Sun Valley Pet Club 2009

Moving on with life, I had a busy day today. Instead of taking advantage of the weekend and sleeping my ass off, I woke up at 6 am to prepare for the 7 am mass that turned out to be actually a 6 am mass. Nevertheless, I got there before gospel and enjoyed the very looooong homily while standing. As soon as the mass ended, I quickly paid my early morning visit to the Bautista residence to urge Mitch to bring his dogs Berta and Rocky to the Sun Valley Pet Club Meeting. I didn't convince him, but at least I enjoyed a free breakfast of pancakes and sausages.

I ate and ran, which is usually the case, and I prepared Harvey for his first pet club meeting ever. Knowing his wild traits and energetic persona, it was a struggle going to the park because he missed going out. He was also so excited to see lots of people on the streets buying stuff as it is his first ever Sun Valley Fiesta. He observed, got excited and oggled at people until we finally reached the Pergola. There he saw a cool number of dogs and it was double the challenge for me since then.




Registering was hard. I had to let one kid hold the leash because Harvey was jumping up and down and he was trying to go towards the other dogs. He is not war-freak mind you. He is just super friendly. He is Mister Congeniality to dogs and he doesn't care if dogs are thrice his size. He just wants to play and sniff around. He is very friendly with both dogs and people, but his energy may be too much for a normal person. It didn't take long for my hair to look like a bird's nest and my face looked like a glistening pan of cooking oil. I just had to let him enjoy the moment as I could allow him to while trying to make sure he doesn't piss other dogs and piss at people. I thought I'd give him time to tire himself out, but I underestimated him. I got tired first.

But it was so cool to see different types of dogs and their owners making an effort to attend functions like these. Most dogs I saw there were the usual Shih Tzus, Daschunds, Spitz and Chihuahuas. But there was a large group of dogs there that were predominantly Golden Retrievers and Labradors. I saw a couple of Dalmatians, German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, Dobermans, St. Bernards and Spaniels. Harvey was the only breed of his kind there as far as Jack Russel Terriers are considered. Although there was one Parson Terrier female there, his closest kin. Nevertheless, he didn't mind. He was so excited to see other dogs and was damn eager to play with them. Sometimes he would look up to me and I could've sworn he was begging me to let him go. My brother JD actually asked me what would happen if I accidentally let go of the leash. I simply answered: "Total bloody unimaginable chaos."




In between his sniffing and trying to get closer to other dogs, some were stressed and couldn't take his energy. Whenever a dog barks at him, out of clear irritation, he just stares and backs off giving them room, but he forgets and tries to get close again. He is that persistent.

The club's program started with simple tete-a-tete plus registration. After which we were requested to view booths that were put up by leading neighborhood pet stores and pet enthusiasts. Animal House, some fish pet store, and Harvey's favorite store Doghouse, were there with the store's owners whom I've gotten a chance to speak with the night before while rushing to buy a leash for Harvey.

After "settling" down, the parish priest blessed the dogs much to the their restlessness and lack of "sacramental" respect. There was even a scene during the blessing that a huge Golden Retriever attacked a white Japanese Spitz. WE could only gasp and be horrified for the smaller dog, while the priest made the setting lighter by saying "Peace."

After the blessing, there were minor to major raffles being drawn, K9 Training exhibition and grooming demos by Dog House and Urban Doggies. In the raffle draws, Harvey won a Dish Bowl by Dog House and a 50% off on-call grooming by Urban Doggies, which I would have to give to Berta because she needs it more. I'm sure Harvey wouldn't mind. He's always been the wash and rinse kind of dog.

We were later joined by my mother and two siblings who stayed for a bit to witness the festivities. My mother surprisingly knows most of the organizers there who are her aerobics buddies in the village (My mom has friends?!!) and I couldn't help saying that next year, she would learn that I'll be one of the club's top organizers.



It was fun to be involved in something like this. I think Harvey enjoyed much. As we plan to donate supplies and accessories to PAWS this December, this definitely helps put things in clearer perspective.

When we got home, we both took a bath, ate lunch and then surrendered to a much-deserved nap.