Dear Curious: The ‘Dog Camp’ industry is booming! Now, more than ever before, the canine is becoming an ever increasing companion to millions. And people want to take their “members of the family” with them on vacation and to special destinations. Below are some of the more popular and well-know camps where you and your dog can participate in everything from seminars to swimming to white-water canoeing.

Enjoy!   

Splash Camp – For the ultimate in canine water sports, Splash Camps are offered around New England and Pennsylvania this summer. Private lessons are also available in Fairfield County starting in June. Contact: Deborah Lee Miller-Riley, Director at K9waterfun@aol.com or www.caninewatersports.com.

Camp Border Collie and Friends – Visit their 175-acre camp and enjoy such well-know dog authors and trainers as Suzanne Clothier and Jon Katz. Summer activities include discovering nature trails, swimming and hiking or classes in agility, herding, Frisbee®, flyball, animal communication and training. Contact Lillie Goodrich at Glen Highland Farm in upstate New York at 607-263-5415 or sweetbcrescue@citlink.net.

Camp Gone to the Dogs® - Vermont vacations for dog lovers and their dogs. This highly-rated camp in Putney includes classes, workshops, lectures, or just plain fun activities such as the doggie costume party, leash making or tail-wagging, kissing and hot dog retrieve contests. Contact: Honey Loring, Director at 802-387-5673 or www.campgonetothedogs.com.

Dog Paddling Adventures – Perhaps a white-water canoeing adventure is more your speed. Dog Paddling Adventures, Canada’s first outdoor adventure company catering to dogs and their people, has a full range of trips from one-day lake tours to a full week of fun with the family. Contact: Jessie at Dog Paddling Adventures, Markham, Ontario, Canada at jessie@dogpaddlingadventures.com or 905-477-2493 or www.dogpaddlingadventures.com.

Dog Scouts of America – This Michigan organization will make eagle scouts out of your best buddy in no time. Complete with dog scout laws, camps and hiking trips in northern Lower Michigan. If this destination is too far away, get a group of dog owners together and form your own troop and plan a mini-camp in your neck of the woods. Contact: www.dogscouts.com.

Lisa’s Pick of the Litter

If you are interested in some truly remarkable working canines, then Partners in Independence, A Success Story of Dogs and the Disabled (Barkleigh Productions, 2004) by Ed and Toni Eames should be added to your summer reading list. This book written by a husband and wife team, both blind and using guide dogs, details the lives of guide dogs and the disabled people whose lives they enhance.

According to the book’s news release, “These are stories of visionaries who recognize the potential and converted canine potentialities into realities. Thanks to the dogs you will meet in this book, thousands of disabled people enjoy more enriched lives. They pursue careers, attend school, make friends, and cope with situations each day brings. They and their dogs are best friends in the truest sense of the word.”

Ed and Toni Eames are active members of the world they describe. With their guide dogs, they have traveled the world, educated others and met a diverse segment of humanity featured in this book. They present the challenge, the humor, the determination and the pathos familiar to disabled people everywhere who confidently go through doors opened with the help of their canine partners!

Partners in Independence includes chapters on the history of assistance dogs, traveling with and caring for assistance dogs, rights of the disabled and contact information to the assistance world.”

Visit www.off-lead.com/Trainingbooks.html on the web.

Lisa Peterson, a breeder and exhibitor of Norwegian Elkhounds, is a Delegate to the American Kennel Club. Send questions to ask@lisa-peterson.com or Dogma Publishing, P.O. Box 307, Newtown, CT 06470.