A Dog Fire Hydrant For Sherman and Leroy

Yesterday was National Dog Day.

Founded in 2004 by pet lifestyle expert and author Colleen Paige, National Dog Day was created to honor dogs more than we currently do, to give them “a day”, to show deep appreciation for our long connection to each other – for their endearing patience, unquestioning loyalty, for their work, their capacity for love and their ability to impact our lives everyday in the most miraculous ways.

The question I had is how in the world do I show my appreciation to the dogs in my life that love me unconditionally everyday, on National Dog Day? I mean I don’t need a day to show them love, but I wanted to do something special anyway so how about give them something that every dog wants?

Their very own personal fire hydrant!

That’s right, the boys now have their very own fire hydrant right in their backyard! The perfect spot to pee, and Sunday, National Dog Day, was the perfect day to unveil it to my special guys.

Here’s the low down on the hydrant:

First, I have to credit where credit is due. The hydrant was all my husband’s idea. You know, the guy who didn’t like dogs before he met me. He’s the genius behind the hydrant.

Where we got from: When we first thought about the hydrant we had no idea where we would get it from. Of course we didn’t want a vintage one. We just wanted an old hydrant that wasn’t being used. I was going to ask the city if they had any old hydrants that we could buy, or have, but then as luck would have it, my husband found one where he works in a pile of scrap.

The purpose of the hydrant: First, it’s cute.

Second, it’s part of the process of making our backyard more dog friendly.

Third, I use to have 8 beautiful hosta plants that surrounded our pool, B.D. Before Dogs. Now A.D., After Dogs,  I have 2 hosta plants, and gosh darn it I want to save them. They are the only plants I have in the backyard and if there is any chance that I can divert the dogs from peeing on them, than I will.

Hence the fire hydrant.

What we did: The hydrant was in pretty good shape and all it needed was a fresh coat of paint so my husband painted it with some outdoor spray paint, then it sat in the driveway for 2 weeks.

Finally, we found time and dug a shallow hole, poured some concrete in the hole so the dogs wouldn’t be able to knock it over, set the hydrant in and covered it with some dirt. That’s it!

There no filtration system, who needs that? My hosta plants certainly didn’t have one.

Do they use it?

Yes.

Simultaneously.

Since the writing of this post I’ve been told by multiple people that you can call your city and ask if they have any old fire hydrants that can be used for decoration in your yard. Some cities may not allow them to be given away though.

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