Pamela and Michael

You probably think visiting the Dismal Swamp with your dog sounds pretty awful. Sort of like staying in a gloomy hovel, hiking through the dreary landfill, or playing in the dog park from hell

If you listen to your boat dog, you’ll have the kind of bond that will make both of you safer, happier, and more comfortable. The human crew fought to pull the boat close to the pier and verbally coaxed the dog to make the jump. I grabbed Honey’s telescoping boat ramp (Amazon) and offered it to the trawler owners. I’ve learned a lot by listening to my dog, like: * which dogs are truly playful and which ones are scared; despite what their people tell me * when it’s time to groom her paws (she hesitates more jumping off the boat) * when I really need to pay attention to the weather

Yep, it’s the Annmarie Sculpture Garden (one of a few dozen pet-friendly museums in the United States). How Did We Miss Annmarie Sculpture Garden Solomons was in danger of becoming the place we stopped to wait out bad weather on the Chesapeake Bay. In a nod to solo travelers with pets, the museum allows you to pay your admission with your dog indoors and walk through the building to the beginning of the meandering art trail. But it’s definitely worth a short trip from the downtown waterfront to visit Annmarie Sculpture garden.

But working on board means we travel S-L-O-W-L-Y. Fortunately, when overnight temps drop to freezing, our boat dog Honey does her job keeping us warm. The last time we were in Beaufort, South Carolina, we heard the tale of a man who walked into the mud flats to get his wandering dog. But Honey is very good at the next benefit of having a boat dog. At least that’s what I discovered reading Peggy Frezon’s new book, The Dog in the Dentist Chair and Other True Stories About Animals