GOING TO THE DOGS
Fri, 2016-10-28 05:00
News Staff
Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza Saturday in Copperas Cove
Special to Leader-Press
Look for dogs to splash in Copperas Cove’s City Park Pool, compete in the Little Tikes Dog Race, find their way through obstacle courses, jump hurdles and more all while dressed in costume. Dogs hunting for IEDs and on-point for birds will also be demonstrated by professional handlers.
The City of Copperas Cove Parks and Recreation Department has partnered with the Copperas Cove Rabbit Fest royalty to co-host the 2nd Annual Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza which gets underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday with a 1-mile run/walk. There is no cost to the event although participants are asked to bring pet food, cat litter and other items that will be donated to the Copperas Cove Animal Control Facility.
“Anytime the Parks and Recreation Department can join forces with a community sponsor to create and develop a great community event which aims to raise monies for our animal shelter, it’s a huge win for our community,” Copperas Cove Parks and Recreation Director Joe Brown said. “We are really looking forward to this event.”
The event began last year under the leadership of the Rabbit Fest royalty with a dog walk and costume contest, said volunteer pageant director Wendy Sledd.
“Despite that fact that we had major flooding in the area the day before and all but the main road in the park were closed, people still turned out for the event and we had more than 100 participate in the walk and costume contest,” Sledd said. “I think it is a testament to the fact that people in Cove care about animals and this event was something that other cities hosted but Cove was lacking.”
This year, the event has grown 10-fold with not only the walk and costume contest continuing, but dogs will now be able to splash in City Park Pool and even use the slide if they choose to. Dogs twenty pounds and under will compete in the Little Tikes Dog Race. An obstacle course with hurdles, tunnels and bridges remains open throughout the event for dogs and owners to enjoy. The 89th Military Police Brigade will demonstrate how they train dogs to alert in combat conditions to signal to their handlers what type of danger lay ahead. The Lonesome Dove Hunting Retriever Club from Eastland, Texas will perform a demonstration of how dogs are trained to point out fowl to hunters and retrieve the prey.
The event is spearheaded this year by Junior Miss Rabbit Fest Kaydence Weary who has a dog, Cesare, that she rescued after it was abandoned.
“I love dogs. When I was told that I had to have a platform of service to enter the pageant, I knew it would be to save the lives of dogs,” said Weary who has been working on the event since July. “I am so excited to save the lives of animals.”
Copperas Cove Walmart is the corporate sponsor of the event. Clear Creek Sonic Drive-in Restaurant will provide hot dogs for lunch. Copperas Cove H-EB, Starbucks, and many businesses and school groups have donated toward the event.