Pet Chat: Come play at PAW-Fest

Here it comes again. Our second annual PAW-Fest is coming up on Sunday, Aug. 2. Last year we held our first paw PAW-Fest to celebrate our 10-year anniversary -- the response was great. This year we are making PAW-Fest a pet adoption fair as well as a pet festival. There are many ways you can get involved in supporting this event and helping pets find homes.

You can volunteer. An event like this requires lots of help. We need people to help with games and booths, people to help set up tents and take things down at the end, we need people to hang posters, and maybe even some people who can wield a hammer and saw. We need people -- we need you.

You can have a booth. If you provide a pet related product or service, come share it with us. This is a great way to introduce your product or service to the pet loving community and create new customers.

You can play the games. This will be the funnest part of all. The games were so popular last year that we have added even more this year. Choose which ones you want to compete in and sign up at PAW-Fest.com.

Kingston Canines Got Talent -- can your dog sit up, roll-over or play dead? Perhaps he has some other unique talent. Bring him on down and let him show his stuff.

Partnership Challenge -- a whole new kind of dog race. In this competition there will be several stations set up in the arena. At each station you must get your dog to complete a task and then race to the next station. The tasks will be unique (climb stairs, dance, etc.) so everyone can have fun competing. No training necessary.

The Great Kid/Dog Race -- for kids and their dogs, or kids and someone else’s dog, to run our special course and see who’s fastest. This race is open to kids and dogs of all ages.

Doxin Race -- bring your dachshund down and let him race the pack.

Canine Crooners -- for dogs that like to sing (howl). You can sing, talk, dance or whatever it takes to get that howler going.

I’m Sump’n Special Dog Show -- This was last year’s most popular event. Every dog has their own special charm. Perhaps your dog is a TaterTot (short and round), a Tinkerbelle (little and feisty), a Sean Connery (old but still devilishly handsome) or something else. Bring your pup on down and let our judges determine your pet’s sump’n special.

If you would like to sign up to participate or have any questions, check out our Web site at PAW-Fest.com, or come on by Country Pet Shoppe. Whether or not you participate, we look forward to seeing you there.

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