I’ve always known that my beagle, Grover, is more than a touch ridiculous. But that was very clearly highlighted when we went to last weekend’s Furry Fall Festival at Valley Animal Center.
The event was a fundraiser for the no-kill shelter, and it featured booths, games, food, contests, and even a yard sale. Owners brought their dogs all dressed up and ready to compete for best costume. Many of the owners even dressed up themselves.
Meanwhile, it took me a solid ten minutes to tie a Fresno Grizzlies bandana around my dog’s neck because Grover really, really likes to be naked, and any other choice is paramount to torture. From there, things got even more ridiculous.
Grover was repping the Fresno Grizzlies and celebrating Halloween with his orange and black bandana.
Pirates, pumpkin purée and … poop
When we arrived and had to park our car quite a bit away from the shelter, a volunteer in a golf cart graciously offered to give us a ride. Grover promptly tried to escape from a moving vehicle and had to be restrained by my father.
Then he pooped in front of the registration table.
Luckily, he was pretty good with the other dogs. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with their owners and snapping adorable shots of all their costumes.
With her black eyepatch, this cute gal is a natural pirate!
By now, I knew better than to try and enter Grover into the pumpkin pie-eating contest, so he watched jealously (and probably judgmentally) while some of the pups went super slow and others refused to even eat the pumpkin purée. Refusing food? Unheard of! An adorable dog in a mohawk won the contest.
Then it was my turn to watch jealously as person after person paraded their cute canines in clever costumes. (Why won’t he left me dress him up?! Why??)
The whole thing was capped off by meeting another beagle who was doing demonstrations with the Border Patrol. He works in agriculture detection at the airport. Meanwhile, Grover is working on Oreo detection in my home office. I can’t decide who is really winning at life.
Follow Valley Animal Center for more fun events
Despite the hiccups, I’d like to think my dog had a whole lot of fun. I know I did. If you love dogs as much as I do, don’t miss out on upcoming events at Valley Animal Center (they have several this fall). Follow them on Facebook to find out more!
Meanwhile, here’s a gallery of doggies looking really cute (click on the first photo to see gallery).
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- Super dog!
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- The cutest mouse outside of Disneyland.
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- Dr. Dog is ready to report for his shift!
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- 15-year-old Princess was ready to party!
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- It was a family affair for this Star Wars clan!
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- The second-place costume contest winners!
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- Batman and Batgirl getting ready to tackle the pumpkin pie eating contest.
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- Pumpkin puree and whipped cream were on the menu.
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- The winner of the pumpkin pie eating contest!
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- Chick-Fil-A should consider hiring her as their new mascot.
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- The third-place winner of the costume contest.
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- Beauty and the Beast!
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- Thing 1 and Thing 2.
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- Rock lobster was the winner!
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- He’s her lobster!!
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- A very cute foster cat snuck in. Jon Snow will be available for adoption at VAC soon.
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- How cute is her smile?!
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- You gotta see it from the back for the whole effect.
Joanne Lui
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