They came in all shapes and sizes
long, lean greyhounds, yappy
chihuahuas, powerful Rottweilers,
sad-eyed basset hounds forming a
steady stream of fur that occasionally
stopped traffic.
Ten thousand people and 4000
dogs took part in RSPCA's Million
Paws Walk yesterday around Lake
Burley Griffin, helping to raise
$100,000.
Krista Hooke and daughter
Genevieve, 15, of Hughes, took
14-year-old poodle-terrier cross
Zach, who rode mostly in a
stroller.
Zach has a heart condition,
arthritis and a tumour in his chest.
''He probably isn't going to live
much longer so this was like Zach's
last hurrah,'' Mrs Hooke said.
''And when I heard that the theme
for today was 'it's a dog's life', I
thought that was appropriate
because Zach's had such a good long
life with us, and this was a nice way
to celebrate it on a sunny, autumn
day.''
Mrs Hooke said the family rescued
Zach ''from death row'' in 1995 when
they were living in Karratha in
Western Australia and he was
in the nearby mining town of Tom
Price.
''[His previous owners] who got
him as a cute eight-week-old furball
didn't like the way he chewed things
at 12 weeks and gave him to the
ranger in Tom Price to be put down
for what was effectively the crime of
teething,'' she said.
''The ranger thought this was
pretty sad and asked around and I'd
just said to the vet in Karratha that I
was desperate to have a puppy, it
didn't have to be a breed, so we got
Zach as a 15-week-old puppy.
''He's a very good-natured dog and
the people who had him first don't
know what they missed out on.''
As for the theory that pet owners
start to resemble their pets, Mrs
Hooke said, ''Old, grey, overweight,
that sounds about it. He's got the
grey, I've got the overweight.''
Dressed in a pink jacket and
sprouting sparkly wings, seven-year-
old toy poodle Angel didn't look
anything like her owner, Megan
Hayes, 25, of Gilmore.
But Ms Hayes says Angel does
think she is a human.
She said although Angel had
enjoyed the day out, ''she tends to
ignore other dogs. If they come up to
her she'll just turn around and walk
off.
''She lives with three other dogs,
but she's not a dog, she's a person,
and she doesn't deal with dogs.''
Not surprisingly, Angel's grooming
regime is almost as lengthy as that of
a human.
Ms Hayes, who works as a dog
groomer at Petland in Phillip, said,
''You have to give them baths, clip
their hair off and make sure there's
no knots, and give them some doggie
cologne.
''It's like a beauty treatment. It's
quite a dirty job too you get all
smelly and dog hair everywhere.''
RSPCA chief executive Michael
Linke said it was heart-warming to
see the level of support for the
RSPCA, which employed 50 people
and had 500 volunteers in the
ACT.
''It says to me that the Canberra
community is not only in love with
their animals but they're in love with
the work that RSPCA does and very
respectful and supportive of it,'' he
said.
Email a friend