So, FYI I don't know when/if Gerry is will be park-ready.  About 30% of the time he finds a big ol' alpha to annoy and then there's a scuffle (no injuries, but it's always a possibility if he messes with the wrong dog).  70% of the time he's no trouble at all, sigh.  Dog knows why he does it, the behaviorist I took him to thought maybe he was neutered late (at least that brings down his chances for osteosarcoma, if that's true!) and learned some bad habits as a pup. But anyway, no off-leash dog parks anymore for him unless/until I can teach him a stellar recall.  He's better, but not stellar.  

We've had such a good time at our previous tripawd pawties that we hope to still attend some.  And if fellow midwesterners are meeting up at an off-leash dog park, which is understandable, because they're way more fun, depending on the distance from Madison, maybe we can at least meet up with you towards the beginning or end outside of the park while on leashes.  If people have any on-leash park favorites  in the midwest that they'd like to meet at – we're there!

Gerry and I went to a Bark for Life event in late April or early May in Oregon, WI.  That was a cool event and I know there are more coming up elsewhere in the midwest this summer, and that could be a cool way to get together.  There are registration fees of course that go to the American Cancer Society, but then we're pawtying for a good cause too!  The idea behind Bark for Life was that dogs weren't being allowed at the regular Relay for Life events, but cancer survivors were pointing out how important their dogs were to them and their recovery.  I think it should also be mentioned that cancer research for people and dogs is linked – so it makes sense to combine human and canine participants.  Anyway, that's an on-leash event, which works well for Gerry.  If people are interested in doing a Bark for Life Team/Tripawd pawty, so far I found the following Bark for Life dates & locations:

July 9th,  Crestwood, IL, Standard Bank Stadium (14011 S Kenton Ave), 4-7 p.m. (This one looks about halfway-ish for our Wisconsin and Michigan tripawds)

http://relay.ac…..8;pg=entry

July 24th, Hartford, WI, Hartford Independence Park Dog Exercise area, 1-3 p.m.

http://www.face…..orlifesewi 

But please feel free to propose more ideas!  Anything that fits the topic of "Midwest 2011 Pawty Possibilities."

Found a few more, but there are slight problems with each for most of us travelers, I suspect…

August 7th in Hoffman Estates, Illinois from 8 a.m. til noon.  The early time is a drawback.  Higher registration fee than most too.  But I'd be willing to try to make it, if others wanted to.  More details here: http://www.brin…..vent/4489/

There's one in Belvidere, IL on July 27th at 6pm, but that's a Wednesday – middle of the week.  I'm guessing most of us couldn't make that, but more details are at http://www.face…..7141992713 if people are interested.

Then there's July 23rd in Champaign County, IL, Hessel Park.  I don't see a time for that one yet though.  http://relay.ac…..8;pg=entry