It’s a dog’s world

“Who needs the World Cup when we have Strut Your Mutt?” emcee David Alpin asked the crowd of humans and canines at Saturday’s 37th annual Strut Your Mutt event, organized by Homer Animal Friends.

The afternoon was filled with games, with mutts and humans pairing up to win water relays and a doggie version of musical chairs, and to show off their kissing, singing and repertoire of tricks.

With southern peninsula temperatures reaching a balmy mid-60s, the four-legged stars of the event were provided with wading pools in which to cool off. Bowls of water, as well as plastic bags, also were available during the dog promenade, which made the round trip from Woodside Park, along Pioneer Avenue to Bartlett Street, up Bartlett to Spruceview Avenue, continuing part way down Spruceview before making a u-turn and heading back to
Woodside Park.

As the dogs promenaded, watchful judges tallied points for best owner-dog look alike, best costume and best mutt.

The winning human-canine teams were:

Best owner-dog look alike: Yang, a rescue dog from Wisconsin, and Kaia Borba and Kaia’s grandmother, Bonnie Betley;

Best costume: Milton and Charlotte Richardson;

Best mutt: Kona and Trent Fell.

With numerous owner-dog costumes on display — for example the look-alike duo of Eileen Becker and Honeybun, as well as Max and Laura Mobraten’s clever version of Dorothy and Toto — the judges had their work cut out for them when it came to costume and look-alike prizes.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.