News
14th Annual Strut Your Mutt 2009
June 08, 2009, 1:57PM MT
By Denise A LeBeau
Record breaking event from No More Homeless Pets Utah
Record breaking event from No More Homeless Pets Utah
The big news for No More Homeless Pets in Utah is the success of Strut your Mutt 2009! They were overwhelmed with the amazing support of area residents who came out to enjoy the 14th year of this great event. More than 2500 dog lovers and their canine companions registered for this year's Strut and over $170,000 was raised for Utah's homeless dogs and cats. Without question, this is most successful Strut Your Mutt No More Homeless Pets in Utah has ever held. 
The Top Dogs
We witnessed some amazing fundraising efforts this year and we want to thank those folks who worked so incredibly hard to raise pledges for Utah's homeless pets.
This year's top fundraiser was Roxanne Mashburn who raised an incredible $7200!! She is pictured here accepting her award from No More Homeless Pets in Utah President, Gregory Castle.
Roxanne accepting award
Julie Kalar was next with $5800 raised in donations!! Mary Ann & Brad Hatcher raised an amazing $5107. Three more awesome fundraisers are Kathy Cook with a total of $3054, Ken Passarella with $2760 and Lindsey Maloof with $2158.
The Golden Biscuit
For 10 of the last 14 years, the Delta Dog Pack has won the Golden Biscuit Award for corporate teams of 25 or more. Those Delta Dogs did it again with a staggering total in donations of $10,127! Some of the Delta team members are pictured here receiving their award.
Delta Dog Pack does it again!
A brand new corporate team, Ken Passarella's Diamond Dogs (from OC Tanner) came in second with $5250. Watch out Delta, the Diamond Dogs have their eye on the biscuit for 2010!
The Golden Leash
The Golden Leash for corporate teams of under 25 members goes to Julie Kalar's Deer Valley Powder Hounds. Julie and her Hounds raised an awesome $6436 in donations to snag the Golden Leash. Julie is pictured here accepting this year's award from Gregory Castle and Miss Teen Utah USA, Tasha Smedley.
Julie with Gregory Castle and Miss Teen Utah USA
The Golden Mutt
Top Individual Fundraiser Roxanne Mashburn's team of family and friends, The South Valley Princesses took home the Golden Mutt Award with a total of $7500 raised in pledges. The team is pictured here accepting their award.
South Valley Princesses accepting the Golden Mutt
There was some great entertainment during the event including Course A' Lure, Utah Tail Blazers Flyball, The Dazzle Dogzz, Thunder Paws Flyball, Brickyard Kennels Agility, Splash Dogs and the music of Steady Machete. Pictured below is Course A’ Lure and Apache, a deaf Heeler with Dianne Roberg of Dazzle Dogzz. Another big thanks goes out to Gina Barberi from X96's Radio From Hell Show who was our stage host.
Special Thanks!
Thanks to Miss Teen Utah USA, Tasha Smedley, photographer Margo Moaremoff, pet psychics Julie Morgan and Paula Davis and Buster's Backyard Breakfast sponsors Larsen, Christiansen and Rico as well as the 200 plus people who volunteered on Saturday.
We want to say a special thanks to the Strut Your Mutt committee who are almost all volunteers. These people come back year after year and work tirelessly to make this event happen. This year's committee includes:
Danielle Slaughter, Maria Anderson, Billie Jo Daughtery, Shayna Dunford, Valerie Porter, Layla Misrasi, Kate and Ryan Boyle, Jean Burns, Becky Compton, Rochelle Fraser, Shelly Parker, Sheri Helm, Carolyn Uhle, Natalie Antell-Daniels, Liz Cordova, Suzanne Rozzelle, Marianne McGregor Guelker, Shawna Sides, Emily Shepherd, Sarah Brusik, Brenda Miller, Leah Richardson, Joe Daniels, Kimberly Barnett, Holly Sizemore, Lydia Buening, Maranda Hawkes, Andrea Torre and Erin Fell.
We also want to say how much we appreciate our many wonderful sponsors including: PETCO, PETCO Foundation, Beehive Bail Bonds, Zions Bank, Questar, Cottonwood Canyons Pet Memorial Garden, Metro Display, X96 and Simmons Media, City Weekly, Fox TV 13, Comcast and Pioneer Sawdust.
Despite a really tough economy, individual animal lovers opened their hearts and wallets at this year’s Strut Your Mutt 2009 to save lives. We thank everyone for their determination and dedication to animal welfare. Your efforts will save countless lives. Together, let’s save them all!
article and images courtesy of Erin Fell, No More Homeless Pets Utah
posted by Denise LeBeau, Best Friends staff