Happy Howl-o-ween & Canine Carnival

Today, we took Lucy to the Canine Carnival in Crowder Park. It was a dog festival, full of dog related vendors, rescue organizations, a show of doggie agility and even a dog costume costume.

Yes, I did dress up Lucy. I was embarassed about this interest, but when I went to Target last night, there was a whole section of doggie costumes and let me tell you this -- we were not alone. There were lots of other excited dog owners right next to me reviewing the selections. One lady said that she was a nurse and wanted to dress her dog in scrubs, but the scrubs they had were way to tiny for her 25 lb pooch. After much back and forth with Stuart about the squirrel costume, devil costume and martial arts costume, we finally voted on the martial arts costume. I figured that Lucy wouldn't wear the necessary hat for the squirrel costume, so that was out. Plus, the black and white of her coat matched the black and white of the martial arts costume.

Costume offerings at Target:






Today, Lucy made us both proud. First of all, despite the hundreds of dogs at the park, she didn't freak out. In fact, she was rather polite to 98% of the dogs. There were only a few dogs that seemed to rile her up. I was impressed that she was comfortable with all of the very large dogs. Secondly, Lucy won one of the awards in the "Dog Costume Contest"! Stuart suggested that once I walk her on the stage, I pause, have her sit and say "Hi-yah!" like a martial arts command and have her high five me with her paws. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to do tricks on the stage, but I went for it. I heard a few "oohhhss" and "ahhss" as Lucy played along. I'm convinced that it was that more than her costume that got her her award for "Most Energetic!". We won a training session with a local dog trainer to train for the "Canine Good Citizen's Test". I"m excited to train Lucy for that.

I took tons of photos and will upload them to this posting tomorrow. I had to get in my monthly blog update about Lucy.

Here's Lucy & I just before going on stage:



Here's Lucy nicely greeting some other dogs: