate), doing your best to keep the lines parallel. When they're set, you're ready to run!

There are several ways to go about it, depending on how easy or interesting you want to make it. The simplest thing to do would just be to jog around the bases for some easy exercise, your dog in tow. To add a little extra fun, try to speed it up and see how long is takes both of you to get around the bases by timing your runs. You can also create unconventional running patterns between the bases and timing those as well, or you could time how long it takes either your or them to get from home base to first, first to second, and more. If you have a full diamond, incorporate the foul lines, seeing how quick you can go from end to end, circumnavigate the field, or run from shortstop to the outfield fence. There are plenty of creative ways to mix up a basic running activity to be more baseball-appropriate, so have fun with it. Chances are your dog will enjoy it no matter how you plan to approach it.

Before you hit the diamond, you'll have to determine which version of activity you'd like to play. The simpler version is ball shagging, which you can do in just about any open space, and the other is a simulated game, in which case you'll either need an actual baseball diamond, or easy materials to make one, which can be as simple as using old rags as base markers. Once you've determined what type you plan to play (we're going to start with ball shagging for simplicity), locate a nearby field, grab your supplies and head on out there. (It should be noted that for local baseball fields, you should always check the rules of use, as many are not dog-friendly because of potential mess issues.)

Step two all depends on your dog's level of comfort with fetching balls. If they're already well-versed in chasing and fetching, start tossing the ball in the air, taking a swing, and lofting it out into the grass with your bat so they have something to chase and you, in turn, have a baseball to hit for them. If the velocity of the ball is too much and makes them nervous, start with a few soft test throws before adding the bat at a low speed. Once they get comfortable, you can start swinging harder and sending it further out. Just be careful to try to hit it in a direction they're not, unless you want to see if they can field grounders and even then, caution should be taken to prevent scaring them or injury.

While having your dog fetch batted balls will be exercise enough, you can also add a bit of fun for yourself. Whether you're in a real baseball diamond or one you made with old rags or other objects as bases, you can step the game up to be even more fun and challenging. Once you've hit a ball, take off for first base and see how many you can get before they race back with the ball. If they get to you before you reach a base, you're out, but if you beat them, you can start keeping tally of who is on base and score yourself runs based on the results. Tailor the rules to your and their ability so you're both regularly challenged.