I wanted to thank Rich for having the compassion to think of the
shelter animals this Thanksgiving and for including us (Camden County
Animal Shelter) in the parade. If not already common knowledge, the
United States still euthanizes 5-7 million companion animals every
year due to lack of homes. Every event that we as volunteers do for
the shelter has a goal of increasing awareness, increasing adoptions,
and raising much needed funds. We have many great dogs and cats at
the shelter and sometimes people do not realize this. As you
mentioned Rich, we do pick dogs that we know and who have been
consistently well behaved at the shelter. Besides my baby Sandra who
decided to walk ME down the parade, every dog was very well behaved.
In addition to raising $80 for the shelter, which will go to
spay/neutering our animals we have also already adopted out Macho and
Spring. Thanks again for a great opportunity to strut our stuff!

Michelle

--- In Knightsparkdogwalkers@yahoogroups.com, richard greene
<argee333@y...> wrote:
> Bill-
>
> Thanks for joining us again this year. You are
> definitely one of the regulars and a consistent
> supporter.
>
> Thanks for the feedback. I was a little bothered by
> the cycle group pressuring us from behind too.
>
> It definitely got worse after the judges reviewing
> stand by the Borough Hall. In fact the whole parade
> accelerates after the reviewing stand. I don't think
> that's fair to the people (and it seems to be the
> majority of the people at the parade) who are lining
> the streets through the rest of the town.
>
> I'll mention it to the parade officials next year and
> maybe we can find a way to make it better.
>
> Whenever I felt like stopping so people could pet the
> dogs or Cinder could do the hoop trick, I did. And the
> group behind us just had to wait. And they did. The
> crowd went nuts when he did the trick, so I think that
> was the right thing to do.
>
> I think if we find ourselves in that situation again
> next year, we can move to one side and let the cycles
> pass us. We're a pretty loosely organized (?) group,
> so we haven't discussed any contingent plans for even
> minor problems. I'd like us to be a little more
> organized when we walk in the parade. It's been
> suggested (and done in past years) that occasionally
> we walk in figure 8's and cirlces like a sort of K-9
> drill team. It looks good and helps boost group
> cohesion. If we did that in front of the review stand
> while Cinder and other dogs performed some tricks, I
> think it would be well received, in stead of just
> walking past the review stand. Other groups perform
> there, nd the rest of the parade waits for them, so
> why shouldn't we. What do others think? Any ideas?
>
> If the motorcycle group has some place they'd rather
> be, they could cut out down a side street after the
> reviewing stand.
>
> Another possible (but less desirable) solution is to
> place 2 walkers at the back of the group and have them
> block/slow the truck leading the cycles so the rest of
> our group has more breathing room.
>
> As to the order of the parade, everybody has to be in
> front of somebody. I'm glad we were 3 spaces behind
> the marching band instead of right on top of them. The
> loud drums are rough on the dogs hearing. Figure if
> something is loud to us, it's probably 2-3 times
> louder to them. Running a parade of that size and
> with so many diverse groups is a big taskand I think
> the town and parade committee did a great job.
>
> As to the shelter dogs:
>
> I gave it some thought. The parade had a theme this
> year of "Community Involvement" and so I worked with
> Nancy Welsh to arrange the Adopt-A-Pet dogs and to
> hand out the flyers for the Pet Pics w/Santa which
> benefits the Collingswood Stray Animal fund. As far as
> I'm concerned, anybody who wants to involve any
> dog-oriented organization as we walk, is always
> welcome to. (What do others think?) next year I'd like
> to promote the US War Dog Memorial as well
> (www.uswardogs.org)!
>
> We were careful that the larger dogs (3 - Spring,
> Brenna, Sandra) were walked by adult volunteers from
> the shelter. The two littlest dogs were walked by 2
> high school juniors who both have family dogs. Emily
> (who's family dog Cinder weighs 75 lbs.) did a great
> job walking Roxanne (about 15-20 lbs.), a 5-6 year old
> beagle bitch who had been surrendered to the shelter
> about 2 weeks ago, and was still very well socialized.
> Definitely not an institutionalized dog. Lisa walked
> Macho, who was a ± 5 lb. shitzu/min. schnauzer type
> about the same size and temperment as her family dog,
> Scootchie.
>
> Margaret Jacobs, Director of the Camden County Animal
> Shelter was very careful in her selection of which
> dogs could be included. She only allowed dogs she had
> gotten to know and was confident of.
>
> Believe me, she's very aware of the potential dangers
> and bad press a problem dog can create in such a
> situation. The alternative to getting these dogs out
> where thay can be seen is leaving them in cages until
> they are so institutionalized they will never find
> homes, and where very few people are even aware of
> their existence. We handed out several hundred flyers
> about the CC Animal Shelter and its programs.
>
> But enough of the critical stuff. Did you find
> anything positive about the event? How about our
> having helped raise over $80 for the Camden County
> Animal Shelter and heighted awareness of the
> Adopt-A-Pet program just before the holidays?
>
> Anybody else
>
>
>
> --- Lone Terrier <CamcoDogpark@h...> wrote:
>
> >
> > I found it extremely annoying to have a
> > motorcycle group behind our group.
> >
> > Almost the entire length of Haddon Avenue
> > we had some moron complaining we weren't
> > going fast enough.
> >
> > And then when I finally dropped out
> > from frustration I discovered that the motorcycles
> > were about 3 blocks ahead of the next group !!!
> >
> > There was literally a gap of 2-3 blocks with noone
> > there
> > because morons on motorcycles apparently
> > had some place really important to go at noon.
> >
> > I have no idea how someone would decide that
> > putting dogs in front of a motorcycle group was
> > a good idea. It seemed REALLY stupid to me.
> >
> > When we began marching at 10:15, I didn't notice
> > these clowns being behind us and I'm not sure
> > when that happened.
> >
> > After standing around for 1:15 minutes,
> > I didn't appreciate being rushed down the
> > street like that.
> >
> > **************************
> >
> > I wasn't that crazy about having people walking
> > shelter dogs as part of our group.
> > I know my little dogs extremely well but still
> > watch them closely to make sure they are
> > doing OK with the kids.
> >
> > I have them both harnessed and completely
> > under control.
> >
> > When you have young kids walking older dogs
> > they don't really know, among a large crowd,
> > that seems like it could be a problem that would
> > reflect poorly on the Knights Park group.
> >
> >
> > WRZ
> >
> > CamCoDogPark@h...
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: "richard" <argee333@y...>
> > >Reply-To: Knightsparkdogwalkers@yahoogroups.com
> > >To: Knightsparkdogwalkers@yahoogroups.com
> > >Subject: [Knightsparkdogwalkers] Annual Holiday
> > Parade Dogwalk A Big
> > >Success!
> > >Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 19:34:54 -0000
> > >
> > >Thanks to everyone who turned out for our annual
> > strut down
> > >Haddon Ave. The weather was perfect!
> > >
> > >Special thanks to:
> > >
> > >Nancy Welsh (for hooking us up w/ Camden County
> > Animal
> > >Shelter's Adopt a Pet program)
> > >
> > >Margaret Jacobs, Director of the Camden County
> > Animal Shelter
> > >
> > >David Hodges and Donna Shorr (for the use of their
> > front yard
> > >and electricity),
> > >
> > >This year we had many new participants as well as a
> > few
> > >regulars. (Too few regulars if you ask me!).
> > >
> > >But for me the best part of the event was including
> > 5 great shelter
> > >dogs from the Camden County Animal Shelter's Adopt
> > A Pet
> > >program. Macho, Sandra, Spring, Roxanne, and
> > Brenna were all
> > >doing their best to work the crowd and find a new
> > home for
> > >themselves. They represented the many other fine
> > dogs back at
> > >the shelter very well.
> > >
> > >4 Volunteers from the shelter also walked with us
> > and helped
> > >hand out flyers for the CC Animal Shelter, and
> > Collingswood's
> > >Stray Animal Fund event next week: the annual "Pet
> > Portraits With
> > >Santa" (Dec. 5 at Scissors & Suds! $7 donation )
> > >
> > >We also collected over $80 for the CC Animal
> > Shelter.
> > >
> > >And on top of all that, we had a great time and
> > made alot of
> > >people smile. Parade watchers of all ages just love
> > seeing and
> > >meeting the dogs in the parade.
> >
> >
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