Gone To The Dogs

Puppies join the parade at Saturday’s Springfest

Springfest has not only gone to the dogs -- it's gone to dogs in tutus, capes, caps and dressed as Minions.

But it's all for a good cause, promises Cheryl Gibson, founder of Pitbull Ambassador of Northwest Arkansas. It's all part of her plan to present the much-maligned breed as the "good canine citizens" they can be.

FAQ

Springfest

WHEN — Saturday

WHERE — Dickson Street in Fayetteville

COST — Some events have separate fees

INFO — fayettevillespringf…

FYI

Springfest

Schedule

7 a.m. — Pancake breakfast, Jose’s

8 a.m. — 5K run

10 a.m. — Arts & crafts booths open

10 a.m. — Music begins

10:30 a.m. — Dog parade

1 p.m. — Bed races

6 p.m. — Pub crawl leaves from Jose’s

Gibson had had a pitbull when she was younger, a dog named Dallas, "which made me fall in love with the breed," but she was not an activist until she read "The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue."

"It tore at my heart," she says, "and I knew I had to do something. I wanted to educate the public, so I set out to adopt a classic pitbull with the cropped ears, the big head -- and the mean look. The kind of dog you look at and think, 'That dog could eat my lunch.' And then you meet the dog, and it's a sweetheart."

The sweetheart is named Ophie, and she is the face of Pitbull Ambassador of Northwest Arkansas. Once Gibson started the organization's Facebook page in 2010, "things kind of blew up," she says. "The public started coming to me, needing help, and I realized to be able to rescue the dogs that needed me, we needed to become a nonprofit."

That status was acquired in the summer of 2014, but Gibson is nowhere near done. In addition to traveling to events like Springfest to educate people about pitbulls, she hopes to be able to build a rescue facility with perhaps 20 kennels. Pitbulls are in desperate need, she says, and right now she must rely on foster homes to help them.

"It's the No. 1 breed being overbred -- and not for good reasons," she says. "That puts a lot of dogs out there. So it's the No. 1 dog being put down in shelters.

"I want to be able to run the rescue full time."

While other rescue organizations often ship dogs out to states where they are in demand, Gibson isn't willing to do that. "I like to know where my dogs go," she says. And she is particularly attached to older dogs. "You know what you're getting."

While she says pitbulls have the "goofiest personalities, it's their No. 1 quality that gets them in trouble -- they're so loyal to their humans. That's why people can make them fight.

"But if you tell them to be good canine citizens, that's what they'll be. It's not necessarily how they were raised. It's how they're treated now."

All breeds of dogs are invited to be in the Springfest parade, with sign-up at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in front of Dickson Street Liquor. They do, of course, need to be friendly and on leashes, Gibson says.

It's just one of the events that will make Springfest better than ever, promises Amanda Rey, coordinator of the live music, which expands this year from two stages to three, plus a performing arts stage. Bands and groups scheduled to perform include The Jinns, Witchsister, Voxana, Woody & Sunshine and the Raq Akia belly dancers.

"The beautiful thing is, there's so much to choose from, so many submissions from people who want to play," says Rey, a musician herself. "I hated turning people away, so I'm just thrilled we can showcase that many artists."

NAN What's Up on 04/17/2015

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