The first annual, The Paws Cause, is a dog adoption event that will be held at the 2014 AQHYA World Show and Reichert Celebration that will feature rescue dogs that need new homes. This event was the brain child of AQHA judge and equine sales consultant Ruth Ellen of The Horse Source, Inc. Ellen is an animal lover, especially dogs and horses.
“Every horse show person that I know has rescued a dog either from a
shelter; from the streets, or from the barn at a show,” states Ellen,
who can be seen at the shows with her beloved rescue dog, Fritzee. “I
thought it would be a great idea to bring a dog adoption event to the
horse shows. Millions of shelter dogs are euthanized every year. How
many dogs’ lives can we save with this event?”
Knowing the horse community, probably a lot!
At the 2014 AQHA Convention in New Orleans, Ellen met with Robin Alden, AQHA Director of Youth about her idea to hold an adoption event at the Youth World Show and, according to Ellen, Alden’s response was enthusiastic and positive.
“Although it took two months of writing letters and making phone calls, last month, AQHA gave approval for The Paws Cause to be held on August 3rd at the AQHA Youth World Show in the Sales Pavillion, Barn 3,” Ellen states. “I want to give special thanks to Pete Kyle for his help in supporting this event.”
So far, there will be six dog rescue organizations participating at the AQHYA Youth World event and eleven rescue organizations will participate at the Reichert Celebration. Each dog will wear a bandana with the TPC logo and “Adopt Me” on them. The Paws Cause will also be featured on the television show, Dog Talk, to be aired in Oklahoma City on August 2nd at 10am and August 3rd at 4pm. There will be free leashes and goody bags for the dogs that are adopted.
“Hopefully, the bandanas will make the available dogs easily identifiable when they are out of their crates,” Ruth explains. “There will be at least one Pooch Parade each day, again to raise awareness of their availability. Volunteers will be wearing dark blue aprons that match the bandanas, and they will say: The Paws Cause Volunteer.”
The adoption event will also be taking place at The Reichert Celebration on each of the three weekends of the show–August 16-17; 23-24; 30-31.
At each of the venues, Ellen will provide volunteers (contact Ruth Ellen if interested) to help the rescue groups with walking and watering the dogs and cleaning up. If anyone knows of a rescue group in the Dallas/Fort Worth or Oklahoma City area that may want to come, please contact Ruth Ellen at 972-839-3600 with their contact information.
