Ella and I strolled the boardwalk, enjoying the wind-in-our-hair freedom of ocean breezes and the lack of crowds on a mild spring weekend at Rehoboth Beach in dog-friendly Delaware. Gulls called, waves lapped the shore, and we could taste salt in the air. All was serene until my 90-pound, 1-year-old Newfoundland caught the aroma of Thrasher’s French Fries. She lunged off the footpath, dragging me toward the kiosk where she propped her paws on the takeout window’s ledge, tongue out and ready to order her bucket of the thick-cut, peanut-oil-fried staple of Rehoboth Beach.
Off-season beaches are a dog lover’s delight, especially when mild weather evokes our desire to play on lightly populated dunes with our K-9 companions. As in many U.S. beach destinations, in Rehoboth, four-footed friends can prance the seaside promenade and romp in the sand from the beginning of October through the end of April. My husband and I rented a pet-friendly house across from the boardwalk for a five-day, multifamily getaway that included two busy toddlers and two devoted dogs.
