Dogtoberfest!

This past weekend we found out about a festival just for dogs!

Dogtoberfest is a festival with more than 100 vendors selling stuff for dogs, rescue groups helping people adopt dogs, and lots of games, booths, and other things to help dogs entertain whatever people they bring along.

And, dad grumbles, the idiots selling leaf-guards and windows, like that has anything to do with dogs. Even I made a point to ignore them.

But I digress.

Before leaving home we first we had to convince Raven to leave her squirrel guard-post in the back yard. So I went out by the big tree and told her I’d stand guard and “give her a break” so she could come inside and get some water.

Once Raven was inside, mom told her we were going to a festival, and since Raven thought I was stuck in the yard she was all excited. Imagine her surprise when I jumped into the truck along with her. Ha! Gotcha! She loves me though. I could tell by the way she said, “oh, you’re coming.”

And off we went.

The festival is way down south by a huge lake, so it took a few days of driving to get there. The entry cost was “a can or bag of dog food” and since MY food is for ME, we stopped along the way at a Petco to get some cans of other food.

I learned metal cans don’t taste that good, so giving it away was fine with me.

The festival grounds are in a huge park with a lake and lots of trees, and the weather was perfect. There were lots of photo spots set up around the grounds, and we managed to get a “family” photo at this one.

One cool thing they had was an agility fun-run area complete with a bunch of equipment, so we decided to give it a try. Dad had to run back to the truck to get my normal collar (and he switched hats too for some reason).

The agility ring didn’t have much of a border fence, so since this was my first time outdoors and there were lots of other dogs around, dad decided it would be best to start out with with my leash on.

I still did really well, and dad was tall enough to keep my leash up above me so it didn’t catch on anything. He did take it off for a minute, but there were so many crazy smells in there that I got super distracted and forgot to pay attention.

When we finished, they took a picture of us on the A-Frame, as if that’s an easy thing to stand and pose on.

After I ran around the agility area we found a place that was conducting Canine Good Citizen (CGC) tests. It has been a few months since we worked on any of that stuff, but we decided to give it a shot anyway because if I passed it was a legit test.

I failed. 🙁

But it wasn’t my fault. Well, maybe a little, but I still plead environmental factors.

I did great on walking with a loose leash, and handling distractions (somebody walked around me banging metal crutches together) and walking through crowds without sniffing anyone. I also did the sit/stay and came when called. I let people walk up to dad and shake hands without trying to sniff them or pick their pocket, and we walked past another dog without so much as a fist-bump.

It all fell apart with the grooming test. For that I had to sit next to dad while some lady walked up, squatted down in front of me, and came right at my face with a huge black brush that smelled like 40 other dogs. What the…!? I backed up straight away.

Dad asked if he could kneel next to me and pet me when she was doing that, and after some rule checking, they said that was OK. So I did better the second time, but still tried to move away because I remembered the brush. So I guess we have to work on that. It’s not like I ever have trouble being groomed or at the vet, but nobody goes straight for my face with a brush either.

I also messed up the long separation. I had to sit with the testing person while dad went into a tent out of sight — for 3 minutes.

I was good for about half of it because I didn’t know where dad was and I was just waiting and watching people walk past. But then the wind blew the tent flaps apart and I saw dad was RIGHT THERE. So then I tried to go to him. And when I couldn’t do that I barked a couple times to let dad know I was being dog-napped.

I guess you can’t do that. But hey, if dad is supposed to be out of sight, shouldn’t he be OUT OF SIGHT? Oh well. We may work on those things and try the test again sometime. It would be cool to get the title.

After that we headed to a dog treat truck near the lake.

I was pretty warmed up after the agility run and being in the sun for the CGC evaluation, so a truck selling doggie ice cream was just the ticket. We got a large parfait for Raven and I to split. That was fun. And messy.

Really messy.

Then we walked out to the end of the dock on the lake for a photo. Dad thanked me for sitting still and not getting wet.

We found an agility course designed for little tea-cup sized dogs, and mom asked if she could take Raven out there. I tried to point out that you’d really have to shove to get Raven in a teacup, but she didn’t listen and Raven said something absurd about it “not being all about me.”

Anyway, Raven is almost 12 and hasn’t done any agility stuff since 2016, so she was excited. She had a lot of fun going through it (and sniffing) and said she kind of remembered how it was all supposed to work. Good job sis!

The last thing we did was go through the Canine Adventure Challenge.

I didn’t get a picture of this, but it was basically an obstacle course with all sorts of weird things to climb over, run through, and walk across. I had to navigate things like walking the length of a ladder that was laying flat about 6″ above the ground; a series of tires; some big climbing blocks; several big squishy rubber pillow things in various shapes, a tunnel, and more. I didn’t have any problem with any of it, and at the end they gave me a ribbon!

Yay me! (I know, I know, I’m sure every dog that ran the course got a ribbon, but I still like it. )

When the festival was about to close mom and dad decided they needed food. So we picked one of the pubs on their “tap tour” that was nearby, had a patio, and would allow them to bring in food. (Places that serve food don’t usually allow dogs due to something stupid called the, “health department.” Like that’s even a real thing. But you can normally bring in food from outside.)

Anyway, the place we chose was Fringe Beerworks, just around the corner from an awesome taco place called, Tacoholics. We parked outside the pub and then walked around the corner to get our carry-out food.

Raven and I waited outside while mom went in to order. Dad read the menu board through the window and then opened the door to tell mom what he wanted.

Once the order was placed, mom stayed behind to wait for it while dad, Raven, and I walked back around the corner to claim a spot in Fringe. Turns out, they are SUPER dog-friendly!

We knew they had a patio and we figured that’s where we would be, but people inside immediately invited us to come in and said we were welcome right in the bar.

Dad helped me up onto a bar stool that had a big foam pad on it that gave me a good grip. There was a pug named Fred sitting a couple stools down, and I was sitting next to Fred’s dad (in the photo below). I thought his drink looked tasty…

Mom gave her phone to the bartender, and he got that photo of me licking my lips and looking at Fred’s dad’s beer. Apparently I wasn’t allowed to actually sample any of Fred’s dad’s beer. Sheesh. I just wanted a lick or two — c’mon Fred!

Since there wasn’t room for all of us at the bar we all moved to a booth. There was a dead cat standing on the table next to me. So now I know cats do have a use even if it’s just as decoration.

The booth was great because there wasn’t a gap between the back and the seat, so it was very comfortable and I couldn’t slip out.

Raven watched for a few minutes and then laid down and took a nap. I impressed the other patrons by sitting politely next to dad the entire time they ate dinner like a little fuzzy gentleman.

Wait. That sounds weird. OK, I was the fuzzy gentleman. They didn’t actually eat like a fuzzy gentleman. Well maybe they did. Now I’m confused. English is hard!

After dinner we went into the back room to see all the pinball machines. Apparently they hold pinball tournaments there on certain nights, and music bingo other nights, so we’ll probably be back. I’m not sure I can reach the flippers with my paws, but I could be good at the bingo…

So that was our Sunday adventure!

Happy Dogtoberfest!