Friday, March 18: 11 a.m. ­ 7 p.m.

Linda's Friday Report from The North Texas Golf Show ...

The Golf Show at Dallas Market Hall has always been a personal favorite of ours as Tom is an avid golfer. The first thing I did when we arrived was to remind him we had a focused mission and it was not to buy any golf clubs! Our booth location is superb, we see everyone who comes in and goes out of the show. Mr. Big Foot-doggie, who is a Straydog "Mulligan" (for those of you who don't know, a Mulligan is a second chance in golf talk) behaved so beautiful. We all became a little anxious as the booth next to us set up with chips and salsa. We didn't want Big Foot becoming obsessed with the smell of food, but things turned out ok, and it did not appear to be a problem, except that the four of us, David, Matthew, Tom and myself snacked all day on chips!
 
Friday typically is not a fast paced day at these types of events, but we did see a fairly steady flow of traffic, partly because of the beautiful weather and partly because it is Spring Break week. One of our wonderful contributors, Twin Lake Tree Farms, also owns a fantastic golf course near Canton--Twin Lakes Golf--, and they had a booth at the show. Carrie D, part of the family at Twin Lakes and manager of golf events, stopped by to say hello and chat with us. I am so excited as Carrie, who is a very energetic and smart lady, besides being an avid dog lover, wants to help Straydog as a sponsor for a golf fund raiser, and she has some brilliant ideas to make it a success ­ so all of you golfers (and non -golfers who love beautiful scenery) will be hearing from us soon, inviting you to a golf event at Twin Lakes Golf Course.
 
We all appreciate the extra efforts David Rentz has to go through for these events. After a full day today in the public eye, David packed up today's show dog, Big Foot, and left Dallas around 5 PM in heavy rush-hour Friday traffic and arrived back at the shelter around 7:30. He then had to empty the van and clean any dog problems up, get a good night's rest and pack up and leave on Saturday morning in time to return to the show. He must juggle a lot of loose ends, such as making sure he has each dogs rabies tag and shot information on the dogs coming to the show, confer with Juana to confirm the dog(s) selected are all in good humor for the day, and then he has to do an inspection of the Straydog van to ensure all cages are in place securely, all doors are locked and that he has replenished the dog supplies before taking off, arriving back in Dallas and at the show by 9 AM. I compare this to packing up a diaper bag to make a long journey with say triplets. Thank you, David!
 
If you want to get out of the house, Saturday will be a great day to come to the Golf Show. We will be in our booth from 9 until 6. There is also an antique show going on in the adjoining part of Dallas Market Hall if golf isn't your bag.

Saturday, March 19: 10 a.m. ­ 6 p.m.

Linda's Saturday Report from The North Texas Golf Show ...

When we woke up this morning it was evident that it was Spring in Texas (almost as officially we've still got one more day of winter). The sun was so beautiful and the wind was blowing warm. This was great weather for golfers (and anyone outdoors), however, the nice weather apparently worked against the golf show. Most golfers must have decided they would rather play a round of golf instead of attending the golf show, resulting in a very slow day for us. All of our neighboring exhibitors and the event managers who attend and record history of this show year after year stated time and time again how slow this was and that they had never seen the show with this low of attendance! I felt really sorry for those vendors who had to pay so much for a booth to exhibit at the event.
 
But as they say, "there is always a silver lining to everything," and Straydog was able to visit with many of those who did attend the show. Heidi and Lee were "on the green" today attracting a lot of attention as Todd C, our wonderful volunteer, strolled the two through the show and treated them to watching the basketball playoffs at the ESPN booth. ESPN sponsors an oversized booth with a 84" TV where David found Todd and the two babies sitting in a recliner watching the TV and visiting with some very pretty young ladies who were checking out Heidi and Lee.
 
Because it was slow I had the opportunity to visit with several vendors and solicit gifts for our potential fund raising events. You will want to watch for some wonderful auction items upcoming, such as a trip to Branson, Missouri with a dog training session by a very highly respected trainer. I shall not elaborate further here as I don't want to spoil the potential surprises!
 
We also closed out the late afternoon with a visit from an Estate Attorney who was seeking a no-kill shelter/sanctuary for his clients who had made a provision in their will. He was very impressed with our history and information and took several newsletters. He promised to get back with us in the near future letting us know what transpires.
 
So we closed out Saturday, and we don't really wish for bad weather on Sunday, but it would be nice to have more attendance!

Sunday, March 20: 10 a.m. ­ 4 p.m.

Linda's Sunday Report from The North Texas Golf Show ...
 
As fate would have it, Sunday proved to be another day of beautiful weather ­ the first official day of spring. If you've been following the Golf Show updates, you'll know that the good weather has created a decline in the show attendance this year. We spoke with the event sponsors, who due to a scheduling conflict had to schedule the show this year for the 3rd weekend of March. In the past the show was held the last weekend of January or the first weekend of February, a little before the golfers were out on the greens, which made them a lot more inclined to attend the show. We are still very grateful that the event sponsors were kind enough to provide Straydog with a booth and provide us the opportunity to share the story of Straydog and the need to spay and neuter. A special visitor who was an adamant dog lover and participates in a lot of legislative matters with animal abuse, questioned why our government simply doesn't reimburse the vet for each spay and neuter performed thus putting a slow down to this horrible neglect by humans.
 
We had some very interesting visitors: one was a gentleman who is a professional video photographer and has volunteered to visit Straydog and produce a professional video of our shelter and assist us with posting it on YouTube! Another visitor represented a women's golf league in Ft Worth and is interested in nominating Straydog as a charity for their organization next year. There are so many good people, and we are grateful that we have the opportunity to meet you.
 
With another event behind us we look forward to a weekend off and preparing for a very busy April. Watch the website as we make announcements of the upcoming special events we are planning to attend.