Pooch Promenade (as told by Simon)

Every year Animal Aid holds their Pooch Promenade walk-a-thon. This is our 3rd year going and I always have a blast. With mommy & daddy's help I was able to raise $140 in pledges! For our efforts, Mommy gets a T-shirt, I get a goodie bag and everyone walking in our group gets a hot dog and a drink. They always have veggie dogs, which is great for Mommy! When first arrived and there weren't too many people there.

That was OK. We got registered and picked up our coupons and then guess who we saw.

.

It's Mommy's friend Stephanie from work. She brought Emma. I like Stephanie. She's always nice to me and she thinks I'm funny. I like Emma too. She's gone on the walk-a-thon with me every year. She's older though and doesn't want to play as much as I do.

.

Fiona and James came too. But James is too little to walk that far, so he brought his tricycle.

.

This is another lady from Mommy's work, Diane. She has a new dog that Mommy said came from a rescue. I wasn't sure what that meant, but Mommy said it's a place where dogs go when no one wants them or are mean to them. How could anyone be mean to a dog? And then nice people like Diane, come and take the dogs home and love them. Animal Aid is a rescue place. I like to do the Pooch Promenade to help the poor dogs that don't have homes.

This is McCartney and he looks like he's pretty happy now. He was kinda shy, but I think he'll be OK.

Then it was time for the walk to begin.

.
We listened to some speeches by 'dignitaries' who Mommy called 'pompous dicks'. I'm not sure what that means, but I got the feeling she didn't like them. We were lucky to be near the front. After we'd walked a little bit, I turned around and saw all these people following us.

So, we had to speed it up.

I stopped at the "Pooch Pub" for a drink. They tried to give me a cookie, but I wasn't interested. I didn't want to get a cramp. The sign at the stop said "Paws Awhile." Haha! They were trying to be funny.

.

I looked behind and Uh-oh! They were gaining on us.

.

We walked a really good walk. It was 5km total and I was getting a bit tired near the end. Here we are into the home stretch. Can you see me in the bottom right hand corner?

.

Just up from here a bit, Mommy and Daddy saw someone else they knew. Geez! While they were talking, I went and looked in the water. Look what I saw!

.

A mother duck and her babies! I wonder if they were swimming for Animal Aid.

After that, Mommy & Daddy & Jade got their hot dogs and pop. Mommy shared her's with me. It was yummy! Then we walked around and checked out some of the booths. There were some really nice girls at the PetSmart booth that gave me some toys and some treats and a really cool handkercheif. Don't I look very dapper in it?

.

.

.

Check out this guy.

Some dogs will do anything for a little attention. Maybe he was trolling for bitches and was trying to look cool.

.

By this point I was tired, so we came home. I just wanted to lay down and have a nap. My bandana came off and Daddy laid down with me.

.

.

What a great day! Mommy said she was so proud of me.

.

She asked me if I wanted to do it again next year. Do I ever! I can't wait!