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Though the day started out stormy, Mother
Nature cleared the skies for MDTC's annual Ghost Night and
a record number of participants turned out for a night full
of tricks and treats. Wow, what a crowd! The evening started
out with a Ghost Walk as the participating dogs scoured the
training field hunting for ghosts. The dogs (and their humans)
bravely took on an alien robo-kitty, a phantom tree, shuffling
garbage-bag-goblins, a haunted forest, and a very spooky trailer
ghost. When the ghouls had been driven off the field, it was
time to get down to the real fun: eating! With 4 kinds of
chili and oodles of fixins, breads and desserts, the participants
filled up before beginning the dog games.
First, the dogs Bobbed for Zombie Fingers,
braving a tub of water for the floating bone-shaped treats.
With over 27 entries in the game, Shadow (Sue Johansen) won
with a time of 4.03 seconds; Cindy (Liz Guston) took 2nd with
4.35 seconds; and Finney (Fred Kauer) took 3rd with 5.60 seconds.
Next, 28 dogs took their turn at finding their way through
the Pumpkin Patch Maze, a new game created just for Ghost
Night. Being successful at the maze required some strategy
by the handlers and patience by the dogs. Despite the challenging
course, a dog from our Basic class, Snickers (Kathleen Nowakowski)
took first place with a time of 14.85, while one of our most
experienced members, Merlin (Donna Barsul) took 2nd with 27.5,
and one of our flyball dogs, Seiche (Paula DeTemple), took
3rd with a time of 28.53. These talented dogs weren't the
only winners of the night: door prizes were given out to 2
games participants, the Best Halloween Trick of the night
came as Abbey (Jennifer Wener) danced for her treat, the pumpkins
decorating the maze were raffled off and awarded to 6 lucky
Ghost Night participants.
The evening culminated in a stunning and
diverse costume parade! There were cows, prison inmates, hula
dancers, and clowns. Our judges had a difficult job choosing
the winners, but ultimately awarded prizes for:
Most Creative
Costume - Dinah (Dorothy Schmidt) was gorgeous wrapped
in a "coat" of autumn leaves.
Scariest Costume - Nisso
(Jim Barsul) was a devilish dog in shiny red horns.
Cutest Costume - Shadow
was a "bee-autiful" little bumble bee.
Best Dog/Handler Theme Costume
- Hobo and Theresa Engell made the competition stand-up
at attention in matching army fatigues.
Honorable Mention - Betzi,
Zoe, Sam & Evan Emmons formed a quartet of prison inmates
who wowed the crowd, but had already won a door prize earlier
in the evening.
Special thanks go out to all of the ghosts
and those who assisted in bringing this all together and helping
with food, judging, prizes and activities: Sue Johansen, Deb
Matthies & Steve Patrick, Sue Steinbach, Tori Baldwin,
Kathleen Nowakowski and niece, Evan and Sam Emmons, Karen
and Mike Brauch, Mari Pavleje, BJ Parrot, Deb Jumes and friend,
and Sarah Willems. Also, we'd like to send out a special thanks
to Karen B, Evan and Sue for providing the chili for the potluck.
Hopefully we have not forgotten anyone who lent a hand, but
if so, please know that we are thankful for your help!
- submitted by Sally Haldorson
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