INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Dozens of pooches donned creative costumes, ready for a lap around the Dogs For Life park in the 12th annual Pawrade. From angels and devils to dinosaurs and pixies, there was no shortage of Halloween spirit last Saturday.
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The day was bright and sunny, and if not for the stiff breeze it would have been quite miserable for the costumed canines.
Among those who gathered was Roxie, a 5 ½-year-old black Labrador-pit bull mix. Roxie selected a Ghostbusters costume to celebrate the bewitching season. Her companion, 1-year-old French bulldog Chloe, settled for the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
“I like Bill Murray,” Roxie and Chloe’s human, Tiffany Rosier, said, explaining the Ghostbusters-themed costumes.
Rosier attended the pawrade with co-worker Kathy Hemhauser, who brought along Bubba, a 7-year-old Labrador-pit bull mix. Bubba decided to be a dinosaur.
Neither Rosier nor Hemhauser had been before to the Dogs For Life off-leash dog park on 12th Street and both said they quite liked it. Having been to the park, they are now considering becoming members, they said.
“It’s very nice,” Hemhauser said, “and shady.”
It’s one of the reasons Dogs For Life holds the annual pawrade and pet expo – to bring out the public to see what the organization has to offer. Dogs For Life is a non-profit organization dedicated to training service dogs for various needs. Some are trained to assist those who have difficulty with mobility or with hearing. Others assist military veterans struggling with mental or physical challenges.
The off-leash dog park membership helps the organization continue its work.
Of the several dozen dogs to participate in the parade, a couple generated chuckles and out-right laughter from the crowd of parade-watchers.
One was a Rottweiler dressed as a pink hippopotamus. Another was a pair of small dogs – one a Sheriff, the other an inmate. A giant Great Dane sporting a tiny pair of yellow and black antenna and miniscule stinger posed as a bumble bee.
Others in the lineup included Dachshunds dressed as hot dogs, a Greyhound masquerading as Minnie Mouse, and two Italian Greyhounds dressed as Thoroughbreds, complete with jockeys on their backs.
“It’s his favorite day of the year,” Deidre Clayton said of her 5-year-old Chihuahua, Lewey, who participates in the pawrade every year- this time as a Tootsie Roll.
