06-11-2023 Capital Style - Flipbook - Page 58
Michael Bass, founder of MD Pup Scouts, walks
a dog pack in Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis.
PHOTO BY BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR
But if you’re reading this, we have some ideas
to help you settle into the area. Maybe you want
to treat yourself to something sweet, or get to
know your four-legged constituents. In Anne
Arundel, you can grab a bite, earn your sea legs
and walk with the pack.
Be a part of the pack.
Walking with humans is fun. But stepping
out with other dogs? Unbeatable.
MD Pup Scouts — launched in Annapolis
by Michael Bass in September — offers dogs
the chance to do just that. “Pack walks” involve
“pack leaders” (aka human chaperones) guiding
groups of roughly eight dogs on a stroll.
“Being around the other dogs in this
comfortable environment allows them to
thrive and build confidence,” said Bass, 33, who
grew up in Pikesville and founded the first Pup
Scouts outpost in Orange County, California.
Using two school buses, he and other
walkers pick up dogs from their homes each
morning, Monday through Friday, to corral
them for three-hour walks around downtown
Annapolis, Quiet Waters Park and the B&A
Trail, starting around 9 a.m. Dogs must sign
up for a minimum of one outing per week
($60 per walk).
“It’s the best way to socialize and teach
your dog manners,” Bass said. “There’s no
competition between the dogs, they’re all
working together toward a common goal.”
Dogs of varying breeds, sizes and dispositions
are welcome, but bigger dogs are in the majority.
MD Pup Scouts also organizes free “community
pack walks,” during which participants walk
their own dogs.
Grab an outdoor bite.
All that exercise will surely work up an
appetite.
At Pour Dog House in Millersville, the “dog”
in the name references not just the menu items
— an array of hot dogs and sausages, with a
wide variety of garnishes — but also the dogfriendly outdoor seating area, according to Shah
Alston, one of five co-owners who opened the
restaurant in 2021.
It’s patronized by pups ranging “from Great
Danes to Pomeranians,” Alston, 55, said. “I don’t
look at the dog as a pet. It’s a family member.”
The restaurant has hosted two adoption
events with the SPCA — one during its grand
opening and another in tandem with a car show
— and plans to continue the partnership, which
Alston said has been “extremely successful.”
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| CAPITAL STYLE | Summer 2023
Hit the water, on a board.
Now that you’re an Annapolitan, Tucker,
you’ll be expected to get out on the water. What
better way than on a paddleboard.
For 10 years, Kevin Haigis, who grew up in
Arnold and attended Broadneck High School,
has run Capital SUP, a stand-up paddleboard
rental company he started with two friends in
his early 20s. The business operates out of Quiet
Waters Park and Nautilus Point in Eastport,
and the season typically runs from Memorial
Day through Labor Day.
Dogs can join a regular session on a
paddleboard or kayak (starting at $25 per hour)
for the added cost of a life vest rental ($10), if
needed, or can partake in “Yappy Hour,” an
event Capital SUP hosts several times monthly,
for dogs and their owners ($35). The weekend
or early evening event is capped at 12 dogs and
always sells out, according to Haigis.
“You have to coach a dog to get onto the
platform on the board, but it’s easily done with
a treat,” he said.
Haigis has seen people hit the water with
large dogs — like a 110-pound Great Dane —
but said Tucker “would be a perfect kind of dog
to enjoy a board with.”
Build your wardrobe and
fill your toy chest.
Everyone knows Maryland’s first dog has an
image to maintain.
Sea Dog Pet Boutique, on Main Street in
Annapolis, offers collars, bandanas, toys, treats
and other goodies made in the United States
and from small and women-owned businesses.
“That was really the goal of the store, to have
unique things that you wouldn’t find in big-box
stores,” said Karen Komisar, 55, who opened
the boutique last year. “We try to really support
other small businesses.”
Komisar said Tucker has visited the boutique
with the first lady and Mia, to pick out a
bandanna and a Maryland flag-printed leash.
