The reviews are inŸ.the first annual Bedford's Going to the Dogs! was a howling success! With more than 150 dog-lovers in attendance, BDOG raised in excess of $50,000 to further the development of the Bedford Canine Tribute Park.

After walking into the "dog house," guests were treated to sumptuous hors d'oeuvres and beverages while they mingled and browsed the silent auction item table. Guests were treated to an exclusive look at the newly-unveiled final layout and design of the dog park being built. Members of the Junior Event Committee were on-hand to sell raffles (in the form of dog breed playing cards) to win five huge plush toys while Phil Gaberman delighted everyone with his piano talent.

The evening's events included a presentation by the President of BDOG, Patricia Barry, who spoke about the past and current status of the park. Special guests Joey and Cindy Nickischer and Valerie Mokides (with her dog, Lara) from New York Search and Rescue spoke about the dog agility training center being built at the park and how it furthers their work in real-life search and rescue operations. Capt. Scott Shields, our second special guest, spoke about how dogs enrich our lives and how dog parks, in turn, further enrich the animal-human bond. Scott and his dog Bear were the first K9 team to enter Ground Zero after the events of 9/11. Bear will be memorialized in a statue in the U.S. Forest Memorial being planned at the dog park. Neil Alexander took over after the presentations had ended and did a fabulous job as the auctioneer for the live-auction.

For those that still had room in their bellies, dessert was a delicious chocolate bar with three dipping fountains and all sorts of sinful mix-ins.

So many people and businesses contributed to making this a dog-gone outstanding evening! We would like to thank our wonderful event sponsors for their generosity in making this evening possible:

Animal MR
The Canine Fence Company
The Coletta Family
Vet-Tech Pet Sitters

The Benefit Committee would also like to thank our Leader of the Pack Patrons and Champion Patrons, our generous donors of silent auction and live auction items, advertisers in our journal as well as the following event volunteers:

Neil Alexander
Joshua Davitz
Jeremy Deluca
Phil Gaberman
Peter Kane
Ross Kaye
Julia Levine
Keeley Peckham
Bea Rhodes
Katherine Scott
Arthur Zobel

Junior Benefit Committee:

Emily Curro
Julianne Gagnon
Zoe Leyh
Abby Pribble
Katie Rhodes
Lindsay Waxman

Hope to see you at next years "Going to the Dogs!" event!

Photographs courtesy of Katherine Scott