A morning to remember. . .arf, arf!

It's called "Walk, Waggle and Stroll" but it should be called "A Million Laughs for a Wonderful Cause".  I participated in the Miami Lighthouse's annual Dog Walk event, held at the Shops at MidTown Miami, on Sunday morning.  Didn't have my own canine (I'm a cat person as you well know) so I shared with friend Sheila's delicious dog Henry, a malti-poo, and friend Susie Conroy's gorgeous black Lab, Bella.

 Bella, incidentally, beat out a slew of other dogs to win First Prize in the "Dog Bobbing" contest. (Think "Bobbing for Apples" with kids at Xmas.)  While other dogs wagged their tails and thought twice about it, even as their owners begged, Bella went head first into the water in the big plastic container to retrieve the chunks of frankfurters down at the bottom.  As a matter of fact, Bella went back for seconds, possibly the reason Susie says she tends to be overweight.  She was the winner of that event, paws down.

The Miami Lighthouse's Annual Dog Walk is a very successful fund raiser for that very worthwhile non-profit agency, as well as just an incredibly funny and fun event. This year over $20,000 was raised, and will go towards supporting orientation and mobility services for the blind and visually impaired. The actual "walk" part, about a half mile around the area, was lead by Lighthouse CEO Virginia Jacko and her wonderful yellow Lab (and my great friend when he has his work harness off), Kieran, plus Honorary Chairman of the event, Miami Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman, with her two beautiful dogs. Sheila, Susie and I "walked the walk" with Henry and Bella, stopping to take lots of pictures and returning to the park to watch all the hilarious dog "contests".
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Photo captions:  (1)  Ready to walk in our Britto-designed tee shirts
                           (2)  The brochure
                           (3)   Henry, looking handsome, in his St. Paddy's Day outfit
                           (4)   Susie, congratulating soaking wet Bella, on her big win.

I'd like to say right here that Henry should have won "Best Costume".  Unfortunately, there was a little problem with his hat falling off at a critical moment in the judging, and he was upstaged by a rottweiler in a tutu.  What can I tell you.