A few years ago when I was visiting Thailand, I learned the secret of the straw beach mats: they are easy to carry, dry really quickly, and super cheap (mine cost less than $1!). I was beyond excited to take mine home at the end of my trip where it lived in my kitchen apartment as a type of indoor/outdoor rug.
Though my enthusiasm didn't stop there. Through a quick online search for 'straw beach mats' I found I could
buy a whole stock of them for about $4 a mat. And they work perfectly for our dog activities.
When we eat outside with the pups we will bring a mat so they are protected from the hot pavement, dusty sidewalks, and they have a defined place to lay so they won't walk around.
We brought one to t
he Pride Parade to 'reserve' a space for the dogs and make sure they didn't feel too crowded (you can
see a better view in Mr B's video here) :
And for a time, we even had several lined up on our deck. We liked that these made it comfortable for us to walk outside barefoot: they kept the decking from getting too hot and our feet from getting dirty. They also dry really quickly after it rains, so it's still comfortable for the pups to go outside and lay without getting wet.
The foldable beachmats are not as durable, so we did upgrade a bit picked up the plastic version from World Market so it looks more like a rug. These versions last at least a year or two, and sometimes we like to layer them:
Miss M especially likes how she matches.
Also:
Our other choices for outdoors Cafe dining with dogsUrban backyards
