Pups get to put on Easter best, hunt for treats

Easter weekend brings a flurry of children, baskets in hand, running around parks and gardens, finding and collecting treat-filled eggs.

But what about the four-legged children? The ones with fur?

For the 11th year, Angels Care Animal Rescue will present its Dog-Gone Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday at Reservoir Park.

"It's actually an Easter egg hunt like you'd have for children, only it's for dogs," organizer Pamela Galloway says. "They're plastic eggs and have little holes in the sides. The dogs actually can sniff out the eggs because they have a homemade doggy treat inside each one."

And just like their bipedal counterparts, the pups will be dressed to the nines. The Easter Bonnet Parade, which is a pretty simple, low-key affair, is popular and there are prizes given for best-dressed dog. Some of the participants take the competition very seriously.

Last year, Galloway says, "One woman paid $400 for her dog's dress. Of course, she won. It was pretty cute."

The egg hunt may be the marquee attraction, but Galloway hopes people realize there's a lot more to the party: Most people want to leave right after the hunt, but we have contests and games."

There are several other contests, including a surprisingly competitive owner-dog look-alike contest.

While Galloway says, "It's real difficult to do games when your dog's on a leash," this year, there will be simple games to spice things up a bit.

And in the interest of keeping things moving along, instead of door prizes, there will be pieces of paper in the eggs that will correspond to prizes. There will also be a silent auction with restaurant and dog-grooming coupons, flying lessons and other goodies.

So people won't have to rush off for lunch, there will be fair-type food: corn dogs, hot dogs and funnel cakes.

Brian Nahlen and Nick Devlin, in addition to providing musical entertainment, will also serve as masters of ceremonies.

"They're both funny," Galloway says, pointing out that their easy-listening music has a healthy following and should "add a lot to the atmosphere."

There won't be Easter bunny pictures this year, but another guest, a priest, will be there to perform a blessing of the animals ceremony before the egg hunt. The first 100 animals will receive a St. Francis medal.

Of course, there will be a lot of dogs milling around. Aggressive and unfriendly dogs would be best left at home. Up-to-date rabies tags are required, and all dogs must remain on a leash throughout the event because the area is not fenced. Water stations and clean-up bags will be provided.

And, yes, dog-less humans are more than welcome to attend. While the majority of guests have furry companions, the event always attracts a few who want to listen to music, bid on the auction items and watch the pooches on parade.

The money raised will benefit the Angels Care spay and neuter program, but that's not the main purpose of the day.

"It helps us get by for a few months on spays and neuters but it's a lot about the community and just a fun time for people to do something with their animals," Galloway says. "It's nice for us because we get phone calls on a daily basis about heartbreaking situations where people just don't care. Usually, if they're going to bring their dog [to the hunt], they care a lot. There's a lot of camaraderie out there. Everyone loves to talk about their dog."

Weekend on 03/24/2016