Going to the dogs - again

This morning we attended our fifth annual Gimme Shelter Walk for the Animals in Rogers Park, which benefits the Red Door Animal Shelter.

This year we were joined again by my law school friends Ed and Laura, though they were accompanied by one different dog. Last year Ed brought Stella and his mom's dog, Georgie, but as Georgie was unavailable, Laura brought her family dog, Tess.


The switch was probably a thankful one for the dog that Georgie head-butted last year, as Tess, an English cocker spaniel, is really peppy and cute - and also very well trained. She knows all kinds of tricks, including playing dead and rolling over, and is the only spaniel I've ever met that I liked! She is a very fun dog to be around.

Ed's Stella is a little schipperke, and she constantly patrols, making only right turns as she does it. We joked that if you tied her to a post, in a few hours you would have a perfect ring around the post from where she'd trample the grass.


We had a lot of fun in the bunny area before the walk. They had a lop, a rex, and a big New Zealander, which looked like it almost weighed as much as Stella. (See below.) Stella was really interested in the rabbits and started wagging her tail and imitating them, so we think Stella might actually be a rabbit.


As you may be able to tell from the pictures, the weather was rainy and gloomy, which was a first for the walk, which usually has gorgeous weather. (However, as long as this meant that it wouldn't rain for our graduation party yesterday, I would have been happy to make that bargain.)


As usual, it was fun to watch all the dogs interacting. This year I saw another Samoyed, whose owner was a jerk, unlike the Samoyed owners I met last year, who were very nice and helpful about Samoyed breeders in the area.

After the walk, we had almost as much fun as the walk itself when we played fetch with Tess, who jumped spectacularly into the air. (Stella was generally uninterested in fetch, although she did enjoy being chased around by Ed.)


Another successful walk - can't wait to go again next year. And if we can move into a bigger place by that time, we might even be able to get a dog and bring our own next year!

Oh, and afterward we went to Piccolo in the Ukrainian Village for some gelato. I got cinnamon and chocolate, Dave got whiskey and espresso, Ed got orange-cream and lemon-pepper, and Laura got mint-brownie and something I forget. Awesome. A great end to a great morning!