Pet owners let the dogs out for Salisbury’s Woofstock – Salisbury Post

By Natalie Anderson
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SALISBURY — Community pet homeowners permit the canine out Sunday at Pitner Doggy Park through Woofstock 2021.

The Woofstock competition, which very first began in 2017, raises income for the Pitner Pet dog Park, situated guiding the Salisbury Civic Middle on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

Event coordinator Alyssa Sides said Woofstock’s proceeds will be place towards including trees, benches and toys to the park. However the very first function was held in 2017, this year’s function was the initial just one that highlighted suppliers, meals, beer and new music. All vendors’ registration charges were being donations. Sides estimates countless numbers have been raised to day, with at the very least $500 coming from Sunday’s event.

“What you are executing is seeking to do is market socialization between the canines and amongst people today in a safe, open up ecosystem,” Sides said. “So we desired to do this festival, specifically in the midst of what’s likely on, to convey folks again out and permit them know.”

Salisbury resident Sharon Earnhardt recalls attending Woofstock fundraisers just before the park opened in 2019. Her pet dog, Puck, was a 100-pound Borzoi who was the major 1 in attendance just about every 12 months. Puck has given that passed, but 9-thirty day period-old Hannibal loved a sunny Sunday at the doggy park along with Poppy, a woman Borzoi.

“It’s terrific owning a fenced-in spot the place you can provide pet dogs and permit them socialize with some others and permit them engage in in a controlled environment,” Earnhardt said.

Poppy’s owner and Salisbury resident Jeannie Ramsey stated gatherings like the yearly Woofstock enable the prospect to inspire adopting animals from shelters alternatively than obtaining from breeders. She added that skillfully bred canine ordinarily have households, but when an individual decides to breed their canine with a neighbor, for case in point, there may well be a litter of 10 puppies that don’t have homes.

“It’s crucial for situations like this due to the fact not ample individuals spay and neuter their pets,” Ramsey mentioned. “I feel when you do gatherings like this, it assists carry notice to that sort of detail.”

Tracey Kyles, proprietor of the expert canine walking and sitting enterprise Soul Mutts, explained Woofstock aids deliver recognition to the different companies readily available for pet entrepreneurs. She would like to see the much more pet-friendly atmospheres skilled in Charlotte and Kannapolis “trickle to Salisbury.”

“I truly like to see that trickle to Salisbury. And the much more it does, the extra pet-pleasant firms that will come and help us grow domestically,” she said. “I consider the pet market is booming so folks genuinely want to do one thing with their animals. So I think functions like this are fantastic to provide pet owners jointly as perfectly as pet corporations that could not be knowledgeable of each and every other.”

Sides said she aspires to see the annual Woofstock event grow to be a greater neighborhood occasion. She mentioned the Parks and Recreation Division is at present doing work to have pet owners sign-up their animals for free and get hold of a card to swipe throughout each individual take a look at to the park in an effort to far better track the quantity. Also, potential basic safety measures will contain demanding canines to be up-to-day on their vaccinations prior to browsing the park.

“Generally when you occur out here there are dogs in this article,” Sides explained. “So we know that it’s continual. We just need to spread recognition that it’s in this article.”

Although a handful of neighborhood canine roamed about, Theresa Pitner, president of the nonprofit corporation Dog Parks and Walks, talked with pet house owners about what their dogs’ conduct and temperament indicated about their vitality and amount of contentment. Pitner operates Comprehension Your Pet dog instruction center on East Council Road.

The Pineapple Plug was set up to present wings, fries, rooster bowls, hotdogs and vegetarian solutions, when The Buzzed Viking Brewing Enterprise delivered beer. Other suppliers at Woodstock highlighted pet dog grooming services, pet instruction and do-it-yourself crafts, this kind of as Smaller Animal Drugs and Surgical procedures and Soul Mutts. Pet fans could also donate income and take part in raffle prizes for their furry good friends.

Additionally, Tracy Crotts of PAWS led canine as a result of agility courses and instructed them to do many methods. Just one spirited Chinese Crested doggy named Sugar put on a exhibit and did not shy away from the group of people he attracted to the study course.

Make contact with reporter Natalie Anderson at 704-797-4246.