Anyway, early yesterday we loaded the three mutts into the car and headed out to the event. Unlike last year, which was so hot that Hope just about passed out, yesterday it was extremely cool--in the mid 50s. In fact, once we started walking into the wind it was quite chilly! You never really know what you're going to get with May weather in Kansas, I guess!
Chad and I were a little bit nervous about how Fresco would react to the hundreds of other dogs at the event, because he tends to get overly excited each time he sees strange dogs walk by our house or out while we're walking. We were very proud that he handled all of the excitement like a champ! He jumped up on a couple of LHS volunteers that he was clearly excited to see, but other than that he was very well behaved. We visited with his Petco trainer Colleen, and she was very impressed at how calm and well mannered he was. He never barked once the entire day, and the only time he even got the least bit excited was when there was a herd of dogs about a block in front of us that he really wanted to catch up to!
As far as Fresco's doggie social skills go, he was really better behaved than our weird girl Hope. She is just downright terrible with tiny dogs. I really think she must see them as some kind of little toy, so she immediately tries to grab them with her mouth or give them a good poke with her nose. It's totally bizarre too, because there's no rhyme or reason to which little dog she tries to eat! She was standing right next to my friend JoAnna's new Shih Tzu Chipper like a completely normal dog until Chip decided that he wanted to play. As soon as he started to bounce around a little, Hope grabbed him by the little little tuft of hair on top of his head and wouldn't let go! She practically picked him up by his hair--it was terrible! Thankfully Chip is a tough little guy and didn't really seem to be bothered by it!
Overall it was just a really enjoyable event and the dogs seemed to have a great time. We saw lots of people we knew and lots of former shelter dogs too, which always makes me so happy. I almost cried when I saw Tony, who for months was the dog at the shelter who had been there the longest, with his wonderful new family. He gave me big hugs and sloppy kisses yesterday as if to say "thanks for being my friend for all those months until I could find my awesome family!"
I uploaded more pictures from the event, but you can also check out this picture from the Journal-World--Hope and Celtic are famous! :)
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