Brad Winger and Lorna Switzer left Jefferson City with a painting their dog made.
The couple brought their Great Dane, Blue, to Dog Days at the Diamonds on Thursday. The Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department hosted the canine-centered event at the 63 Diamonds Sports Complex.
Leann Porello, program manager for community arts and culture with the parks department, had a station for dogs to “paint.” Owners added paint to a canvas, then Porello put the canvas inside a plastic bag and added peanut butter to the outside of the bag. Dogs would lick the peanut butter and create an abstract painting.
Porello also suggested owners use black paint or ink and add a paw print to the painting after it dries. She said she’s seen “lick paintings” on Pinterest and had her own dogs make paintings before and thought to bring the idea to a parks event. She said one guest approached her to say she wants to make the dog-made paintings a tradition each year.
Switzer said Blue loves peanut butter at home, but the Great Dane was too excited and trying to glimpse every other dog at the park to complete her painting.
Fortunately, Porello had white plastic bags for the paintings so dogs could finish at home. She said it’s not uncommon for a dog to be too distracted even for peanut butter.
“Dogs love peanut butter, but they get here and they’re so overstimulated,” Porello said.
Winger and Switzer live in Versailles. They attended Dog Days at the Diamonds last year and said they had to come back.
Switzer said she loves seeing all the other dogs and giving Blue a chance to socialize. Blue spent awhile in the off-leash area on the ball field for large dogs, where parks staff set up a tennis ball launcher and pile of tennis balls. Staff set up another ball field for small dogs, also equipped with a pile of tennis balls.
“In Versailles, they have a dog park, but it’s more like two little kennels next to each other and nobody ever uses it,” Switzer said.
Ashley Wiskirchen, community relations manager for the parks department, said the event typically garners about 100 people and 200-250 dogs. The event cost of $5 per dog included live music by local band Love-Seats and pup cups from local ice cream truck Daphne’s Delight. Sponsors of the event included the Jefferson City Animal Hospital, Premium Pets, Custom Promotional Branding and Cumulus Radio Station Group.
The event also featured booths from local business like Kitty’s Critter Care and People helping Paws Dog Rescue. The Cole County Sheriff’s Department also set up a booth in which Andrea Putnam, an animal control officer, educated visitors about the tools animal control uses and ordinances related to animals.
Putnam said she deals with dangerous dog ordinances most often, which handles bites and aggressive dogs. She encourages people to report all animal bites immediately.
The Sheriff’s Department booth also had ties and bowties for dog collars. Victoria and Patrick McBride stopped by for a tie for their dog, Atlas.
“We love whenever JC Parks does special events. We always try to hit those up as much as we can,” Victoria McBride said.
Cory W. MacNeil/News Tribune With her Corgi unleashed, left, Andrea Freese holds the leashes of three dogs for her friend who went to get something to eat during Dog Day at the Diamonds on Thursday at the 63 Diamonds Sports Complex. The dogs nearly pulled Freese off her feet when their owner came back into sight.
Cory W. MacNeil/News Tribune Between playing bass for the band Love-Seats, Derek Brown plays several solo songs on acoustic guitar Thursday during Dog Day at the Diamonds at the 63 Diamonds Sports Complex.This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
