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-