2012 Annual Reunion
I will be updating this page, and including all of the awesome things that happened during our third annual reunion. There are so many photos and stories to share! I had a blast. Unfortunately, I was exhausted for two days afterwards!
Note: To order your photos, email BrittneysTouchup@gmail.com
It’s going to take a while for me to share everything, but I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see everyone again. I didn’t think Vicki was going to make it, but when I told her I could NOT finish Huckleberry’s book until I had a photo of her with him… she made arrangements and drove down with Kathy!
When I pulled into the parking lot, I knew that Shy Sharon was there early, waiting for me. But as I walked to the gate, a vehicle pulled up in front of me, and I saw through the back window, a giant Huckleberry! Chad rolled down the window, and I approached Huck, telling him he’d be a star today, and he was!
Unfortunately, none of us had our cameras ready when we reunited with Shy Sharon. She was scared, but this time, when I gently pulled on her collar to come close to me, she didn’t bite my hand! She appeared to remember Lady Di, Ozzie and China, and she was much more happy to see them than me! She did warm up to my daughter, Sarah, and her best friend Danielle. Darn Darn Darn, where was my camera? Andrew had to leave quickly after he got a phone call that one of his friends was hurt in a motorcycle accident, so I never got to say goodbye to my Little Red, but that’s okay, I’ll see her again soon!
From the moment the reunion had begun, my children were taking turns asking me if I had seen Bart. It took several hours before Bart joined us, and when he arrived, my kids were over joyed!
Michael Campos setup his equipment to give us some music to enjoy, and it really did made a difference. Every year I ask if we should have music playing, and I get mixed results. I really enjoyed it, especially when the holiday music started to play toward the end of the day. It really set the tone, and I want to thank Michael and his poodle for providing us with the perfect tunes!
I loved seeing Lady Priscilla again, man she looks good! I was surprised to see Pebbles, I fostered her three years ago, and I had no idea she’d be there!
Coco Chanel and Foxy also came, Foxy was reunited with Kathy and Vicki, she was rescued when she was just a little pup (Twizzler)!
When I saw Flirt walking toward me, I didn’t recognize her. It was embarrassing! Even though she looked familiar, I was stumped! Flirt was fostered in Clearwater by Mark Whalen, so we had never met. She is a cutie pie!
Seeing Shiloh and Emmitt is always a treat. Those two big boys were a perfect match, considering they were not rescued from the same place, nor at the same time, they look and act like siblings! Two gentle giants!
Both Vicki and Kathy couldn’t believe it when Easy Peasy Penny arrived! That was it’s own little private reunion! That little dog hasn’t changed a bit! Every pose was the same as two years ago! Athena, who had just been adopted also surprised Vicki! Athenawas adopted out of the Atlanta area and now lives in Florida. It just goes to show it’s never really goodbye when a TDL dog gets adopted, it’s more like see you again soon!
I was bummed that the Spice Girls couldn’t come. Kevin mentioned they weren’t feeling well that Saturday morning, but we sure loved seeing Kevin and Mel again, and he had many surprises waiting for him! Both Nick-o-Time and McCartney arrived, and you could see the joy Kevin’s face to be reunited with his fosters. I remember the hell McCartney went through after his botched neuter. Poor guy. And I remember how attached Mel was to Nick. McCartney showed off playing Frisbee. They both looked awesome!
Sunbeam and Samson visited us as well, unfortunately, not at the same time. Samson’s mom reports he’s still having seizures. Not good. Shane also brought his family. What a gorgeous boy he is!
Tyler brought her family as well. She was adopted this year, as was her pack Grace and KT. Tyler is about 7 years old, and seemed so relaxed with her new family. It was as if she has belonged to them forever!
I wondered when my Jaffe would arrive! Without fail, he brought his Dad Gary! Jaffe has never missed a reunion! He was adopted when he was ten, so he’s 13 years old now. You can’t tell his age, he is one amazing dog!
Shenandoah hasn’t missed a reunion yet! Now Connie, she brought her family and showed off playing Frisbee… what a rags to riches story she has turned out to be.
One of Katie’s puppies came to visit us. Whiskey, now Turk came with his Dad. He is all grown up now, and he’s stunning!
One more surprise for me was little Willow. She was soaking wet, but I grabbed her and held her close, and tried to make a mad dash to my car, hoping her owners wouldn’t notice… they noticed! I had several people comment on how much Willow (now Oreo) looks like my Ozzie. Danielle wanted to name Willow Ozzietta!
You may not realize that Willow, McDreamy and McSteamy all came from the same shelter that Bart came from. With Willow came Ginger Snap. When I told Kathy and Vicki that Ginger Snap had arrived, they were thrilled to see her again. Ginger Snap came from Hall County. When Huck and Judy Harris transported Willow for me, they commented on how well-behaved and fully trained Ginger Snap was the very first day they adopted her and brought her home. They couldn’t wrap their brains around why someone would give up such a well behaved dog.
Noah and Little Bling were there! They brought their dad! What a hoot! Vicki as surprised to see Noah, it was really cool. Little Bling still amazes me, considering we thought she was just a little white Aussie, and she never stopped growing!
I wasn’t expecting McSteamy to come to our reunion, but there he was! His was not shy at all, as a matter of fact, he looked quite confident, and he really got a lot of looks!
In the middle of all of the mayhem my foster dog, Ziggy was showing off! Andi Brown couldn’t believe how gorgeous he was. Ziggy and her Doc Holiday (jingle) played quite a bit.
I’m very grateful that Andi Brown was there for us. As always, she did an amazing job educating us about dog food, dog food labels, and nutrition. She gave me copies of her book, The Whole Pet Diet. It’s truly the Bible for turning sick dogs around. If it wasn’t for Andi Brown, I wonder if Bart would’ve made it.
My old friends, Jan Standish and Teresa Lenz joined us, and brought their dogs (gorgeous). It’s been years since I’ve seen them, and I’m sorry I didn’t have more time to spend with them. Thank goodness we got a lot of photos of their pack.
Paul Pipitone and his pack also joined us. At one point, there was a skirmish between two dogs (not TDL dogs) and Paul was there to take over until the owners arrived. It’s always great having Paul come to our reunions, after all, he has helped me rehabilitate many of our dogs, including Huckleberry!
Photographer Brittney Myers was working harder than I was! She setup a place to do photo shoots, and no one was better suited to help her than Emily Kennedy. Emily is a walking TDL encyclopedia! She knows every single dog, since she’s the one who created our database and updated our adoption calendar!
I was sad that we didn’t get to see the Wilson Pack. I got a text from Bill that his mother had passed away that morning. I discretely told a few what had happened, and our hearts went out to the family, especially Kierstin who was so looking forward to going. The Wilson’s adopted Nitro, Fiona, Irwin, and Bill’s Dad adopted Dundee. Their friend also adopted Deliliah, so they are official the lethal white Aussie family! The Wilson’s have also fostered numerous Aussies for me, including Falcor and Knish. I was hoping to get a photo of all of our white aussies, maybe next year.
Chaz arrived with his foster, Julia. He seemed a bit nervous and I don’t blame him a bit. It was a long car ride from Jacksonville. I fostered Chaz for a month or so, and he is an amazing dog.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jackie Duenas for the very first time! She brought Lebron James and Gentle Jerry with her. Jerry was adopted at the reunion, and I really loved meeting Lebron. Jackie was thrilled to meet some of her rescued dogs and fosters, including Nick-o-Time and Polly Pocket.
Flash Gordon and Polly Pocket arrived with their owners, Mary and Erica Brilliant. I learned later that Erica is expecting her first baby! Woo Hoo and Congrats! Flash Gordon was one of my very first rescues, as a matter of fact, he and Shy Shannon came together from Birmingham via Becky Harshman. It’s always great to see Flash so healthy.
Rocco greeted us with a big smile and a lot of love. He’s definitely being spoiled by his new family! Although Rocco was originally from Alabama, he was transported with Bart not long ago. What a happy boy!
Little Pumpernickel approached me, and I didn’t recognize her at all! She has grown! The minute she was taken off leash, she bolted to play! I had wished that Shy Sharon was still there, those two were rescue buddies!
Throughout the entire day, I realized that not once was I worried about my pack. Lady Di was busy being the Alpha that she is, making sure everyone plays nice. I didn’t see Ozzie much, I think he was in the water most of the time. Toward the end of the day he passed out under the pavilion! But I was extremely proud of China. She didn’t cower or act fearful in anyway. Only once when a toddler approached her from behind did she jump. China was all over the place, either playing with various dogs, or greeting new people. I bet no one knew she was almost completely blind, and definitely totally deaf. Amazing!
At the end of the day, Huckleberry had his photo taken so many times, he should’ve been handing out autographs! Chad, Huck’s owner, and Vicki reminisced about his epic rescue. Throughout the weekend, the details of his rescue were shared with me in detail while Vicki and I sat together and recalled all of the events that took place. It enabled me to really finish Huck’s story.
The day ended on a very high note, Lord Rhys appeared in all of his nobleness! I heard the whispers throughout our group travel, “is that Rhys?” He didn’t cooperate very well with our plans to shoot photos of him, but our cameras still rolled!
Special thanks to Jenna who sent us some of those photos! Brittney literally squealed when she saw him. She was working at Val-u-Vet at the time I brought him in to be examined. She sat with Rhys when he woke up from his neuter surgery. Funny, he seemed to remember her, but didn’t remember me!
I’m grateful that my Dad was able to come and watch me go crazy all day! My kids were there to help, as was Danielle Fernandez, Juan Rojoas, Emily Kennedy, and Dave Massa. My friend Irma helped with an extra vehicle to get everything there in one piece. I wish she didn’t have to leave early!
What many of you probably don’t realize was the nightmare we went through to get a food truck to serve at our event. It seemed everything went wrong. We tried to hard to have Crabby Chris’ Crab Shack but the red tape was not going to let it happen. Next year, I believe we will be having our reunion in Volusia County. If you have any suggestions about our next reunion, please feel free to leave a comment here! If you have photos of our reunion that you’d like to share with us, please email them to TheDogLiberator@gmail.com I know that there a few dogs that I’ve missed, so I’ll keep updating this post and adding the faces as I see them!
It only took a few days after our reunion for me to finish Hucklebery’s book and publish it. I’ll be working on Bart’s story next, and I have an idea of the many books that will follow! It was a very very very good day and I want to thank everyone for coming to see us!
Here are the Facebook Photo Albums that we have shared for you to review!
Original Post:
It’s official. We are having our Third Annual Reunion on Saturday, December 8th, 2012 from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm. Everyone is Welcome! Please RSVP on Facebook.
We have much to share about this wonderful event. Please check back with this page for details, but in the meantime, mark your calendars!
Click here for details about Fleet People’s Park in Winter Park, Florida.
Please bring a comfortable chair for yourself. There are picnic tables, but they will fill up quickly. Because of the lake, you may want to bring doggie towels and shampoo, there is a washing station available to clean up your pooch before you go home.
- Andi Brown will be discussing Health and Diet for Dogs at 12:00
- Paul Pipitone will be doing a question and answer session about Dog Training and Behavior at 1:00.
- We would like to take group photos this year, those will start at 2:00.
We will have TDL T-shirts and other dog-related items available.
Click here to get more information about last year’s reunion, and view photos.