Just any stick won’t do. You have to sniff them all, test their weight in your mouth, and only then decide.
That’s what the dogs staying at Sanctuary Beach Resort, a beachfront hotel in Marina, California, less than 15 minutes from Monterey, do. There, they installed a “dog stick library”: a small rack with branches hanging from it so each dog can choose their own before heading out to romp on the sand.
The idea imitates the popular “Little Free Libraries” in the United States, small community libraries set up on streets and in neighborhoods where anyone can take a book and leave another in exchange. Only here, they swapped books for sticks and readers for dogs.
The cuteness doesn’t end there. At reception, each dog is welcomed by name, with water and cookies placed at their height, and at check-in they’re given a personalized bowl. The hotel restaurant even has a special menu just for them. It’s a whole world designed to make the furriest members of the family feel welcome too.
Sylvain Briens, the resort’s general manager, says with a laugh that the dogs take the stick with them but never return it, so the human guests themselves replenish the collection.
The idea has caused such a sensation that people from different parts of the world have already begun recreating it, building their own stick libraries for the dogs in their communities.
