Advice for giving my dog a good life? =]?

Taking your dog to obedience classes can strengthen your bond with them, give them mental stimulation, gives your dog a chance to socialize, and results in a better behaved dog. Not only puppies go to obedience classes, lots of older dog do as well. Petsmart has some fairly inexpensive classes, but look around at what suits your budget. It can also help you learn how to get her to bark less making her a better companion to can with. dogs love just being around their human, so look into dog events (petsmart and petvalu usually have them every so often), or if you have the money, consider specialized pet courses, or pet outings such as doggy swimming lessons for exercise and therapeutic benefits. Also, if your dog doesnt have a very long attention span, you can look into level one mental stimulation toys for dogs- theyre easy and can be accomplished quickly. There are plenty of stores that allow dogs, try taking her to some of those, most Canadian Tire stores allow dogs, i believe bed bath and beyond does as well, lots of department stores do... She just likes being around you so just involving her in your day to day life as much as possible will keep her as happy as can be.

I hate to burst your bubble the the cake & ice cream are for YOUR benefit.  Your dog has NO IDEA what a birthday... is.  

I hope these are home-made and of safe organic ingredients & minus food dyes, preservatives or sugars and hopefully LOW on calories.  Since many breeds are PRONE to bloat (which can be FATAL) I would not go "hiking" and then FEED my dog a BIG GLOP of GUNK.  I would not give more than 1 tiny morsel, if that.  All "meals" should be given in a calm setting when the dog is not hot or not recently been running or heavily exercising, or drinking lots of water.

Dogs are far more interested in HOW MUCH TIME you spend with them and the number of fun activities offered.  She has no concept of other dogs' lives.  Again, that is YOUR HANG-UP... not hers.  

Dog parks are not safe & very FEW of us (long time dog owners & trainers) take out dogs to them.  Some dogs are terrified or water or do not SWIM well, so again, not always an option.  Instead, we offer our dogs training and activities.  many dogs like to retrieve or like agility, lure coursing etc.  

No matter how inattentive she is, if she is food motivated, she can play food games where you hide treats in the house or yard or in a food puzzle toy.  For more ideas, on this look up NOSE WORK or dog scent games on UTube.

Then you it seems are gonna have loads of time on your hands cos you aint gonna be camping this summer I reckon !.

So look up bark inhibition training online Then train it appropriately for next year