This summer Chris and I had the awesome opportunity to attend London's annual Puppy Pawlooza! This festival for dogs took place on Fleetwood Farm at the Plunkett Estate, and what an estate it is! The grounds are absolutely breathtaking, the mansion was from my dreams, and the property just seemed to go on for miles and miles! I think it is so awesome that Steve Plunkett would so openly share his home with people and dogs of all shapes and sizes for fundraisers and charity. There were trail walks through the forest, dock diving, doggy eating contests, agility classes, live music, vendors, animal rescue organizations with pets to adopt and so much more!
Chris, Sawyer and I went to Pawlooza with my mom and her dog Wookie. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, they started to go insane. Wookie started "singing" and Sawyer started to pace around in circles. We were going to use this opportunity to try training Sawyer to sit and be calm around other dogs, but when we saw how many were actually there, we knew there was NO way he'd pay any attention to us, even if we were wrapped in bacon or rolled in peanut butter.
As we walked through the park, we came across one of the animal rescue organizations. It was Kim from Kismutt Small Dog Rescue! We were so excited to see her, as she is the one who helped us add Sawyer to our family. We adopted Sawyer from Kismutt back in Feb.2009, who was then called "Blue". She was so great to work with, and really ensured that we would be a good match for him. She could not believe how much he had grown, and was just so happy to see him again. And it's true, you really can't tell he was a rescued golden retriever from a horrible puppy mill...so why people buy dogs from pet stores, Kijij and such, well, it's beyond me....but I'll save that for another blog entry.
Sawyer absolutely loved Pawlooza! He truly enjoyed his trail walk, and stopped to pose for a picture in the soybean fields. (We call him Soy, so it was a cute little joke for us). He also loved all the free treats, butt sniffing and belly rubs...but what he REALLY loved was swimming in the pond. He just loves water! He would jump in, go under water, do the doggy paddle, shake it off, and then jump in and swim again!
I definitely recommend people in the London, ON area to check out Pawlooza next summer. The proceeds go towards not-for-profit animal organizations and it's a great time for you and your pet, or possibly the chance to find the pet of your dreams!
I just wanted to include this video I found on YouTube that Keithsokiya put together from Pawlooza: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PQ2y1IHbM4&feature=fvw
=^..^=
It was a great time indeed. Perhaps next year he'll be behaved enough and we'll let him dock dive without his leash. Perhaps... :)
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