It’s official, my mom is back from her trip to Chincoteague Island, Virginia with my pal Minnow the Painting Pony! Mom and Minnow travel to the island once a year for the annual Chincoteague Pony Penning Week. During the last week in July the wild ponies of Assateague are rounded up, swum over to Chincoteague, and then many of the new foals are auctioned off to keep the wild herd at a manageable number.

While the swim and auction are exciting (or so I hear since I’ve never been), Minnow is there to Paint and Perform every evening at the Chincoteague Pony Centre . I hear he draws quite a crowd.

Sadly the town of Chincoteague is quite pony friendly – but not quite as dog friendly. Dogs aren’t allowed in any of the hotels, and not even in the only park on the island. So each year I spend the week at home with my dad, counting the days until mom returns.

Even though the island doesn’t welcome us pooches with open arms there is one thing I thoroughly enjoy about mom visiting the island without me…..her trip to the dog and pony bakery called Howl Naturale.

Mom brought me home two natural dog cookies this time, one in the shape of a pony and the other looked like a lucky horse shoe.

These tasty treats maybe, just maybe, make up for the fact that mom left me home all week.

You can fetch your own tasty treats from Howl Naturale online HERE. Also make sure you check out all the neat photos my mom took from the Chincoteague Pony Swim and Auction HERE, they make me feel like I was there with them!