Dancing dogs and pet contests will take centre stage at this year's Doggy Fun Day.
Royal City residents are invited to attend the annual event that's taking place on Sunday, Aug. 26 from 12 to 3 p.m. on the south field in Queen's Park (the one near First Street and just above the off-leash dog area).
"This is the 13th annual Doggy Fun Day," said Cheryl Rogers, one of the event's organizers. "It's going to be a great time."
Doggy Fun Day includes fun and games for dogs and their people including egg and spoon races, three-legged races, pet tricks and pet/owner lookalike contests.
"They do sometimes look alike," Rogers said. "With some people you can see a strong resemblance. Some people do the dressing up thing."
Kids enjoy participating in the Super Duper Pooper Scooper contest. Kids have to collect as much poop as possible in a limited amount of time.
"It's not real poop," Rogers said. "They are very competitive. Some of them are quite quick pooper scoopers."
The bobbing for wieners contest is Doggy Fun Day's premier event, attracting dogs of all shapes and sizes.
"It's the gold-medal hockey game of Doggy Fun Day," Rogers said. "We have so many dogs that we have heats - quarter finals, semi-finals and finals. The dogs have fun, the people have fun watching it. By the final round, they are so fast - if you blink, you'd miss it."
Doggy Fun Day is designed to be a fun day for dogs and their owners, but it's also a fundraiser for Pacific Volunteer Education and Assistance Team for Animals Society (VEATA). The volunteer-run, registered animal registered charity does education promoting responsible pet ownership and retention, offers financial assistance for low-income pet owners and assistance with pet emergency response, and provides temporary emergency fostering for pets of people in crisis (including those going into detox, transition houses, treatment centres and emergency hospital stays).
The day will also feature booths by pet-oriented stores and suppliers, booths by VEATA and animal charities and rescue societies, a raffle or silent auction and a concession operated by parks and recreation. Several dogs will also demonstrate their dancing prowess.
"They are all members of the dog dancing club Paws 2 Dance," said member Joyce Johnstone, whose dog Twinkletoes will be among the dancers.
All of the dogs dancing at Doggy Fun Day will be performing in a full-length dog dancing play, Shadows of Eternity, at the Bell Performing Arts Centre in Surrey in November.
For more, contact doggyfunday.nw@ gmail.com.
