Sarge's Downtown Dog Walk - 2010

Downtown Waynesville. 10 am. At the courthouse.  If you live in our area, please come on out and support Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation by cheering on the dog parade down Main Street.  Oh, and look for us at the back of the parade this year – not the front.

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Here is a great video we found on YouTube of last year’s walk. You will see a certain Herd within the first few seconds.

And here was our own collection of pictures from last year (and, yes, we shared this on our Facebook Page yesterday, so sorry for the repeat for our FB Friends).

Yesterday, we took you inside Sarge's new adoption center and showed you the dogs available for new homes.

Our hu-dad was invited inside the special Cat room. We, for some odd reason, were not invited.

Some were quite proud to pose.

Some were quite camera shy.

Some were quite serene (this paw cross is dedicated to you, Khyra).

While others expressed their opinion of the hu-dad taking pictures.

But this little guy took one look at the hu-dad's hand . . .

And took his best swipe.

As we said yesterday, we are huge fans of Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation.  They do an amazing job driving down the euthanasia rate at our local animal shelter.  If you are looking for a new companion, please consider adopting from Sarge’s or your own local rescue.

On Saturday, we had the terrific opportunity to attend the grand opening celebration of Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation new adoption center.  This is a terrific facility that allows a very spacious area for dogs, a special cat room (apparently those feline types like to be separate from us canines – go figure), and plenty of extra room.

For those of you who do not know, we are huge fans of Sarge’s and the terrific work that they do.  In our very rural county, they have set out to significantly reduce the euthanasia rate at our local animal shelter.  And they have guided Qannik and Cheoah into our home and Ruby into the hu-grandmom’s home.  They use the donations that come their way in a very frugal manner to ensure the best outcome for as many animals as possible.  This new adoption center will help them further their mission.

We love an entrance that has a picture of a certain famous group of Siberian Huskies - particularly when it is not the post office and the word "Wanted" appears above it.

The outdoor dog adoption area is shaded and very spacious.

Officer Waylon is working his magic on this young man.

Not everypup loved having their picture taken.

But some pups sure knew how to work the crowds.

And some pups knew how to get maximum attention with minimum energy.

And the van that transports so many animals to new homes - we have to show it off as well.

Our humans, of course, would never be partial to any particular breed, now would they?

Say, like, walk certain pups around?

This would be Niko. No, he did not come home with us. Despite valiant efforts by the Sarge's volunteers.

Tomorrow, we will share some pictures of the cats that were at the facility. For some reason, we were not allowed to go into the cat area. We are not sure why.

Remember Rusty's help with the tractor during our water problems last summer?

Yes, he enjoys the big machinery.

So guess what he spotted this weekend.

After a winter of snow plows, our road is regraded each spring.

And Rusty is thinking this tractor is bigger than the last one.

Here is his serious pose.

And, of course, his big grin.

What a perfect time to think Mango for the fabulous Mangominster.  Rusty received his Reader’s Choice “Good Old Dog” certificate and is so proud of it.  We are especially grateful to “Carol Down Under” in Honor of Kara for our prize – a donation in our honor to Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation.  We can think of no better prize than the knowledge that another animal (or two) was helped by this generousity.  Thank you Carol for being such a terrific sponsor of Mangominster!

A cloudy view.

Ok, the picture above would not qualify because there are no dogs in it, but we have a terrific contest we want to share with you.  Our friends at Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation are holding their annual Photo Contest.  The idea is really simple – you submit a $10 entry fee for every picture you submit and that money goes to help homeless dogs and cats avoid euthanasia.  Categories are Dog, Puppy, Cat, Kitten, Other Pets, Sarge’s Rescue Animal, and Photographers under 12 – so there is a category for every one of our readers.  All of the details can be found here.  Entry deadline is April 26.

Sarge’s is a terrific organization that is focused on reducing the euthanasia rate in our rural county.  When they started a few years ago, 90% of all animals that entered our shelter were euthanized.  Today, that number is less than 50% and literally thousands of animals have been saved.  But we still have a very long ways to go here and your participation in this contest will help.

Oh, and don’t worry about whether you are local.  We recently received a donation in our honor from Adelaide, Australia (for Rusty winning Reader’s Choice in Good Old Boy in Mangominster – isn’t that super cool).  We doubt anyone can claim to live further away from us than Adelaide (the hu-dad has actually been there for work and he can attest to lots of air travel time to get there), and yet those dollars helped another dog or cat or two find a new home.

So take out those cameras, take that terrific picture, enter the contest, and help a dog or cat find a home.

And we are off in search of our own photograph or two or few to enter.

Keep your eyes peeled for your favorite photograph - or let us know of one you have seen on here before.

The grand prize winners are obvious – the dogs and cats that will be saved from euthanasia and will find forever homes because of the fantastic work that Sarge’s does.  They are driving down the euthanasia rates at our local shelter in a dramatic way and we are incredibly proud of their work (especially Cheoah, Qannik and Ruby – all of whom came to us via Sarge’s).

The whole story is that Sarge’s lost one of their $5,000 sponsors and they were very afraid that they would fall short of last year’s accomplishment.  Coupled with a tight economy, they needed the many “smaller” donors to come through.  And did they.  Despite losing that key sponsor, Sarge’s was still able nearly to raise the same amount as last year’s Dog Walk – almost $25,000.  As the single largest fundraiser every year, the success of this walk fundraiser is critical to their goals.

And The Herd is very proud – VERY PROUD – of their readers who stepped up.  Ready for this?  Thanks to your terrific generosity, The Herd was $1,110 of that total number.  When we started the contest, we told the people at Sarge’s that we might only raise a few dollars, but we would do it anyway.  $1,110.  We are very humbled and thank you.

Ok – and to the winners.  A twist – we have TWO runner-up prizes we are adding to the drawings.  We received these beautiful duffle bags as prizes for being the team that raised the second most amount of money (yep – a team beat us AND an individual raised more money and was the top fund raiser – what awesome people they all are).  We thought it only fitting to put these prizes into the drawing.

Perfect for carrying all of your canine supplies!

With a cool embroidered patch on the side!

The TWO runners-up are – Becky of Merritt Island, Florida and Carolyn of Brevard, NC ( http://ncmountainwoman.blogspot.com/ – a terrific blog with two awesome Golden Retrievers, Ellie and Lucy, and lots of stories of our beautiful mountains).  Check your mail in the next few days for your package.

The picture of the Grand Prize will come shortly, since it will need to be created.  As promised, we are taking a picture of The Herd walking with the banner and, through the magic of PhotoShop (which the hu-dad now must learn how to do – chuckle), the winner will be walking with us.  That picture will be placed on a t-shirt and mailed to the winner.  Cool, huh?  The winner is – Daniela and Shawnee the Shepherd of Rahway, NJ (  http://shawneetheshep.blogspot.com/ – another trail hiking canine!).

Again, thanks to everyone for making this event so much fun.  We had a blast with it and look forward to next year.

Once again, this was an incredibly fun day and we were truly honored to lead the parade this year.  Amazingly, we have no stories to share because The Herd was on their absolute best behavior.  Maybe it was having two police dogs march behind us?  Anyway, the people at Sarge’s do a fantastic job helping literally thousands of dogs and cats get out of our local shelter and find new forever homes.  Please, wherever you live, support your local rescue(s)!

Tomorrow, we will let you know how much money was raised and announce the prize winners from our Walking with The Herd contest.

Rooster says the walk was fun!

The walk went really well yesterday and, yes, we have pictures.  But due to some technical difficulties (namely a tired hu-dad), we don’t have all of the pictures ready to go yet.  More pictures coming soon as well as the announcement of who our winner is!

Hope your weekend is going well!