Woof Wag Walk - what defines a successful event?

My friend Hero

In early March, our local Dog Scout Troop, Troop #194, went to Hanover County's Woof Wag Walk.

We did two tricks demonstrations and had a booth selling home made dog and people treats to raise money for SEVA GRREAT, Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue, Education and Training.  SEVA GRREAT is a wonderful local organization that rescued some of my best friends and found them very happy forever homes. You can learn more about them (and make a donation!) on their website at: SEVA GRREAT.

Mom had lots to do because she had organized the tricks demonstration and was also kind of in charge of the booth selling treats.  (She often tries to do way more than she can gracefully handle.)  The day before the event, mom made a list of everything she needed for the Dog Scout booth and the tricks demo (tent, tables, chairs, trick props, treats, signs, etc.)  She even chopped up a bunch of extra special treats for me for the tricks demo.  (I get extra special treats like chicken and hot dog pieces when performing in front of groups of people because there are so many additional distractions.)

My extra special treats

Dad helped load the cars (I call him my roadie) and mom managed to fit everything into the two cars.  

My roadie goofing off

My roadie loading up the equipment

Supervising while they load the cars

We even got there with plenty of time to set up.  Mom learned from last year's Mardi Paws event that it's really hard to decorate a tent on a cold, windy March day, so she skipped the decorations this year and only put up signs.  (Besides, she is no longer allowed to use the step ladder.)

Dog Scout Troop #194's booth, staffed by Hero's dad, the best cookie salesman ever

So everything was going relatively smoothly (no falls from the step ladder or decorations blowing away) until mom realized that she had forgotten the most crucial item: my special treats!  Sure, we had treats for sale, but when I'm performing tricks for a crowd, not just any treat will do.  Luckily mom had packed chicken sandwiches for her and dad, so she simply disassembled dad's sandwich so I could have chicken treats.

My girlfriend Willow, and my best buds Hero, Gauis, Zen, and Wyatt were all there for our tricks demo.  Hero is kind of new to tricks and very new to performing in front of people, but he was FANTASTIC!  He's only a little over a year old, and mom says he's the best behaved one-year-old lab ever -- and also the sweetest.  Willow was her usual fabulous self, and Gauis, as usual, stole the show with his cuteness and very difficult tricks.  Zen and Wyatt were also very impressive and very, very cute.

Willow climbing out of the suitcase, after doing the suitcase trick

Gauis doing the penguin

Wyatt shaking paws

Gauis scratching his mommy's back

Me doing crawl

Willow playing the drum

Me doing roll over

Zen getting some post-trick loving

As for me, well -- I was pretty distracted by all of the yummy smells in the nice, grassy field where we were performing tricks.  I did my tricks, but dad said it wasn't one of my best performances.  But then he said that the people in the audience were all smiling and clearly enjoying the show.

Mom thinks that making people smile is one of the nicest things you can do.  And we made people smile.  So that means it was a successful event.

We also raised $175 for SEVA GRREAT by selling our homemade dog cookies.  So I guess that means it was super-successful!