Food of the Dogs

Sporting fur during this spring luncheon was no fashion faux pas.

The canine guests at the L’Hirondelle Restaurant charmed everyone with their genteel table manners Saturday, when a bevy of dogs and their owners took over the restaurant’s patio area for a luncheon benefiting the Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) of Dana Point.

The unusual event held across from the Mission San Juan Capistrano drew about 32 people and 19 dogs. As Rottweilers, poodles, German shepherds, terriers and dachshunds greeted each other with a complimentary sniff and tangled leashes around their owners’ legs, some wondered if the gathering would get out of control.

But restaurant co-owner Raymonde Gasper and her husband, Walter, pronounced the dogs’ behavior exemplary.

“They are all really nice. I’m really surprised,” Raymonde Gasper said. “Even the big ones. Once in a while you’ll hear a bark, but that’s it.”

The Animal Rescue Foundation takes in strays from the San Clemente Animal Shelter.

Instead of euthanizing stray animals suffering everything from road injuries to coyote attacks, foundation members help nurse them back to health and places them in “foster” homes until permanent homes can be found.

The chief beneficiary of the day was Pirate, a German shepherd requiring double hip replacement surgery. A resident wanted to adopt Pirate but couldn’t afford the expensive surgery, so foundation members agreed to help cover the cost.

Foundation board member Pat Shurman, who is caring for Pirate until his operation is over, said fostering pets and then letting them go is always hard.

“I cry at every one,” Shurman said. “The reward is knowing they got what they deserved, a good home and wonderful owners.”

After the initial introductions Saturday--which generated a few barks but barely any bites--lunch was served.

Humans dined on poulet Marie-Antoinette, while the dogs were treated to gourmet biscuits, whipped up by Pamela Schuler, foundation program director, who spent five hours baking them.

Julie Steigler’s adopted purebred miniature schnauzer, Peanut, sneaked licks of hollandaise sauce off her owner’s plate while Steigler recalled the first time she saw Pooch, another schnauzer she adopted with the help of the foundation.

“She was a bag of bones, she was such a mess,” Steigler said. “But when I saw her I looked beyond the ugliness and saw a really wonderful dog.”

Under the umbrellas shading each table, foundation supporters shared similar stories of animal rescues. Rescues, they said, can be for people too.

The Gaspers hosted the benefit in honor of Chardonnay, their beloved white poodle who died of cancer three weeks ago. A foundation volunteer aware of their loss spotted another white poodle who was brought to the shelter, and the very next day the lucky pup found his way into the Gaspers’ arms. The poodle was christened Chablis.

“We weren’t ready for another dog, but the next day a man walked in, and there he was,” Raymonde Gasper said. “It was meant to be.”