Easter may not have had its usual fanfare this weekend. But here at Play Hard, Bark Often we were still able to follow a few holiday traditions . . . including the Easter egg hunt for dogs!
I’m pretty sure Simon and Rosee had an eggs-cellent time:
Happy (belated) Easter everyone!
So, this past Saturday was the day of the Easter Egg Hunt put on by Wag in Sacramento. We’ve been looking forward to this event for a while, as my previous post can attest to, and both pups were super excited. The sun was shining despite the previous week being mostly rain, the birds were chirping, and the squirrels were out in abundance.
It was, to be totally and completely honest, disappointing…really disappointing actually. The only thing that saved the event from being an utter disappointment was the fact that one of the vendors had a game set up for dogs and Simon and Rosee both won a Nylabone DuraChew.
Initially, walking through the park towards the event there was lots to look at. There were multiple vendors and even an area set-up to take photos with the Easter bunny.
We arrived a little early (to make sure we got parking) and after checking-in wandered around the park for a while. Now, the actual park was pretty spectacular. It’s huge, covering about three or four blocks wide with tennis courts, basketball courts, a kids’ area, a rose garden and even a duck pond. Of course, we couldn’t walk too close to the pond because Simon and Rosee would’ve wanted to go for a swim.
However, even the setting couldn’t save the disappointment that was the Easter egg hunt. From the outset, I was a little disappointed because the bag you received when checking-in was just that, a bag. Usually, in the bag there is a bunch of coupons for various pet-related stuff, samples of treats, flyers for other businesses, and (of course) a container with waste bags. Yet, this year all that was in the bag was the requisite container of waste bags and a card with the rules for the egg hunt—rules that no one followed by the way. So, yeah, I was kind of let down by that. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of my disappointment.
The actual Easter egg hunt was the most disappointing part of the whole event, which was particularly upsetting since that was the whole reason we went to the event in the first place. The main issue was that the space for the hunt was just too small. There were at least 100 dogs there and the field for the eggs was only about 15ft by 15ft.
When I first saw the space marked out I was kind of confused because it seemed so small. I didn’t know how everyone in attendance was going to fit, and the thing was not everyone did. According to the card with the egg hunt’s rules each dog should have gotten 15 eggs and that there were 1000 eggs out on the field, but that was not nearly enough eggs for each dog to get 15 eggs. I think Simon only got about six eggs and Rosee maybe got about seven or eight.
To make matters worse, any time Rosee would crack open an egg to get to the treat inside a bunch of little dogs that were nearby would run over and try to steal her treat. Now, Rosee did not react when the little dogs did this, but I could only imagine that some dogs would not enjoy giving up their hard-earned treats. It just boggles my mind why the event organizers would think this set-up was a good idea. Especially because along with being a pet hotel and daycare, Wag has a pretty significant dog training department. In fact, I have long sung the praises of the Wag trainers to anyone who would listen. I pretty much have thought they were the *bees knees* and yet after this event I’m not so sure that I can honestly say that anymore. I feel that trainers should know better than to put a bunch of dogs who don’t know each other that close together when there’s a lot of food around.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset about spending the money because all the profits went to a good cause. Yet, I can’t help thinking that I could have saved my gas, and made a donation directly to the benefiting organization. At least that way I could have gotten a tax write off.—That sounded pretty cynical, didn’t it?—I don’t mean to be cynical. It’s just the event turned out to be very different than what I thought it would be, and what it has been in the past. Still, we did get to see some neat stuff from the vendors and the pups even got to try dog treats made with crickets.
In an eggshell (*see what I did there*), I’m not sure we will be attending the Easter egg hunt next year. We’ll probably just stick to have our own Easter egg hunt in our own yard. However, let’s hope that for the others that will attend the event organizers put more thought into the set-up of the egg hunt.
It’s that time of year again…it’s egg hunting time!
The annual Easter egg hunt for dogs we attend is just around the corner. (Actually it’s this weekend.) It’s a fun activity for Simon and Rosee, and not just because they end up getting a lot of treats, which they do. In fact, they end up getting A LOT, A LOT of treats. Yet, they tend to enjoy finding and opening the eggs more than anything. Sometimes they don’t even gobble up all the treats before moving on to the next egg. As a human, I enjoy taking the pups because we get to walk around, check out various vendors, get a bunch of free goodies ( everyone gives away poop bags and they can get expensive, you know), and it’s just something different to do.
In preparation for the big event, the pups have been in intense training. Their sniffers have been exercised, and their egg opening skills sharpened. We’ve been practicing hiding Easter eggs in our backyard, and letting Rosee and Simon find them. Some eggs are easy to find, some are more difficult, but…
Rosee and Simon always manage to find them all.
I enjoy hiding eggs to hunt for the pups no matter what time of year though, because it’s just a good exercise for them in general. It’s an easy exercise to try with your own dog, and it’s pretty funny to watch your dog open the egg to get the treat.
Wish Simon and Rosee luck for tomorrow.
Check out the video below to see how Simon and Rosee’s skills measure up!
Make sure to check back this weekend for more photos and an update from the actual event!
Play Hard, Bark Often 