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Autumn is the perfect time of year to get out and about with your pet—the air is cool and the leaves are perfectly crunchy! Here are some pet-friendly activities to fill up your fall bucket list.
1. Go Apple Picking
Nothing screams “fall” quite like a trip to the apple orchard! Many orchards are pet-friendly and welcome +1 leashed animals to stroll among the apple trees with you. Your pet will have a world of scents to explore, and apples make a healthy, crisp, and juicy snack for humans, dogs, and cats!
2. Dress Up for Halloween
Let’s be real—we wait all year to see pets in Halloween costumes. While not every pet enjoys dressing up, the furry friends who do will quickly become the stars of any pet costume contest or trick-or-treating trip. If your pet is a little less enthusiastic about getting dolled up, they might be more amenable to wearing that pair of devil horns long just enough for a photo—if they’re bribed with lots of dog treats or cat treats, of course.
3. Take a Hike in the Woods
There’s no better way to enjoy the changing fall colors than to get out into the forest. Adventurous dogs and cats will enjoy rustling through the fallen leaves and sniffing out hidden scents while their human companions look up to the canopy and take in the rainbow foliage.
4. Cook a Fall Feast
Chilly days feel like the perfect time to get into the kitchen and cook up something warm and tasty—and we all know that our dog’s favorite thing is when they get to snag a bit of usually forbidden home-cooked food.
Make something just for them with a seasonal pumpkin spice dog smoothie or let the whole family get in on the action with some roasted vegetables! Dogs, cats, and humans will all enjoy a slow-roasted tray of sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower (just make sure to put the seasonings on the human portions after serving your pets). Check which veggies are pet-safe and get to cooking!
5. Play in Leaf Piles
Raking up leaves can take a little work, but a good leaf pile makes the perfect play area for your pet! Hiding toys and treats in the leaves will create a natural snuffle mat for them to search through. And of course, rambunctious dogs love to dive headlong into leaf piles and roll around until there’s no pile left! You were hoping for the extra workout of raking a second time, right?
6. Explore a Corn Maze
Do you know the secret to finding your way through a corn maze? No, we’re not talking about a map—we’re talking about an expert sniffer to help guide you through. You’ll have the added advantage of another one of the five senses working to find the right path, and they’ll get to enjoy all the benefits of exploring with their nose.
7. Brave a Ghost Tour
Looking for a more unorthodox way to enjoy outdoor time with your pet? Ghost tours have become an increasingly popular spooky season activity, and many of outdoor walking tours welcome well-behaved pets along for the trip! You can have the pants scared off you with spine-chilling stories while you see if your pet can sniff out any ghosts—possibly literally.
8. Hit the Pumpkin Patch
A trip to the pumpkin patch to find your future jack o’ lanterns or autumnal decorative gourds is even more fun with a pet +1! They’ll get to spend time frolicking around the farm and they can snack on some gourd goodness if you decide to do a little pumpkin carving when you get home. Dogs can safely eat raw and cooked pumpkin, but you should cook them until soft for the cats out there.
You can choose just how adventurous you want to get this autumn! If you’re looking to explore, take your pet for a weekend trip and check off all the fun fall activities you can do along the way. If you’re looking to keep things closer to home, any one of these activities pairs perfectly with a chaser of a movie marathon snuggled up on the couch with your pet—whether you hit play on horror movies or seasonal romcoms is up to you.
