Bark in the Park Celebration 2015

I have been thinking of the posts I was going to write... but got delayed with the news of our RVing friend's passing, Hazel Bluhm.  We miss her cheery blog posts about her travels and the antics of her pets.  Sigh.

That same day as I wrote about Hazel, I actually was going to write about a fun Saturday we had.   So I will write about it now.

The Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue group has various events and fundraisers throughout the year, ranging from rummage sales, book sales, auctions and a big reunion (coming up in a few weeks!)

The tireless work of the founder, Lisa Martin and her efforts are amazing!  http://www.wisheltierescue.com/   

She sets all these events up and gathers the essential items to pull them off with laughter and love of the dogs! All year long she makes contacts and raises awareness, gets donations for prizes and in between all of that, she is picking up dogs, checking out homes, assessing applications, delivering dogs and making all the right matches!  (plus she has a full time business boarding and grooming dogs too)

As you know, our little Finnegan and Binney are both rescue dogs that came from a horrific hoarding situation.  38 shelties crammed in a mobile home with no running water, no food in sight, and a stinking mess the sheriff was abhorred to walk into.  When the dogs were pulled out of that mess, they were physically and emotionally damaged and needed special care and concern to put them into the right homes.  These are not just pets that can be adopted, but more like damaged little souls with PTSD and getting over difficult health issues.

Little Finney was born after the raid to a tiny mommy who was only 7 months old herself, having her first litter!   He had "puppy strangles" which are big infections on each side of his face, not allowing him to swallow or thrive.  The loving foster mom taking care of the mommy and litter got him and his brother special care at the vet and nursed him for a long time until he was "adoptable".  We didn't get him until he was five months old and declared healthy.

Little Binney was about a year old when she came out of that mess, skin and bones, patchy fur, heartworm positive and a total basket case emotionally.   Again, it took the loving care of another foster mom to take her in, get her healthy and it was close to a year before she was considered "adoptable" too.

Soooo that is what the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue does.  Helps take these poor confused and most often ill treated dogs into the organization, gets them properly vetted and fed, groomed and assessed... and then placed in homes where the people can understand and care for these sweet doggers.

Now, that being said... one of the yearly events the rescue group does is call on us to attend the Bark in the Park at the Fox River Stadium with the Timberattlers minor league baseball team playing the games.  Once a year they have this event and people are invited to bring their dogs!

The Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue group all meets in one spot to tailgate before hand.... 

Everyone brings a dish to pass for the munchie table

I can honestly say out of the hundreds of dogs in the parking lot, 

our shelties were the best behaved, especially around the food! 

Binney and Finney know to hang out under the chairs and wait for food to drop! 

What made this day even MORE special for me, is that almost all of our kids and grandkids came... along with our GRANDPUPPIES!!!!    It is my Mother's Day Celebration with the family at the same time.  (Allegra and daughterinlaw Heather had a ballet performance to attend for her niece so we missed them)

Here is our grandpuppy Little Biscuit           and granddog Big Tiger 

 And the two incorrigible corgis

Granddoggers Leia and Radar! 

Here is a little video clip I put on Utube as I went around the group

with each one introducing themselves and their dogs.

Once the tailgating it over, then we all go inside the stadium and stake out places with our blankets on the grassy hillside....  this is an area especially set aside for the dog people. They had handout samples of gourmet dog food, some neato dog walking flashlights with clips and a compartment for a roll of doggie doo doo bags, and of course big swimming pools of water for the dogs to drink.... now it was time to PLAY BALL!

Here is a Utube clip I took of our group

Everyone sure had a good time, even as the clouds were rolling in...

The winds were kicking up

and the cell phone weather apps were showing an approaching storm!

Our grandkids still got in lots of doggie cuddles

which Binney and Finney patiently put up with LOL

And someone bought the grandtots some ice cream!!!

By the seventh inning stretch, the sky was not looking so good

we began to fold up blankets and gather leashes and head for the gate.....

OOOPS! 

too late---

the skies opened up and we were totally drenched as we dashed for the cars!!!

I hid my camera under my clothes so I couldn't get any pics,

but this one of little Biscuit after they got her in their car tells the story:

Yup, that is the same fluffy white dog that started out the day looking like THIS:

We headed back home, soaking wet, and our totally exhausted saturated muttenheimers were fast asleep in the back seat before we even got out of the traffic jammed stadium parking lot! 

What a fun day..... 

Thank you, Lisa 

and everyone with the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue for setting this up!