The First Annual Durham CT Pet Fair!

The Morning:
Saturday May 16th started off cold, rainy, gray and wet... we certainly did not feel like standing around outside all day on a day like this and we were 99.99% positive the First Annual Durham Pet Fair would be called off due to the weather… WRONG!!!! Mark and company of
of Help Willies Friends decided to roll the bones and jump off at full power and go ahead with the plans. On the surface I didn’t want to go out in the drizzle and be cold all day but, Secretly I was glad; I had been looking forward to having fun spending a day taking photos of a subject I love… and helping out the Animal Haven in a way that makes me feel good and just might help a
Dog get adopted!

Enjoy the Photos and as always, see more at www.brokenfencephotography.com
(Click on each Image to view full size)






The Day:
The day actually turned out to be a great one, the weather had cleared up by noon, the sun actually came out, and the air dried up. The vendors and shelters were certainly glad the day warmed up as were the attendees... despite the mud and the soggy field, the day was great. The food vendors kept busy keeping everyone full and happy and the line for the free Kettle Corn looked at times like rush hour on I95!!



The Event:
Mark from help willys friends had sent out a flyer advertising this event and the Animal Haven didn’t even have to think twice about getting a space there to help spread the word about pet adoption and make a few new contacts while possibly adopting out a dog or two. Well, we took three with us, Cheyenne, one of the puppies we recently acquired, and, Freddy and Ernie, two best friends who came up together from Georgia. At the end of the day, all three had been adopted by lucky families who got to adopt some really great
Dogs!


Freddy:


Ernie:


Cheyenne:



Things to do:
There were plenty of things going on and the crowd turned out in droves, most folks took their dogs with them so not only were there tons of people there, there were tons of beautiful dogs too! There were quite a few Rescues and shelters there as well as folks selling any and everything that had to do with pets.. There was even a “Rabbit” rescue there.

The CT state police were on hand with three of their K-9 officers, a very pretty Bloodhound girl, a good looking Black Lab (at least it looked like a Black Lab) and a really great German Shepherd Dog. There was a short agility demo and the State Police did another one with the GSD.




CT State police:








One of the more “Funny” moments came at the beginning of the first Agility demo, when the dog who looked like an Italian Grey Hound, ran through the barrel obstacle and tried to go through the collapsed
tube on the other end but instead, got tangled up in it and ran forward, crashing right through the plastic netting that served as a fence, all the while rolling about in the giant canvas tube.

After that little set back, he showed us what he was made of by running and jumping and racing around having the time of his life.

Caught in tube:






Jumping Through:



Jumping over:







There was also a live band that was playing to entertain the crowd, $35.00 Computer chipping of the dogs, free nail cutting, and free doggy portraits and so much more. A great time was had by all.

The Band:





Some of the "Attendees"...









So a big "Thanks" goes to the folks at Help Willys Friends for a great day with lots of fun!!
See you there next year!