First Coast No More Homeless Pets (FCNMHP) held their 5th annual Dogtoberfest last Saturday, October 10th and everyone, especially the 4-legged guests, had a great time. The event featured a costume contest, Carnival midway, and a fundraising trick-or-treat walk, with many vendors and rescue groups in attendance. Best Friends’ booth was set up next to FCNMHP and we were able to catch glimpses of twelve or more dogs going through their paces to earn their Canine Good Citizen certification. It was fun to watch the dogs being calm, cool and collected and doing everything just perfectly while most of their owners appeared to be anxious and very fearful of the outcome of the testing. We heard many sighs of relieve and a few shouts of joy from the owners.
The day was sunny and very, very hot and humid, but that didn’t keep a record crowd of 2,500 people, along with their pets from enjoying the event.
Pat chatting with a few attendees about the merits of having pets spayed or neutered. 
Best Friends Ambassadors in attendance were Debbie, Pat, Carrie, Jennifer and Judy. We stayed very, very busy throughout the event talking to the many people that stopped by our booth. The conversations were lively and covered many topics, such as the four campaigns, visiting the sanctuary, and the show Dogtown.
For more information about First Coast No More Homeless Pets, please visit www.FCNMHP.org
Photographs by Pat deWald and Judy Marshall