In his last post about our excursion to the Chicago lakefront, Sid forgot to mention that our beloved Foster Dog Beach is no more.

The high water level of Lake Michigan gobbled up the small remaining corner of Foster Beach reserved for the 4-legged and the tumultuous storms and heavy waves took out the fencing, deck, and wooden ramp that led down to the dog beach. If you take a look at our post from last summer, you can see what our cute tiny dog beach once looked like. We’ll miss it, but hopefully it can be rebuilt in the future.

Until then, I guess it’s time to find ourselves a new dog beach because this pug wants to swim!

It certainly has been hot here in Chicago and the other day our ceiling fans just weren’t cutting it, so Sid and I took a stroll over to the lake to cool off.

The water level in Lake Michigan is a very high this year and the Foster Dog Beach has been reduced to a little triangle of sand. But Sid hardly noticed as he was there for one reason only: SWIMMING!

I got in the water with him and, let me tell you, that chilly water felt amazing and cooled off both of us instantly.

At times, the waves got pretty choppy and Sid ended up a little deeper than he realized. He is really good in the water, though, and managed to keep his head above water the whole time.

While there, we met a new pug friend: Colby!

Sid and Colby splashed through the waves and kicked up sand while racing each other on the beach. Colby certainly has a cute little face, huh?

With more sweltering days on the way, we may start making every day beach day!

Sid told me he had such a great time splashing in the waves last weekend with Donald and Daisy and their ‘rents, that he wanted to make an “epic video”. I think that is the only way to describe what he came up with. He said he consulted with tons of “reference” material to make sure he got all the details just right.

May I present to you Sid’s latest masterpiece — PUGWATCH!

He told me to tell you all to watch it on youtube in HD because he spent “hours on the CGI” and also that he did all his own stunts.

It started off as a typical Sunday afternoon. I had just finished my dinner (yeah, I eat dinner at 4:15 PM sharp) and was about to take my post-dinner nap when all of a sudden I was interrupted by my dad rummaging around in the closet. Being the curious pug that I am, I had to check out what the heck was going on.

Out flies my red travel bag. Ok – are we going flying again? Or on the subway? Then comes a big towel – oh crap, am I getting a bath today? Then my EXTRA LONG extendable leash. Wait, I have one of those? Before I knew what was going on, I was sitting at the bus stop in my travel bag.

While in on the bus, my mind was racing – I’ve never gone to the vet on the bus, we walk to Urban Pooch where I get my baths, and when I visit my grandpugrents we have to rent a car. What kind of crazy trip was I being taken on?! Well, our destination became clear as soon as I heard the seagulls squawking and the waves crashing: We were AT THE BEACH!

I hopped out of my travel and immediately sprinted to the water. The water was pretty frigid so I just dipped my toes in for a bit then laid out in the sand to soak up some sun.

My dad tried to get me to play fetch with a mini tennis ball, but since he didn’t have any treats there was no way I was going to bring it back to him (Dad still needs to read Urban Hounds instruction for how to teach a human to play fetch – TREATS ARE REQUIRED, POPS!). Instead I decided to create some “Beach Art”…what do you think?

(You might need to double-click to appreciate my masterpiece full size)

I had been frolicking around for a while at this point and the heat and sand and manic panting must have gotten to me because out of the haze I thought I saw ANOTHER PUG ON THE BEACH!

Turned out it wasn’t a mirage, but an actual little pug named Ginger. I ran over and said hi. She comes to Foster Beach pretty often so she showed me where the good spots to pee were. We sat in the shade and split a bowl of cool water (Please don’t tell T-Buttz, she’ll kill me!).

Before we left, I showed my dad my best impression of an Egyptian Sphinx:

Pretty good, right? BOL!

After all that running around, can you believe my dad and I walked the whole way back home?! He said it was because the temperature had dropped and it had become a “pleasant evening” but I just think he was too cheap to pay the $2 bus fare! I was POOPED by the time we got home.

Sid and I hope everyone had a great weekend!

The weather in Chicago was incredible this weekend, so we hopped a bus bound for the lake. Instead of heading to Montrose Beach, where we ventured a few weeks ago, we went to Foster Beach, which is smaller and thus makes keeping tabs on your frolicking pooch more manageable.

As to be expected, Sid had a blast and by the end of the day was covered in sand and panting like a maniac.

Sid told me he wanted to do a full report of the day’s events so he’ll be writing Part II for you.

Like Sid mentioned on Monday, we did head to the Montrose Dog Beach this past weekend. The sun was certainly nice and bright but it was still pretty cold out and the wind was quite blustery. Still, we had a blast.

Sid went bonkers when he reached the water. You probably are aware by now of his strange obsession with water. I was afraid he might head out to sea so I brought him a little further inland so he could sprint on the sand. Here’s a short video of the little guy at top speed!

Ahoy there!

I’m so glad those insane thunderstorms from last week finally wrapped up on Friday. I was exhausted from being on storm watch the whole time. I hope everyone stayed safe and no one’s basement flooded.

On Saturday, the sun finally decided to return to work after a week-long vacation. My dad and I went on an expedition and we ended up all the way at the Michigan Ocean. OK, well, I guess technically it’s a lake but it is ENORMOUS and I couldn’t even see the other side.

The wind was whipping around and the waves were leaping up onto the shore, but it was definitely not as scary as a thunderstorm (which I WASN’T EVEN AFRAID OF…NO, REALLY, I WASN’T. LET’S LEAVE IT AT THAT).

Oh, and the best part was that I got to go to the beach! Not just any beach but a DOG BEACH! Yeah, you heard me right. A beach devoted to us dogs. It was awesome! But I’ll have to tell you more about it later this week – I gotta run now – it’s DINNER TIME!