The RSPCA’s annual major fundraiser was on today, the Million Paws Walk. I’ve never been to one before, but I understand in Canberra it has migrated in recent years from Lake Ginninderra to Lake Burley Griffin.
I’m not sure there were a million paws in Canberra, but there sure were a lot and most bought four feet with them.
The registration area was at Stage 88, which got progressively fuller as it got close to the start time of 11am.
There was a plethora of dog-related things for sale, as well as the odd tent selling genuine human stuff.
Some stalls had apparently gone out of their way to not sell dog items.
There were also tents not selling anything, which we found out later were the corporate boxes.
Many of the dogs had been especially dressed up for the event, and were attracting lots of attention and photographs.
(Sorry…those were actually alpacas)
Some of the humans had dressed for the occasion too.
This baby caused some confusion by wearing a dog suit, as there was also a dog getting around in the same style of carrier.
The marshalling area was well equipped with baby baths for the hounds to drink from. Some, however, had different ideas.
There was also an obstacle course called “The Fellowship of the Dogs” with the various activites having titles loosely based on The Lord of the Ring (and, in at least one occasion, The Hobbit).
There was the odd tense moment as dogs met each other, but on the whole everyone was very well behaved and I didn’t see any serious fights.
The many little people at the event were having a ball.
Finally the walk got underway, via a too-skinny starting point.
There was a choice of a 1km walk or 5km loop, but not all the dogs walked.
And some didn’t walk more stylishly than others.
The RSPCA understood the needs of its walkers and had placed bins at various points on the circuit.
They had also put the baby baths of water in some places, but many dogs preferred to drink from the puddles remaining from the other night’s rain. There were also ALP and YRAW balloons being carried by some dogs and owners, somewhat mysteriously as I couldn’t see any campaign tent. I did belatedly spot the Liberal Party’s tent, which they’d set up near the flyball and so some distance from the main event.
Once we got round to the other side of the lake, some dogs decided it was time for a cool off.
Back at the main camp, the organisers were conforming to the unwritten law about Canberra events and The Cashews. The duo had rewritten some of their songs to make them more dog-friendly.
And there were also kennels decorated by various organisations, including WIN, Actew and Karin Macdonald, which were to be auctioned off at the end of the day. On the stands between the kennels are artworks, also for auction, painted by the dogs at the RSPCA kennels.
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