Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza goes to the dogs

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

Copperas Cove City Park went to the dogs, and their owners, yet again Saturday morning with the 7th annual Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza hosted by the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant to support the Copperas Cove Animal Shelter. 
Organized by Miss Five Hills Karina Dominguez, the Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza saw dozens of dogs and their owners take over the City Park Pool and parking lot for the event, which ended up raising two Animal Control truck beds full of cat food, dog food, cat beds, dog beds, toys, treats and more. All items donated will be put to use at the Animal Shelter, located on 1601 N. 1st Street. 
Animal Control Supervisor Tamara Hall explained that the animal shelter will be using these donations to feed the animals in its care, but they do also offer food and supplies to new pet owners who adopt their new family member from the shelter, if they are in need. The shelter will also help out the rescues who come and pull animals from the shelter facility by providing food or other supplies.
Having an organization like the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant hold an event like the Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza helps the shelter tremendously because the shelter, which is operated by the city of Copperas Cove Animal Control Department, has an allotted budget for food. 
“With the varying amounts of dogs that come in, and sometimes dietary restrictions because certain foods do not digest as well as other foods, and this appears to be very good quality food which is going to be very beneficial to our dogs at the shelter and our cats,” Hall said. 
As of Saturday, the shelter had six dogs and 23 cats available for adoption. Hall brought a few kittens and dogs to the event Saturday morning to possibly be adopted out.
 “It brings awareness. There’s a lot of people that do not actually realize that Copperas Cove has a shelter,” Hall said. “Events like this do bring awareness to the shelter, so it will bring people out to the shelter.”
Hall said the shelter does not put time limits on any animals that come into the shelter and works with rescues when the shelter is at capacity. 
“We take everything into consideration,” Hall said. “We take temperament. We take adoptability into consideration. Who is going to be a good fit?”
In addition to getting the animals exposure to possible adopters, they are also gaining socialization with the other animals that are present at the event. 
Miss Five Hills Karina Dominguez said that she has always loved animals and is going to school to become a veterinarian. Her platform of service as Miss Five Hills is animal welfare and supporting the animal shelter. 
“The big goal of this event is to raise money and raise donations for the Copperas Cove animal shelter,” Dominguez said. “What a lot of people don’t know is that a lot of shelters are in a crisis almost all the time because they don’t have the appropriate amount of supplies for all the animals that are brought into the shelter, whether it be pets that just got out from the yard that are found or they are strays that don’t have families. The hope is with the more donations we bring in, the more animals we can keep at the shelter longer rather than having to switch out these ones with new pets that come in. The goal is to get them enough supplies to where the pets can be as comfortable as they can be and to also look their best with shampoos and soaps and everything to keep them clean and beds to keep them as comfortable as they can because the shelter is a super stressful environment. So long as we kind of give them the supplies they need then hopefully we can give them a little bit longer time to find their forever families.”
The dozens of dogs and their owners walked a lap around City Park before returning for the festivities. In addition to the swimming pool being open for the dogs, the Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza had a costume contest for the pets, a howling contest for either pet or human and an obstacle course contest, with 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize basket for each contest donated by local businesses including Doggy Day Spay, Animal Medical Center, Soggy Doggies, Five Hills Ambassador Dawn Hale, the Bell County Constables Office, Gold Financial Services and Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful. 
In addition to the Copperas Cove Animal Shelter, Voice for Animals Rescue and Sanctuary from Kempner brought four of their dogs that were available for adoption. Voice for Animals Rescue takes in all animals but focuses on bully breeds, seniors and special needs dogs. 
William and Maria Rodriguez brought their two West Highland Terriers, Sofi and Gabi, to the Puppy Pawlooza dressed as a United States Postal Service mail carrier and a UPS driver, complete with tiny packages. Rodriguez said that they walk through the park every day and saw the banner for the event. She added that she loves that it benefits the animal shelter. 
Chris Taylor brought his roommate’s dachshund, Bebe-Q, who sat on top of a wagon decorated to look like Snoopy’s doghouse, complete with a stuffed Woodstock. Taylor dressed as Charlie Brown. This was Taylor’s first time attending the Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza. He entered Bebe-Q into the costume contest/pet parade and they won first place, taking home one of the gift baskets. Taylor said that Bebe-Q is a therapy dog and frequently goes into places like St. David’s Hospital in Austin to help cheer up patients. Saturday’s Puppy Pawlooza served as a chance to further socialize and allow Bebe-Q to interact with other people who had to stop and give her a scratch under the chin or on top of her head.