Gladys.

Look at this face, isn't it adorable? Gladys, a 7 year old chihuahua, was one of the dogs available for adoption at the 2011 Napa Humane's Cause for a Paws event, held at Silverado Country Club, which Vinomaker and I attended this afternoon. I had threatened to come home with a third Vinodog, and although Gladys was cute, she was just too small for life in Vinoland...sigh!

This is one of Vinomaker's favourite, if not his favourite, wine and food event of the year and it benefits an excellent cause. I enjoyed myself immensely; great weather, good food, and lots of nice wines to sample. However, I do think the winery that was pouring the goldfish bowl water - we're all familiar with the aroma, y'know the warm, algae, fish poop thing - masquerading as a Sauvignon blanc, was taking the whole pet theme a bit too far....yikes! There is now a dead patch of rough on the thirteenth fairway.

People, please, don't buy a pedigree. Adopt a mongrel, today!

Paws for thought.

This afternoon, Vinomaker and I attended the 2010 Cause for the Paws. I must admit it wasn't quite as much fun as last year, however this year the weather was more cooperative - it was a fair bit cooler and so overall it was a most enjoyable day. This event, benefiting Napa Humane, is another fantastic opportunity to taste some of the best wines that Napa and Sonoma have to offer, all in one location. The wineries that participate are very generous in donating their time and copious amounts of wine to this worthy cause.
I took some photographs of several of the dogs that were up for adoption and were being walked around by volunteers at the event. But the poor poochies looked too depressed for me to employ one of their images for this post. Instead, I chose to use a photo of one of the more whimsical wine labels on display, gracing a fairly decent bottle of Sauvignon blanc from Mutt Lynch Winery. The label announces, "...she's amazing, she's eccentric, some might say she's barking mad..." This could have been written about me!
I don't know why people buy pedigree puppies when there are so many abandoned, hapless dogs out in the world that are in need of a good home. Just a thought. Aside from me not wanting to aid in the perpetuation of problems caused by unsound breeding practices and being complicit in keeping disreputable puppy-mills in business, I will always choose a mongrel over a pedigree for many other reasons. Lest you think me altruistic and principled, let me assure you that my intentions are purely selfish. As a rule mongrels generally live longer, are healthier, and for me are more entertaining than a recognised breed, (you just don't know exactly how that funny little bundle of fluff is going to grow up.) I want the current, and future, incarnations of Vinodogs to be around for as long as canine-ly possible.