Playtime for Bowser : Dogs and Their Owners Romp in Fund-Raiser for Special Olympics

Dogs ruled the day Sunday at Camino Real Park where at least a hundred pooches competed in contests, dressed in silly costumes and performed stunts to raise money for the Special Olympics.

A Chinese Shar-Pei named Mai-Pei came dressed as a bordello madam. A pug showed up wearing a bride’s dress. And a Rottweiler with a wicker basket around its neck posed as Little Red Riding Hood.

Escorted by their human pals, these canines came out in force for the second annual Dog Day Afternoon.

“It’s a fun day for the dogs,” said Maggie Rossi, an office manager from Ventura, whose two Pomeranians, Sabrina and Sampson, won second place last year for pet tricks.

In return for donating their time to the cause, the pets were slathered with attention from a crowd of enthusiastic dog lovers. Pet store owners hawked products that included gourmet dog food sauce in such flavors as chicken teriyaki, veggie marinara and shrimp Alfredo. They also sold dog colognes. Le Pooch for the boys, La Pooch for the girls.

A professional photographer sold portraits, while a Camarillo couple offered to clean up after the pets once a week for $25 a month. They call their business Doggie Duty.

Owners waited on their dogs hand and foot, bringing them water and free snacks--the most popular of which was Nutro’s Natural Choice Lite. A dog has to watch its weight, said the saleswoman.

Renee Gomez, area director of the Ventura County Special Olympics, said the group started the offbeat fund-raiser last year after realizing that the regular 10K and 5K runs for people had become a commonplace way for nonprofit organizations to raise money. So they looked to man’s best friend for help.

“We just thought this would be a great audience,” she said. “There are so many dog lovers.” At last year’s Dog Day Afternoon, the group raised $1,600. The group hoped to raise $2,000 this year, but totals weren’t available Sunday.

Owners say the event enables them to give their animals the greatest treat a mutt can hope for: the chance to meet other dogs.

After winning the two-mile race, Shasta, an 8-month-old golden retriever, headed straight for the water tubs set out for the animals--dragging his owner, Chris Spitz, behind him. Shasta gulped the water and sank his rump into the tub before finally noticing Canela, a 3-year-old golden retriever patiently waiting for a sip.

He graciously left the tub and introduced himself with a nose rub.

“It’s a party for the dogs,” said Canela’s owner, Peggy McDonald of Agoura Hills. “It’s so rare that dogs can get together like this without people yelling at them.”

Other owners were more interested in winning one of the contests.

Eleven-year-old Kristen Metcalf, whose long golden hair matched the floppy ears of her cocker spaniel, won second place in the dog-owner look-alike contest. She also won last year. First place went to Pat Rivera, a 31-year-old Oxnard woman with a mane as fluffy as her 1-year-old chow-chow’s.

Before, she said, no one else had ever told her she looked like Bugsy. “My daughter is the only one who said I look like my dog.”

Charlene Saurer dressed her Chinese Shar-Pei, named Mai-Pei, as a bordello madam, using part of a previous year’s Halloween costume.

And in a stunt that rivals any David Letterman stupid pet trick, 9-year-old Jenee Chandler from Ojai had her dog, Molly, jump over a folding chair with such ease that the audience wondered if the four-mix lab mutt could be held in by a fence.

No problem, Jenee said.

“She’s my best friend,” she said. “She does whatever I tell her to.”