On Saturday, people gathered at Posse Grounds Park Pavilion in Sedona along with their four-legged friends for a canine resource event.
Josh Frewin, the manager of Sedona’s Parks and Recreation, told Northeast Valley News how Wagfest began.
“It’s our fourth year of doing it—and it just became an event where people were passionate about their dogs and looking for something with their dogs,” Frewin said. “We do a yappy hour event at the park and this kind of was a feed off of that—of a separate one, getting the dog vendors together and the dogs together and putting together a fun time.”
The event featured a costume contest, talent show, games, and a canine painters art exhibit.
In addition to the various activities, the event had several booths that you could shop and learn about local dog-related products and service providers. Each booth had dog treats, dog toys, and more goodies for your furry friends, and representatives happy to share information with owners about how to best take care of their pets.
The goal of Wagfest was not only to have fun, but also to raise awareness for pet adoption.
Antonio Lopez, the shelter manager of Humane Society of Sedona explained the ease of adopting animals from the shelter.
“I think it’s important to adopt, because one of the things that you get when you’re adopting is the full vaccinations, spayed or neutered already—that saves the cost to the adopter, so you don’t end up with that overhead cost. And also, at our shelter, we do full vet health exams on all the animals so you know what you’re getting into if the animal does have an ongoing condition. So it’s a little bit more knowledge then adopting or purchasing a dog from somebody,” Lopez said.
Along with all the dog activities and adoption booths, there was also a booth that addressed the importance of picking up your dog’s waste on walks, especially by Oak Creek.
Kelsey Whitaker, the science coordinator/project manager on the Oak Creek Watershed Council shared the facts about how important it is to pick up your pet waste.
“A watershed is the total area of land that drains into a particular body of water. The Oak Creek Watershed goes from just south of Flagstaff, down to Sedona, to south Cornville, where it meets up with the Verde River. Abandoned pet waste left anywhere inside that 464 square miles, could end up in Oak Creek; and that’s a problem, because it can lead to E.coli contamination,” Whitaker said. “Dogs actually have a lot more E.coli in their waste than most animals do, so sometimes you’ll run into people on the trail who don’t want to pick up their waste because they say things like ‘well nobody’s picking up the coyote poop’, and that’s true, but the average dog stool has nearly four billion E.coli bacteria in it, and when that ends up in our waterways, that can be harmful for us and harmful for wildlife.”
Whitaker also suggested other ways pet owners can help protect from waste contamination.
“So, what can you do—one is educate your fellow hikers, your neighbors, anybody who’s out walking their dog in the area about why it’s important to pick it up. The second is to be prepared for yourself and for others, so leave with more bags than you think, so that you’re prepared in case your dog decides to go a little extra that day and/or if you come across a neighbor or fellow hiker who is not as prepared as you,” Whitaker said.
