Beneful Play Date at Chicago's Grant Park with Arden Moore

Rocco walks in like he owns the place and then practices his jumping
skills. Uh oh, he may have photo bombed a pic or two! 

Last Wednesday while we were visiting Chicago we had the chance to attend the Beneful Play Date Tour at Grant Park, a super fun event that Rocco enjoyed along with his pal Sugar the Golden Retriever!

Designed to inspire more play, the tour is visiting eight parks across the country to celebrate the special relationships people share with their four-legged buddies. At the Chicago tour stop, pet expert Arden Moore also made an appearance and we had the chance to chat with her about the importance of play!

In addition to Chicago, events have already been held in New York Ciy, Nashville and Kansas City. But if you're in Denver (8/21), Los Angeles (8/26), Austin (8/31) or San Antonio (9/1) you can still check out the fun and track the tour at Beneful Play Date on Facebook.

Rocco and I had a blast, but then Rocco doesn't need a whole lot of encouragement to get out and have some fun! 

In addition to checking out the agility equipment, water misters, and a photo booth, Rocco and his pal Sugar participated in some of the special activities like the Toss and Fetch game, Spoon Race obstacle course and Squeaky Toy Pit with hidden treats! 

Check out Sugar's blog to see how much fun he had with the activities, all inspired by childhood games and designed for dogs and owners to play together.

Sugar and Rocco first headed to the pit filled with squeaky tennis balls and hidden treats! Rocco caught on quickly, sniffing out the treats and gobbling them up fast as he could! 

Next, Rocco headed over to the obstacle course where he showed off some of the agility skills he's learning.

Then, there were some dogs that were just plain showing off, all in good fun, of course! Look at these mad ball catching skills.

We took a short break to chat with Arden Moore about the benefits of play for both dogs and owners. Take a look...

Arden is the creator of Four Legged Life and host of the popular show "Oh Behave!" on Pet Life Radio.  She was terrific with all the pups and interviewed us for her radio show!

All the pups had so much fun and their humans learned more about the 4th Annual Beneful Dream Dog Park Contest. The contest awards a $500,000 renovation of a dog park in the Grand Prize Winner's area and the winner will receive $10,000 cash and a one year supply of Beneful brand dry dog food. If you're thinking of entering, don't wait too long. Entries close Sept. 17.  More details on how to enter, here!

Now, go out and play! It's good for you!