Now that the weather is nicer, I’ve been spending more time outdoors. At home, that means longer walks with Lyle, our Wire Fox Terrier, doing my best to avoid yard work (I hate yard work!), and chatting with neighbors – mostly about our dogs – as we’ve all emerged from our winter hibernations.

Here at Downtown Dogs and Dog’s Day Out, it means finally starting on my list of outside repair projects, working on one of the three cars that my son and daughter-in-law left with me when they moved to Morocco last year, and walking to some of our great business neighbors. Let me introduce you to just a few of them. Alliance Française Mpls/St. Paul (AFMSP), located kitty corner to us, offers a terrific variety of classes and programs about French language and culture. Their annual Bastille Day celebration is always a lot of fun. Inside AFMSP is one of my favorite neighborhood haunts, B’beri Desserts and its wonderful coffees and French pastries. Congratulations to owners Diane Moukouri and her husband Fritz Ebanda, who were recently selected to open a new restaurant, Arch & Stone, at the Water Works Pavillion near the Stone Arch Bridge.

Not far from AFMSP and B’beri is our neighbor Henry & Son, an independent craft wine and spirit shop. They have an amazing selection of wines, spirits, and beers from independent makers. And owners Gretchen and Mark are dog lovers, so, you know…

Just across the street from us in the pink building is our newest neighbor, Caravan Vet, the Twin Cities’ only full-service veterinary house call practice. As pictured below, we recently had a chance to tour their facility with founder Dr. Christa Williams and, likewise, give her a tour of Downtown Dogs and Dog’s Day Out. We look forward to collaborating with Caravan Vet in the future.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our longest-standing (literally) neighbor, Dalton Gear, with whom we share our parking lot. Dalton opened in 1955 and has seen every change to our neighborhood since then. Tim Wood, their president and CEO (and one of the nicest people you will ever meet) has photos in his office from when the business first opened. What a great trip back in history it was to see photos of a very different Minneapolis skyline.

In his poem, “Mending Wall”, Robert Frost wrote that, “Good fences make good neighbors.” That may be true somewhere else, but in our neck of the woods, I think good neighbors are made through a welcoming smile and a strong pair of legs.

Ralph (aka The Big Dog)