{"id":28052,"date":"2024-04-22T19:42:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T01:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pet-pawty-parade-raises-funds-for-aztec-animal-shelter\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:19:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:19:35","slug":"pet-pawty-parade-raises-funds-for-aztec-animal-shelter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pet-pawty-parade-raises-funds-for-aztec-animal-shelter\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet Pawty Parade raises funds for Aztec Animal Shelter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Astronaut
Astronaut Mia Burnett of Aztec with space dog Koko. (Debi Tracy Olsen\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

One woman\u2019s desire to rekindle a favorite small-town childhood memory resulted in hundreds of new memories and wagging tails Saturday at the Aztec Pawty Pet Parade.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfirst annual\u201d Aztec Pawty Parade attracted more than 50 costumed participants as more than 100 dogs and owners gathered at Armijo Plaza on Aztec\u2019s North Main Avenue Extension. Food trucks and pet-related vendors enticed dogs and their owners to the area on a mild spring day.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver
Oliver Collins, 7, and his miniature Schnauzer Chevy, who was more or less wearing a lobster costume. (Debi Tracy Olsen\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Each dog entered in the parade had his or her 30 seconds of fame before the judges, when owners introduced their dogs and explained what the \u201ccostume\u201d or theme of the entrant was.<\/p>\n

Reactions of the dogs to their various costumes seemed to range from slightly annoyed to nonchalant, figuring it was just one more silly thing required by their humans. Truth is, though, all these doggos are the lucky ones, those with homes and families. The cost to enter the parade and a portion of the day\u2019s proceeds all went to the benefit of Aztec Animal Shelter.<\/p>\n

The shelter is crammed with more than 150 dogs that need homes, said shelter director Tina Roper. \u201cWe are very packed over there right now,\u201d she said. At Saturday\u2019s event, animal shelter staff had produced \u201cbaseball\u201d cards of some of the adoptable dogs available. One enticement was a reduced adoption fee of 50% off, which Roper explained will be honored throughout the week of April 22 for those who picked up a card Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"Handler
Handler Jeannie Malandro and Obie the camping dog won the medium category channeling Willie Nelson\u2019s \u201cOn the Road Again.\u201d (Debi Tracy Olsen\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In addition to a bumper crop of puppies, the shelter has many dogs ages 2 to 3 years. Roper agreed that often these dogs make ideal family pets, having outgrown the manic puppy phase of life, yet still young and often eager to please.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are grateful to have a chance to have a new life,\u201d Roper said. \u201cI like the older dogs myself; probably the majority of our dogs are in the 1\u00bd to 2-year-old range.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhonda Huntington, organizer of Saturday\u2019s event for the city of Aztec, said she was approached earlier this year by Aztec\u2019s The Soaps of Katie Elder on Main Street. She told Huntington she remembered as a child that Aztec had a pet parade, and she wondered if it could be done again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018heck I can throw a pet parade,\u2019\u201d Huntington said.<\/p>\n

\"Misty
Misty DiCamillo with her dog Lyric, dressed as a flapper girl, was winner of the 36-pound and over category.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As Aztec\u2019s event organizer, she approached city officials with the idea. Met with an enthusiastic response, the event was pulled together in time for spring.<\/p>\n

In addition to being a way to generate needed funds for the shelter and give people and their pets a chance to get out and mingle, the event was a great way to introduce the community to the improvements at Armijo Plaza.<\/p>\n

Like other parks in the Aztec system, this area, complete with parking and electricity, can be reserved for private parties by contacting the city of Aztec\u2019s Utility Office.<\/p>\n

\"Winner
Winner of the under 16-pound category was puppy Dayton riding in style with her handler Angel Jaramillo. (Debi Tracy Olsen\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Saturday\u2019s Pawty Parade contest winners were: Under 11 pounds, puppy Dayton, riding in style with handler Angel; 16-35, Obie \u201cOn the road again\u201d with handler Jeannie, and 36 pounds and over was Lyric, the flapper girl dog with handler Misty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were thrilled with the turnout,\u201d Huntington said.<\/p>\n

\"Perceus
Perceus Gurule adjusts the ladybug costume on her eight-month-old Australian shepherd\/border collie mix, Roxie. (Debi Tracy Olsen\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

100 dogs and owners gather at Armijo Plaza<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,799,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-farmington","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80288,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28052\/revisions\/80288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28052"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}