Fun at the AKC Responsible Dog Owner Day

The American Kennel Club (AKC) Responsible Dog Ownership Day yesterday went really well! We got to Madison Square Park nice and early to set up. Then a wonderful fellow Pyr owner, Ronnie, came down on the train with her dog Shayna to help us man the table. We picked her up and stationed ourselves at the NEPR booth near the fountain, so there was lots of open space in front of us and a convenient fence behind us. Our "booth" was really a covered table and two chairs so we arranged the materials on the table, put up the folding display on top and pinned up the banner across the front.

Here are Ronnie, Shayna, Todd and Buddy at the beginning of the day. It was great to have Ronnie and Shayna come! Buddy and Shayna get along really well and Shayna is such a sweetheart! Ronnie was a great help!


Both dogs enjoyed the admiration of their adoring public. We'd been working on socializing Buddy and teaching him to "leave it" when he gets worked up about other dogs, and he did very well. People had lots of questions about the breed and about rescue, and we explained about the characteristics of Pyrs and what NEPR does.

It was perfect timing to have this event fall right after Pyrapalooza. Buddy really got into the carting again this year and we ended up with the winning bid on a harness during the silent auction. Since Pyrapalooza I'd been working on a beginner cart for him made out of stuff we happened to have in our basement. I managed to finish it the morning and then we harnessed Buddy up and he helped us to bring supplies to and from the car. People were amazed to learn that Pyrs are great at carting too.


The only thing that could have been better was if they'd given us a booth with more shade because towards the end of the event our table was right in the sun and Buddy and Shayna were tired and wanted to hide behind the table in the shade. It was only a real problem because they were so popular that people kept wanting to see them and pet them even though they were tired. If we did it again I would want to bring an exercise pen so they could lay down where people could see them but not touch them, unless they wanted to come out and socialize. And it would have been nice to have another pair of dogs so that they could take turns being ambassadors. After a while Buddy and Shayna took a break to rest in the shade and stare at squirrels.

Shayna and Buddy weren't the only ones fantasizing about squirrels snacks—here's a Pharoah Hound who noticed a squirrel getting a little too close to his booth.

There were lots of other groups, mostly fanciers. Among the largest dogs at the event were Mastiffs, Wolfhounds, Otterhounds and Pyrs.

Otterhounds:

And here we have some very patient Mastiffs being mobbed by admirers:

And look at the spiffy collars that the Pharoah Hounds were displaying!

Here's a cute Tibetan terrier who wasn't allowed out of his cage:

Buddy caught his second wind when some of his favorite people came by to visit — Olivia and Patrick.

When I was reading the information about the event it didn't seem like 11 am - 3 pm was a lot of time and while it went by quickly it did turn out to be a tiring day.