‘Paws’itive Pet Zone
Campuses Served: Fort Collins, CO; Longmont, CO; Greeley, CO; and Cheyenne WY
The IBMC ‘Paws’itive Pet Zone is newest addition to IBMC’s Blog!
Do you know any of those crazy people that consider their pet to be a family member? Yeah, me too. I’m one of them!
I have a yellow lab I adopted when she was just shy of 6 years old. The Pampered Pup has the best mom, Me! I threw myself into being the best dog-mom I could be. We went on long walks, played fetch, went to training classes, started competing in Rally (a subject for a future blog), and we passed the evaluation for her to become a registered Therapy Dog (again, a subject for a future blog).
We attended the Pooch Plunge last weekend at the City Park Pool. This is such a fun yearly event. If you haven’t been, can you imagine 300 to 400 dogs (and their owners), swimming, splashing, running, fetching, and playing all within the confines of the fence that surrounds the pool? It’s a wet, wild, and crazy afternoon! Check out the video!
As much fun as that is every year, my favorite yearly event is still to come. On September 25th, LAPP (Larimer Animal People Partnership) will be hosting their 16th annual Doggie Olympics.
Dogs compete in one of four categories; Competitive, Recreational, Junior Handler, or Senior Dog. There are 16 different games to play, so there’s something for every skill level. There are standard events like 25 yard dash, and crazy events like Hot Dog Retrieve (your dog has to retrieve a piece of hot dog …the hot dog can be internal or external when they return).
At the end, there is an awards ceremony. Medals are awarded to the dogs that scored the highest in each game, and pictures are taken on an Olympic style podium.
Last year, my dog took 3rd in the Tidbit Catch, which is weird because when I toss her a treat at home, she always misses it! But she was really on that day! I thought we’d place in Marathon Down because she’s really good at that, but she broke the stay a couple seconds to soon for us to place. I was still very proud of her, and her effort in all the games we played that day.
There is so much to see and do. There are so many laughs to be had as dogs do the crazy things they do. There are so many dogs to oooh and awww over. There are so many vendor booths with the latest and greatest pet stuff. This is my favorite dog-friendly event of the year and I can’t wait for the 25th to get here!
We can’t wait to share our pet stories! We welcome readers to comment below and disclose your best pet memories, funny stories, or upcoming events for animals. For more information on the Doggie Olympics, visit http://www.doggieolympics.com.
