The Wiggle Waggle Walkathon

I have been meaning to blog about this since Madison and I completed a 5k  walk for the Ottawa Humane Society’s IAMS Wiggle Waggle Walkathon, held every year in Ottawa.  I had heard of it many times, as friends of ours usually participate in this great event that raises money for needy animals in the city.  They actually raised over $185,000 if you can believe it!  A friend of mine from work had mentioned it to me and because I knew it was coming up and we were free that day, I really wanted us to go and knew that Madison would LOVE it!  Unfortunately when we arrived, and after I’d registered both myself and Andrew, Andrew informed me that we had a flat tire!!  When and where it happened and for how long it was like that, we have no idea, but needless to say, Andrew had to stay with the car for CAA to get there.  Bummer!!  He figured since it might take a while, I should just take Madison anyways. So, we set off to do the walk ourselves.  As we started walking, friends of ours, Kiera and Erik spotted me and so fortunately, we had some company for the long walk! They brought their gorgeous black lab, Molly!  Of course I brought my camera, because every outing in a photo opp waiting to happen.  I’ll admit, it was a bit tricky holding the camera and walking the dog, but I managed still to get some really nice shots that I’m going to share with you below!

So to start off, as we were arriving and looking for parking, Madison was getting excited in the backseat! She could see and smell other dogs and was wimpering, haha, because she wanted to see them! 

She would then jump over to the other window to check out what was happening over there! She was going crazy with excitement!

So darn cute! Once we finally parked (Andrew dropped me off closer to get registered and went to park…this is when he discovered our flat tire )  Anyways, after being signed in, Madison got this adorable IAMS scarf to wear, like all the other dogs!

Before the walk actually started, people just hung around with their dogs and waited for the start of the walk.  There were so many dogs! All so sweet and adorable! Madison got lots of attention of course as well.  People can’t resist her adorable little face! I cannot help but laugh at this photo because of her goofy expression! She looks sooo contented being pet by a total stranger.  She doesn’t care who, just as long as they pet and a treat doesn’t hurt either!  At one point, she stuck her face into a ladies bag because she could smell treats! LOL…she’s so bad! haha!!

She made more than one new friend that day…

I tried getting some photos of all the other dogs too before the walk started! Here are some of the best ones:  Another dog named Madison with a “marker dot” tongue haha!  Coincidence?  I think not!

This tough little dude…love his wrinkly face and short, stubby legs!

and this cute little weiner dog…so cute!!

There were some funny looking ones too…faces only their mothers could love

There were lots of big dogs, but more small ones.  Though this “little guy” I was told, was only 6 mos old!!  This is one of those mountain dogs, but I can’t remember the exact name…Gotta love that tongue!  What a beauty this dog was!

There were plenty of chihuahuas too!! So tiny!!

and even tinier still…. I was nervous they would be crushed by all the people! Many people were holding them in their hands!

There were tonnes of labs too–chocolate, golden, black.. you name it!  Hard to get one sitting still, haha, but here’s one!

And one last shot before the walk got under way…I couldn’t resist this shot! Unfortunately, it was crowed and someone bumped into me and so the shot is a wee bit blurry.  The dogs had already moved by the time I shot it but it was too cute not to include  (they were both looking up at someone waiting for a T-R-E-A-T  to be dropped!)

 And we’re off…happy Maddy!!  She definitely wanted to run but there were way too  many people around us.  Hard to tell in this photo but there were a lot!

Shortly after starting, Keira and Erik spotted me and called out! We did the walk together and they brought their gorgeous lab, Molly

Here is another one of Molly resting at the end of the walk

 So soon after starting the walk, we hear a woman shrieking! As it turns out, the dog got away from her and dove right into the water and went staight for the ducks! She kept calling it, but it was more interested in getting the ducks! LOL! It eventually swam under the bridge to the other side and somebody grabbed him for her! So funny!   This was the best shot I could get from a distance, without a zoom lens.  I cropped it in as best I could.  The water as you can see was pretty nasty! I’m sure that dog needed a good scrub down at home!

We also saw a lot of people who dressed their dogs up for the occasion.  I only took this one because it was so ridiculous! The dog, named Maui (don’t ask me how I remember that) looked completely stressed! I sure wouldn’t be happy if I was dressed like that!! LOL poor thing, she must have been mortified! Ahhh if dogs could express their thoughts verbally…

We did stop a couple of times as well for some water! Thankfully Keira had some to spare, since we left ours in the car! Oops!  Here’s Maddy getting her thirst quenched!

And if you’re a lab or a puppy, you don’t want to just drink the water…

… you want to dive right in! 

Once we finally made it (having company made the walk go faster for sure!) we hung around for a bit to see some of the contests they were having.  I think I was socializing when they did the biggest dog competition, but I got a few shots of the smallest!  This photo has been cropped in so the focus is all on that dog…you might not have seen it otherwise!

We also met up with Marie and Jason (I work with Marie and she was the one who told me about it! Thanks, Marie!)  They were there with Marie’s golden lab Azore–what an adorable, lovable dog!

Beautiful…

They were also there with a friend and his dog…not sure what kind, but it was gorgeous too!

And finally, jsut before leaving, I spotted this little Jack Russell and couldn’t resist taking his photo.  We can definitely see the jack in Madison and she can jump like them!  We always try to imagine what she looked like as a puppy!! Probably sooooo adorable, like this little fella’!  Look at that sweet, sweet face!!

Oh and we said goodbye to Molly, Erik and Keira, but not without a portait of Keira and Molly

We headed back to the car and the spare tire was on.  We took our chances at the Canadian Tire on Carling to see if they could replace it for us.  Fortunately, they were able to,  but we had to wait an hour.  Since we were starving, especially after our long walk, we decided we’d kill and hour with lunch! The only problem was that we needed somewhere where we could eat outside and the closest to us, was MacDonald’s! Not that I’ll ever turn it down, but it meant walking another 10+ minutes down Carling with Madison so that we could eat outside! So we did, but we were both dragging a little haha!

We fed Madison fries, lol, poor thing was hungry too! We all walked it off, it’s all good 

  After that, we walked back to Canadian Tire and the car was ready! Yay!  I turned around to see Madison in the backseat and this is what she looked like

Poor baby…she was so tuckered out! She’s used to walking to the mailbox and back haha!  Madison slept pretty much for the next 12 hours after the walk!

Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed all the beautiful dogs! I can’t wait for next year already! Hopefully Andrew will be able to  join us!