Friends for Life!

On Saturday, we participated in the Friends For Life! Walk to raise money for the Stornont, Dundas & Glengarry OSPCA.

Hmmm, I probably should have worn a dog-related shirt instead of my "Keep bees and carry on" number!

It was a beautiful morning for a walk!

The route went through Gray's Creek Conservation Area, the out along the walking path the follows the St. Lawrence River.

  

There were lots of cute dogs, including this Golden puppy, who wanted to make friends with the Dachshund behind him!

Tristan is too old to walk, but I got to borrow our friends' German Shepherd/Great Dane mix, Zeus. Zeus' daddy Mike walked next to me, pushing baby Fiona in her stroller.

I love Zeus! He's a great dog. We made it to the finish line together, then headed back for the pet contests.

There so many cuties in attendance, like this Beagle...

...and Rupert, our friend's Great Dane/Labrador mix. He's not even a year old yet, but he weighs 150 lbs!

And here's Stitch...

Stitch was spokes-cat for the event. He was adopted from the shelter earlier this year. The most mellow kitty you can imagine!

He wasn't too sure what to think of these two dogs dressed up for the contests.

And look! A camera dog!

I was one of three judges for the contests.

You're not trying to influence the voting there, are you Gordon?

This Jack Russell Terrier had a fabulous dance routine.

The Beagle rolled over and played dead when his owner "shot" him!

This sweet black Lab kissed her owner gently on the lips on command!

My buddy Zeus caught treats thrown from great distances!

Gordon and Debbie, one of the two investigators that work from the shelter. Debbie and Bonnie do an amazing job of rescuing animals in terrible situations. They see a lot of cruelty, but they are both very devoted to their jobs. I could never do what they do. It's often a thankless job, but I'm glad they're out there doing it! They are both wonderful with animals.

Gordon has prosecuted a couple of cruelty cases investigated by these women. He gets a lot of satisfaction doing work like that. He's sort of a "freelance" prosecutor in those cases. Most of his work these days is in defence, but you could look at these cruelty prosecutions as being in defence of animals!

If you want to know more about what the investigators at the OSPCA do, watch this video...

Five of our chickens plus Ophelia all came from a situation where they had been left for two cold days in February without food or water or supplemental heat.  Other animals were seized from the same barn, including a goat and  her frostbitten kid, adopted by another friend of mine (the second kid, a twin to the first baby goat, died from exposure before the rescue.) Without the work of the OSPCA and its investigators, these animals certainly would not be with us now, and they probably would have died.

Gordon and I both managed to meet our fundraising goals for the walk, and raised $3,000 total for the shelter. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning!