Day of the DOGS

COEUR d’ALENE — A 10-year-old Chihuahua named Opal strutted her stuff in her princess dress, complete with a fluffy hat tied to her tiny head.

Opal's friend Dottie, another Chihuahua barely half the size of Opal, dressed as Tinkerbelle. Two other pups had husband-and-wife costumes and several other breeds of dogs wore outfits as well.

Dogs big and small — young and old — entered contests, played and sniffed each other at the eighth annual Dog d'Alene event, hosted by the Coeur d'Alene Downtown Association.

"It's our way to have a great day for dog owners and then we can give back to the dog community," said Mary Peak, Downtown Association member and owner of Christmas at the Lake.

Peak said they usually see about 500 dogs come through the event each year, and all profits are donated back to the local animal community.

About 25 vendors surrounded the grassy area at Sixth Street and Sherman Avenue, selling collars, leashes, food and water bowls, bandanas and raffle tickets. Several competitions, races and demonstrations were held throughout the day, including "best tail wag and smile," as well as the popular "Doxie-Dash" race.

Doris Ramsden, of Coeur d'Alene, is a member of the Coeur d'Alene Dog Fanciers Club. She showed off the skills of her 18-month-old Papillion, Willie, with a demonstration of obedience training. Willie would go slow, fast, stop, heel or stay with Ramsden just by her movement and hand signals. Willie's long black and white hair was brushed out smooth, with long strands flowing from ears that nearly dwarfed his head.

"That's what Papillion means is butterfly, for their ears," Ramsden said, adding that they are "very smart" dogs.

Miles, a Bouvier des Flandres, pulled a cart around with a chair for his human, Ed Hobby, of Coeur d'Alene. Hobby said Miles does obedience championships, as well as carting competitions. They recently went to a national obedience competition where Miles came in 99th place, but Hobby said they had a lot of fun. Miles' full name is Carrig's A Mile Of Smiles.

"You can look at his face and see where he got the name," Hobby said, as Miles stood smiling, patiently waiting for his human.

The afternoon concluded with a ceremony for Coeur d'Alene Police K9s Halo and Pecco. The two dogs received new Kevlar vests donated by the Coeur d'Alene Dog Fanciers Club.

Kyleen Claunts, board member with the Fanciers Club, said when they discovered that Halo and Pecco did not have vests for protection, they started fundraising and raffled off items donated by local businesses. She said they raised half the money through the raffles and the club contributed the rest.

The vests are level 2 threat level and are stab resistant with the Kevlar protection. Claunts said they cost about $1,000 each and are high quality and lightweight, weighing about 4 pounds each.

"You don't want anything really heavy because you want the dog to still be able to move completely," she said. "And you want something that fits them fairly snug so that it does not change their mobility."

Halo and Pecco's handlers, Coeur d'Alene Police officers Amy Knisley and Andy Sterling, brought the dogs to Dog d'Alene to accept the vests from the Fanciers club. Knisley said they will have to do some extra training with the dogs to get them used to the vests. The dogs go through extensive training to become a police K9, and Knisley said the vests will eventually become part of their uniform, so they "won't even know it's there."

Knisley said the department greatly appreciates the efforts put forth by the Fanciers Club, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting responsible dog ownership, responsible breeding practices and care of all dogs.

"They went out of their way and did this on their own, and they wanted to use Dog d'Alene as an opportunity to present them," Knisley said. "We are very grateful that they are supportive like this, it's very cool."