REVIEW: The Detroit Dogup was Dog Gone Good!

Detroit Dogup Raises over $500 for Charity

On last Sunday, I and my son ventured out on a beautiful day in Detroit to attend the much anticipated Detroit Dogup. At this moment, my friends are all about to fall over from that news since they know that I don't have a lot of L-O-V-E for dogs. Well in my defense I can say that my attitude has come from a host of neighbors that have shown no love for their dogs and leave them out all night in the cold to bark, or keep them in small chained enclosures to bark, or don't clean up after their dogs for days, or won't pay to have their dogs trained, or.. you get the picture.

So it was great to go to the Dogup and see beautiful, well cared for, well trained dogs and their humans all having a wonderful time while folks tweeted about the event using hashtag #dogup.

My son, who was suppose to be my official photographer for the event, was chasing dogs or being chased by dogs so he had a great time. But I think the dogs had the best time of everyone there. They were running and jumping, licking and sniffing, and basking in the love of of their owners and the staff of "Canine to Five" and the owner, Liz Blondy, who opened the doors of her business for this FREE event.
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Canine to Five is a doggy daycare, boarding and grooming business located on Cass Avenue not far from Wayne State University. Liz and her staff worked the entire time that I was at the Dogup, making sure that the place stayed neat and clean - I was totally impressed.

Besides being a great party, the Detroit Dogup also helped raise over $500 for the Animal Welfare Society of Southeastern MI, a no-kill shelter in Madison Heights. I received some education in this area from dog owner, Jenna Marcum (photo right), on how dogs are mistreated or no longer wanted by their owners and then end up in kill shelters. Jenna fosters dogs including her own dog Kennedy who was mistreated and almost killed by a breeder running a puppy mill. It always amazes me that people can be that cruel, but Kennedy is lucky to have someone like Jenna who is willing to take the time and have the patience to work with Kennedy to overcome her past.

On the lighter side, I was able to spend time with the doggy Twitter king, Roof Dog aka Tino Ruffi and his owner, Matthew Ruffi (see photo left). I was lucky to get an interview with Tino for my 3 4 FREE! series where I learned that he has over 3000 Twitter followers and the number is growing every day.

It amazes me that a puppy has more Twitter followers than FREEISMYLIFE! Of course, I tried to get Tino to "bark up" his Twitter secrets, but he just wanted to play with his friends instead of talking business. But, I did learn that Tino may be starting his own blog soon - so all you doggy lovers stay tuned.

The organizers of the Detroit Dogup put on a great party while raising awareness and having fun. Well done guys...