Today, we’re giving you a paws up on a super fun event happening in Portland on September 9 — an annual bicycle tour of all the Lucky Labrador Brew Pubs in town! We’ve done the ride, called Tour de Lab, before and had an awesome time. And we totally dig that all the fun benefits the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital in Portland!
The good that DoveLewis does for the community is off the charts. The non-profit animal hospital is open 24 hours a day every day of the year and is equipped with an intensive care unit. DoveLewis accepts stray animals and wildlife in need of care, offers financial aid to qualifying low-income residents, and its community services include a pet loss support program that provides ongoing support groups free of charge.
Click on this photo to see the Flickr photo pool of last year’s Tour de Lab and after party.
Not only does the Tour de Lab support an amazing community asset but it’s built around three of my favorite things: bikes, beer and dogs — especially Labs! There are two route options, the “puppy” route is 19 miles while the big dogs will ride 40 miles. Both routes start at one Lucky Lab pub location and then hit the others along the way.
Costumes are encouraged (we, of course, went for a Daley-inspired look!) and fun prizes and refreshments are available at each stop. Participants receive a souvenir T-shirt and pint glass and at the end of the routes, it’s BBQ paw-tay time!
I filled my bike basket with tennis balls (Daley’s fave!) and had a blast tossing them to dogs as we rode the Tour de Lab route through several Portland neighborhoods.
Tour de Lab raises more than $3,000 for DoveLewis. Find the details on this year’s benefit ride and registration info here. See more of our photos from last year’s ride at DDY’s Facebook page here.
*Cause It’s Saturday: Inspired by an abandoned senior dog named Jasmine’s happy ending, which began on a Saturday, DDY sets aside this day of the week for animal cause features. Read Jasmine’s story here.
Caring for Daley in his elderly years inspired me to start Daley's Dog Years. Here you'll find more than 700 posts related to health, wellness, and senior dog lifestyle. 
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We KNOW the importance of DoveLewis and totally support it! Sage & I have been doing bike rides together, but I’m not ready for a ride like that yet.
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Great cause. My fave part of your post was visualizing you throwing those tennis balls to dogs on the sidelines
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