A Great day at Bark-E-Que

by Brad Waggoner

We were delighted to be asked to par­tic­i­pate in the first annual Bark-E-Que spon­sored by Oper­a­tion P.U.P.  (Pre­vent Unwanted Pets). Oper­a­tion P.U.P. is a non-profit group ded­i­cated to the pro­mo­tion of spay and neuter edu­ca­tion and assistance.

We were so happy that we could be there to intro­duce so many peo­ple to clicker train­ing and answer their ques­tions on train­ing and behavior.

Lisa chat­ting with a gen­tle­man about Cold Nose Col­lege classes.

There were many of the local res­cue groups and shel­ters there as well, they included; Cast­away Crit­ters,  Humane Society’s Moun­tain Shel­ter,  Logan’s Run Res­cue , North Geor­gia SPCA and the Whiskers Project.

Sev­eral of the local vet­eri­nar­i­ans were there to  give talks on a vari­ety of top­ics to pet own­ers. Dr. Mary Bren­nan of Alter­na­tive Vet­eri­nary Ser­vices gave an infor­ma­tive talk on pet foods and nutri­tion.   Dr. Hilty Burr of Lake Chatuge Ani­mal Hos­pi­tal spoke about the human pet bond.  And Dr. Kirk Varde­man of Hiawassee Ani­mal Hos­pi­tal gave some great infor­ma­tion on flea and tick prevention.

There were demon­stra­tions as well. The Towns County Sheriff’s depart­ment K9 unit was there show­ing their crime stop­ping abil­i­ties, and  Cold Nose Col­lege was proud to be able to give a clicker train­ing demon­stra­tion. I gave a brief descrip­tion of clicker train­ing and nar­rated as Lisa worked with Lucy, a beau­ti­ful hound mix who is cur­rently avail­able for adop­tion at the Moun­tain Shel­ter. I do think the crowd was impressed with just how quickly Lucy started respond­ing to Lisa’s cues.

We were also so very pleased to see so many grad­u­ates and stu­dents of Cold Nose Col­lege there. I’m sorry we didn’t get pho­tos of every­one, but here is a shot of Melody and Stu­art, and their pups Maya and the recently res­cued Aussie Aragorn.

A big thanks again to Oper­a­tion P.U.P for putting on a great event.