Every year Bad to the Bone: Rescued on the Runway gets bigger and better. The annual pre-Halloween costume party for pets and their people includes a fashion show where adorable, adoptable dogs strut their stuff on the catwalk and get a chance to find loving homes.
"We dress the dogs in different costumes according to what their tolerance is," Diane Lundeen says.
Luckily, dogs have a high tolerance for the goofy things people ask them to do, so party-goers will get to see a great array of designer fashions for dogs Saturday night at Eiffel Society.
"Our models will be wearing everything from festive party colors to well-styled fairy costumes," Lundeen says. "We'll have a pig, a little skunk, a fairy princess, some sprites, and lots of other great surprises."
Lundeen, a Louisiana workers' compensation judge for Orleans Parish, also owns a pet boutique on Magazine Street with her husband, Edgar Cooper. At Petcetera, they work closely with area rescues. Lundeen has been rescuing pets since she was a little girl.
She and some friends came up with Bad to the Bone in 2008 as a way to highlight the needs of local rescues, raise money to support them, and help them find homes for their wonderful animals.
It's also a great way to spend a few hours with your pup.
"Where else can you party with your dog at a bar?" Lundeen says.
You can even dress up your best friend and yourself and compete for prizes during the costume contest after the fashion show.
The festivities begin at 6 p.m. and end at 9:30, perfect for dogs who like to jump up on the couch and go to sleep early.
"You don't have to keep your pets or yourself up late," Lundeen says. "The time allows every age group to come out and have fun. Night owls can go out afterwards."
The party will include free doggie bags filled with great stuff for the first 200 people, plus cash door prizes of $150, $100 and $50.
"And you don't have to do anything but show up to win them," Lundeen says.
There will be free treats for dogs and great samplings of dishes from New Orleans restaurants that will be for sale to benefit seven local rescues.
"So we encourage people to eat a lot," she says.
The rescues are the Humane Society of Louisiana, Louisiana SPCA, ARNO, the SULA Foundation, Used Dogs, Tater Tot Big Dog Rescue and, for the first time, Dogs of the 9th Ward.
"I am really excited that we were able to add a great little rescue this year," Lundeen says.
Dogs of the 9th Ward (D9) was started by Kelly Gaus in May 2009, after she found a hairless, starving pit bull puppy at the corner of N. Dorgenois and Pauline streets when she was walking her dogs. She named the pink puppy Pauline and took her into her home and her heart. Pauline opened Gaus' eyes to what loving pets pit bulls can be and is the inspiration that keeps Gaus, a second-year Tulane law student, going with D9.
In less than 2 1/2 years, she and a handful of volunteers have rescued and adopted out 200 New Orleans street puppies and dogs, many of them pit bulls and pit mixes.
Two D9 dogs will be in the fashion show: Aunt Beast, a 10-week-old tan pit mix who was bottle-fed after she was found on the side of the road at less than two weeks old; and Maybach, a friendly brown year-old male pit bull with a white face and a brown circle around one eye, who was found roaming in Mid-City.
"We had a couple more slated to come, but happily they were adopted," Gaus wrote in an e-mail.
She is grateful her group will benefit from Bad to the Bone this year.
"Our vet bills are always high," she wrote.
For Lundeen, getting dogs like Maybach and Aunt Beast into forever homes is what the fashion show is about. Petcetera is working with a dog trainer and will offer one free training lesson and discounted lessons to anyone who adopts a fashion-show dog.
"We thought that would encourage adoptions," she says.
The event is also about showing you all the ways you can help local rescues.
"Even if someone can't adopt a pet, you can volunteer at the shelter and at adoption days, you can help a shelter financially, you can help educate people," she says. "What we want to do is help the animals who have no voices without us."
Bad to the Bone: Rescued on the Runway is Saturday, Oct. 15, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Eiffel Society, 2040 St. Chares Ave. The fashion show begins at 7:15 p.m. Tickets for humans are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Dogs get in for $10. Music by Calvin Johnson and Chapter Soul. Tasty samplings from local restaurants will be for sale, with all the money going to local rescues. Pet photographer Scott Stuntz will be available to take party pictures. Tickets are available at Petcetera, 3205 Magazine St.; by phone at 504.269.8711 or online at Petcetera.?
Sheila Stroup's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in Living. Contact her at sstroup@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4831.Source: http://www.nola.com/pets/index.ssf/2011/10/bad_to_the_bone_fashion_show_i.html
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