Puppies Galore- A Dog Lovers’ Paradise
Saddleback College’s business department organizes donation-based campus Dog Fair
Jax the Dalmatian sits for a treat before showing off his next trick, on Thursday, April 27, 2017. (Taya Buehler-Reagan)
Students, faculty and visitors had the opportunity to bring their dogs on campus, Thursday, April 27, for the 2017 Campus Dog Fair in the Quad.
The business department marketed and coordinated the entire event. They brought in vendors and volunteers from adoption centers to help raise money in donations for the five ‘no kill’ shelters present. It cost $5 to register a dog, which also included a goodie bag and two raffle tickets. All proceeds and donations for the event go straight to rescue centers and shelters.
The Fair put on events like the dog walk, puppy costume contest and other contests, a photo booth, puppy ice cream, raffles and a silent auction.
People and puppies could earn all sorts of raffle and auction prizes, from toys and treats to Pilates passes and a $300 photo shoot at Jack Randall Photography. The prizes were donated from the companies themselves and were brought in by the business department.
The Fair consisted of more than 20 professional and student vendors, each professional vendor paying $100 or more for renting space and donating to the ‘no kill’ shelters.
“All of the student vendors get to keep some of the money, but 70 percent of it goes to the rescues, as well as the donations,” event Director and business instructor Alana Gates said.
The business department also brought in Officer D. Baughman and police dog Dax to speak about the role of police dogs in the force. Dax also showed the crowed a series of tricks and commands spoken in Czech by Officer Baughman, as he explained that most of the dogs were trained in Czechoslovakia and Germany.
“They have a different style of of training in Czechoslovakia and Germany that we might not agree with,“ Baughman said. “They are just more intense over there, so the dogs we get are very well trained.”
While the Associated Student Government did not aid in organizing or setting up the event, they volunteered to help where they were needed. The Veteran Student Council also set up tents and put on a barbeque, providing hot dogs.
“They are just doing it donation based,” ASG President Lucy Hendrix said. “So all the donations at the end go to the animal shelters, and the proceeds for the hot dogs will go there as well.”
Food was also provided for the dogs by Alice’s Gourmet Food Truck, named after Alice the 8-year-old Husky. It had a plethora of dog treats and puppy safe ice cream, each item with an Alice and Wonderland theme for Alice the Husky.
The first Campus Dog Fair was in 2011 and was organized one time after that in 2015. And according to Gates, the business department hopes to organize the fair every two years. The fair has been an entire term project for the business students. It provided great experience for students, donations to shelters, promotion of businesses and of course doggy play time.
