Dogs, Anglers Enjoy Sunny Warm Day on Park Point Beach

Humans, dogs, and anglers out enjoying the weather.

DULUTH, Minn.- The sands of Park Point beaches were covered with some fur on Sunday, dog fur that is. Temperatures in the high 40s called dogs and their owners out of the house.

“She’s been locked up for a while along with myself, with everything going on,” said Patrick Bittinger, playing fetch with his dog Bella. “So just trying to get fresh air, run around in the water, and just having fun.”

It was chance to stretch their two, or four, legs. “We have to burn off some energy with these little guys,” Chelsea Schull said, taking her puppy Glen on a playdate with his furry friend Mowgli.

“In Duluth we don’t always get good days like this,” she said.

While humans are social distancing, puppies like Mowgli and Glen benefit from being around each other. “We try to get them together a few times a week so that they have someone to play with, since there’s no puppy class or anything available right now,” said Schull. “So they have to, like, socialize with each other and stuff.”

Socializing is an understatement for these two active pups. “This one likes to dig, they do a lot of wrestling. Mowgli is the best fetcher in town,” she said.

“Honestly the two of them together just wear each other out, so it makes it easier for us,” Mowgli’s owner Janelle Rouillard said.

With all the times their owners are now spending at home, the four-legged friends love the extra attention. Some of them, at least.

“I’m sure she’s getting sick of me always being home now,” Bittinger said, as Bella paws at him to throw the ball again. “But yeah, we’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

This, owners said, is a more positive aspect of people staying home due to Coronavirus. “It’s a good time to be raising a puppy,” said Rouillard. “Not that there’s a good time for all of this to be happening, but it’s the bright side of it all for sure.”

But it wasn’t only canines enjoying the crystal blue water. Some anglers couldn’t wait to take a dip in the Lake.

“Stuck in the house for 9 days in a row, so it was either stay in the house for one more day, or get out and do some fishing,” said Joseph Hagen, pulling his kayak ashore.

“So, I chose fishing.”

Out in the middle of the vast blue, the current moving him, is Hagen’s perfect headspace in these tough times.

“I call it my therapy,” he said, surrounded by the sound of lapping waves. “No work, no virus on my mind. So just out here, enjoying life.”