Water Dogs

Dogs love to swim. Just ask anybody who posts videos on Facebook.

The Friends of the Prairie Grove Pound love dogs. Just ask any of the volunteers who give their time to muck out kennels, find homes and raise money to "allow the city of Prairie Grove to further grow and improve the animal services offered to residents."

Last year, volunteer Stephanie Conway wondered why not combine the two.

The Soggy Doggy Pool Party was a huge success, Conway says, inspiring the scheduling of the "second annual" event for 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Prairie Grove Aquatic Park.

The party, Janet Muruaga, secretary of the Friends Board, clarifies, is for both people and dogs, but only the dogs will be swimming -- and they must be spayed or neutered, current on vaccinations and friendly with both other dogs and people.

"It's the last dive-in of the summer," she says. "Then the pool will be drained and cleaned."

For the humans, Tooley's BBQ will be selling food, and sponsors will be giving away treats and samples.

The goals for the event are to raise awareness, Conway says, and to raise money specifically to fence two 100-foot dog runs, Muruaga adds.

Still called a "pound," the Prairie Grove facility is owned and run by the city, Muruaga says, but the Friends play an important role, both agree. Whole working on 501(c)3 nonprofit status, the organization has stepped in to help the shelter return about half of the dogs it receives to their owners and to get the rest into foster care in preparation for adoption. The Friends screen potential adopters, too.

"They used to have to euthanize animals," Muruaga says, "but since we have been there, they have not had to do that. That was the big thing: We wanted to rehome the animals."

That success means when someone has to surrender pets, as a woman did on a recent day when Muruaga was volunteering at the pound, she can honestly promise: "We will find good homes for your dogs."

-- Becca Martin-Brown

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