Dog Beach Day Gear for Creek and Lake Afternoons

Summer at Sniff and Shift means more lake days than car show days, and our dog beach day gear list has grown alongside Ella's swimming habit: something waterproof for the ride there, something freeze-dried for the ride back. The Camaro still makes the trip, it just gets parked at a lot instead of a row of other cars, and the gear that goes along has changed to match. Between the drive out, the swim itself, and the drive home, a beach or creek day asks more of a treat and gear kit than most car show weekends do, since everything gets wet, sandy, or both before the day is over.

What to bring

We pack treats before we pack anything else. A bag of Pup-Ornaut Freeze-Dried Dog Ice Cream: Banana Peanut Butter is the one that gets opened first, usually before the towels come out of the trunk. Freeze-Dried Whole Sardines travel well in a dry bag if the day includes a walk to the water, and we keep Ella in a Sniff and Shift Circle-Logo Dog Bandana so she is easy to spot on a crowded shoreline once she has shaken off and is running the bank looking for the next stick. All three are freeze-dried in small batches, single ingredient, and none of them need a cooler to survive the drive, which matters more on a beach day than it does anywhere else, since the cooler space is usually taken up by everything for the humans already. We toss the treat bag in with the dry clothes instead, which is about the only spot in the car that reliably stays dry once the swimming actually starts and everyone piles back in still dripping.

Gearing Up for the Water

The gear list matters as much as the treat list. We point people to the waterproof dog collars and leashes shipped by Lucky Dog Pet Company for anything that is going in the water more than once this season, since a regular leather or fabric collar does not hold up the same way after repeated trips in a lake. We add the dog hiking gear collection, shipped by each maker, for the trail portion before you even reach the creek, since most of our lake days start with a walk down to the water rather than a straight shot from the parking lot. If the plan includes a longer drive to get there, our trail and travel page and the road trip essentials collection cover what usually rides along in the back seat for the day, from towels to the water bowl that lives in the trunk all season. None of it is complicated gear, it is just the handful of things that turn a good idea for a beach day into an actual beach day that goes smoothly from the driveway to the water and back.

After the Swim

The best part of a beach or creek day is the stretch after Ella gets out of the water, shakes off, and sits down for a treat while she dries. That is when the freeze-dried stash earns its keep, since a soft treat gets sandy and a freeze-dried one does not, and there is nothing worse than reaching into a treat bag full of wet sand. Our full freeze-dried dog treats collection has the rest of the lineup if the beach bag needs restocking before the next trip. For the drives further out, the dog-friendly car events board is worth a look before you go, since a lot of our summer weekends end up built around whatever is happening nearby, and it is an easy way to turn a lake day into a lake day with a stop on the way home.

From the shop

Pup-Ornaut Freeze-Dried Dog Ice Cream: Banana Peanut Butter, Freeze-Dried Whole Sardines, and Sniff and Shift Circle-Logo Dog Bandana come from our kitchen. The waterproof collars and leashes are shipped by Lucky Dog Pet Company, and the dog hiking gear collection is shipped by each maker.

Questions

Do freeze-dried treats hold up in a beach bag?

Yes, better than most things in a beach bag. There is no melting or refrigeration involved, so a bag tossed in with the towels and sunscreen comes home in the same shape it left in, sand and all, which is more than we can say for most of what else ends up in that bag by the end of the day. It is one less thing on the packing list we have to think twice about.

What should a first-time waterproof collar buyer look for?

Start with what the collar is for. A collar for regular swims should be easy to rinse and dry, which is the whole idea behind the Lucky Dog Pet Company lineup we carry, since a collar that stays damp all afternoon is not doing anyone any favors in the back seat on the drive home.

Is the ice cream flavor actually cold?

No, freeze-dried ice cream is shelf stable and served at room temperature. The name describes the flavor and the process, not the temperature it arrives at, which is part of why it works so well as something to pack instead of something to keep on ice.

For more of how a treat kitchen and a car culture habit spend a summer, see Explore.