The Best Place To Take Your Dogs Outside Near St. Louis

Quarantine and the push to stay indoors due to Covid-19 has got everyone feeling a little bit batty, including our four legged friends.

Parks that would normally be teaming with locals feel oddly empty as people still try to figure out a balance of necessary living and safe social distancing practices.

Dogs are feeling the anxiety as much as we are so my girlfriend and I have been trying to find some places that are a little less trafficked then the tried and tue Castlewood State Park for example.

Sara did a little digging and found a state owned recreation area that is about 30 minutes or so outside of St. Louis. Finding these little hidden gems is half the fun of exploring but there are plenty of clues in the video to help you figure it out.

The area is largely focused around access to a beautiful clear stream that rarely gets deeper then knee height. We chose to take our dogs Yose and Hank off leash and let them wander.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: Yose has been professionally trained by Kennelwood Village Pet Training. She works in a balanced training system that uses treats and vocal cues for positive reinforcement. We use a correction collar system to allow her a little more distance, while maintaining a reasonable level of control.

We spend lots of time off leash training on walks in our neighborhood around other people and dogs before entering an environment like with strangers and children.

Sara and I prepared a nice lunch of some wraps and vegetables with humus and raspberry lemonade. I snuck some cookies into the bag for a nice treat to close out the meal.

LIttle outings like this add up over the course of the year to a life much more focused on the outdoors and what it takes to maintain these beautiful spaces. It sounds corny but you don’t have to go to Colorado or California to find a great adventure.

We took two hours out of our day, in the middle of the week, during the middle of a global pandemic, to exercise our dogs, breath a little fresh air and remind ourselves to slow down a bit and enjoy what’s just down the road…about 30 minutes…