for Maude

We returned to Sacramento today to do a Free Shots Fair in honor of Maude, a beloved foster dog who came down with distemper shortly after leaving the Sacramento City Shelter back in March. Losing her broke our hearts, but since a simple vaccination would've prevented her death, we just had to get back and do some work.

We held the event in McClatchy Park and invited surrounding pit bull owners to join us in celebrating the dogs in Maude's name. Outside of a few adopters who live in Sac, we're relative strangers in this community. But we were welcomed warmly by hundreds and served over 150 pit bulls and pit mixes on this Sunday afternoon ... A very nice day and fantastic turn out.

Park Rangers camped out for the first hour and spied everything from a distance, but I guess the orderliness of the event was yawn-worthy, so they eventually left. The clients were - as usual - thrilled to have support and hard-to-access resources including free spay/neuter vouchers and training help.


Some beautiful faces from the day...


A few people were still in their church clothes, which made for some very sweet family photos...

How much do we love this kid? His dog took third place in an American Bully show in Fresno this weekend.

Owner pride. We know the feeling well...

Still smiling, even after standing in a long line in hot weather...

Many thanks to our diehard volunteers, to the staff of Silverado Vet Hospital, who took care of Maude when she was dieing and for staffing the vaccination table in her honor, and to amazing crew from the Sacramento Responsible Pit Bull Owners group for your assistance and good vibes.

And to Tina Vickrey! (right)... who's been trucking in to help us with east bay events for years, but lost sleep wondering if anyone would show to this event. HA!

Moral of the story: Build it and they will come.

Thank you Sacramento pit bull owners! We had a great day and look forward to coming back.