A Dream Come True: The Dog Days of ... March?!

I was never as thankful for the two-hour time change than I was on Saturday morning: Our alarms went off at 7:00 but for us it felt like 9:00. Really, even if we hadn't had that benefit, getting up early that day wouldn't have been too hard with the knowledge we were headed to DogFest Walk 'n Roll Phoenix! DogFest is a community dog walk that supports the mission of Canine Companions for Independence.

 DogFest events occur all around the country (Click here to see if there is one coming up near you!) but Dash and I have only ever attended the Cleveland event. We were very excited to participate in another city's big day of celebration of Canine Companions for Independence!

We were also excited because it was a chance for Julie and I to reunite with our cousin Andee (and meet her husband and son) for the first time in at least 20 years! It was so great to meet as adults and really get to know each other.

Shortly after we arrived our attention was drawn to the pavilion, where there was a service dog demonstration going on. I am Facebook friends with the woman giving the demo, and she did a great job representing Canine Companions for Independence and showing off how her dog helps her.

Buddy and her dog, Andy

Once the presentation finished, people began to gather for the "walk" part of the Walk 'n Roll event, which was a pleasant stroll through the square, lined with blooming roses and sparkling fountains. (That's a sentence a Clevelander never has the pleasure of saying in March!)

After the walk we knew we had a few activities we just couldn't pass up! To begin with, I finally caved and let Dash get his first tattoo... and he coerced his doggie cousins to get one, too!

Then we admired the antics of the frisbee-catching dogs. Dash was in awe of how high they could jump!

Watching those dogs gave Dash the itch for a new challenge so we headed over to the agility course, where he and Julie totally rocked it!

I had a feeling Dash would enjoy the course because his puppy raisers told me they had exposed him to it and he really loved the tunnel, even as a puppy! Don't tell Dash but one of the gifts we got for Christmas was an agility course to set up in the yard this summer. Can't wait for that!

Only in Arizona do cowboys roam
the street strumming guitars!

By the time we felt we had conquered DogFest we were all quite hungry! We found a yummy restaurant with an outdoor patio where Andee's pet dogs were welcome and settled in to revive ourselves. I had the most surreal moment as we waited for our food, realizing i was sitting on a patio, completely comfortable, gazing at a cloudless blue sky and palm trees, listening to a Jack Johnson song (the summeriest music of all time) ... and it was MARCH SEVENTH. It was like a dream!

Post lunch, we strolled around the town and did a little shopping. 

Cowboy boots? When in Rome...

 By the end of the day we were all sun-baked and exhausted, but so glad we got to go to the Phoenix DogFest! My only regret was not getting any pictures with Steve, Helen, and Pluto who were the ones that invited us in the first place. I guess we were just too busy having fun!