Strut Your Mutt!

This weekend I was all smiles.  Maddux and I had a fun day together and I got a couple of great runs in!  On Saturday I had one of those runs where you just remember why you love running.  It wasn't fast, it didn't feel particularly good, but just being out there made me happy.  On Sunday I conquered 12 miles and am finally feeling like maybe I can do this whole half marathon thing THIS WEEK!  I can't believe Crawlin' Crab is less than a week away!

Since Saturday was my first experience with Strut Your Mutt, I figured I'd give you guys a little recap of what the event is all about!  As you guys know, Maddux is from Lucky Dog Animal Rescue.  LDAR is growing fast, and a big part of it is because of their awesome fundraising.  If you're ever lacking passionate people in your life, drop by a Lucky Dog event.  There are incredible people backing it!

Our first picture together!

I was so excited to be able to sign up for Strut Your Mutt this year!  I had read about it, but there was always something going on that weekend.  I made a vow that 2014 would be Maddux's year to strut.  I signed up with Lucky Dog's team so that my $25 registration would go straight to them!  There was a fun run and a walk option and you could choose to fundraise for your organization.  I had wonderful supporters who understand how much Maddux means to me and one of the LDAR volunteers organized a great fundraiser that I joined in on at the end of August.  One of the fun parts is that they make it into a contest.  The top fundraising rescue gets a special booth, which is great publicity for their animals.  I'm proud to say that LDAR was number one!  They raised over $25,000!

When we got to the event at Black Hill Regional Park, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I had been meaning to check out the park for a long time (it's in our Doggin' Maryland book) so I was happy that we finally had a chance.  Maddux was so excited as he saw all of the other dogs walking towards the festival.  The only bummer was that we had to park at a further away lot, which was kind of a lot for my pup's short, arthritic legs.  That paired with the warm, sunny day proved to be a lot for Maddux and he wore out kind of quickly.  The event did have lots of water buckets around for dogs to drink from and even a pool for pups to cool off in.  It would have been nice for a little more shade though!

View from our own strut.

The festival itself was really cute.  Registration was easy and a volunteer even offered to hold Maddux if I needed another hand for anything.  I got a cute t-shirt and there was even a poo bag for Maddux (smart thinking Strut Your Mutt!).  We opted to do our own walk instead of joining the group since we had a little time to kill before it started and I wasn't sure how long the actual walk would be.  Plus, Maddux can be a little loud (he get it from his mama) and I wanted to make sure not to get him too worked up.  When the official walk started, Maddux and I checked out the booths.  He got his paw prints done, we got our picture taken, he got a full sized bag of nice treats from a nice booth, and he got a goodie bag from a vet's booth.  He was so funny at the treat booth.  The volunteer put the box of treats down (I guess he wanted Maddux to pick out his own treat?) and my pup decided the whole box was for him!  He grabbed onto the side and tried to drag it away.  (He also gets his love of food from his mama!)  We all had a good laugh out of that one.  There were a few other booths that had belly rubs, acupuncture, and massages, but we opted out of those.  By that time Maddux was a tired pup!

Maddux and I had a great day at Strut Your Mutt!  I hope that we can participate again in the future.  It makes me proud to know that so many great people are out there to help pups find homes.  There were lots of signs at the event that said "I believe we can save them all."  I'm so thankful to Lucky Dog for saving my pup and am proud that we could support them in their efforts to help more dogs like Maddux find forever homes.

For more information on Strut Your Mutt visit their website.

If you're in the DC Metro area and are interested in adopting or volunteering make sure to check out Lucky Dog's website!

Have you ever participated in Strut Your Mutt?  How was it?  Any other rescue dog families?!