PICKENS — Whether on two legs or four, Pickens residents came out in style on Saturday for Paws for Celebration, an event to meet K-9 officer Zenia, participate in the Puppy Parade and give some shelter dogs a chance at a new “fur-ever” home.
Held at the trail head at the Pickens end of The Doodle Trail, Paws for Celebration was the first time many residents had a chance to see Zenia up close and have questions answered by her partner, Officer Braden Wimpey.
“She’s a tracking dog,” he said. “So she can search for both people and drugs.”
Zenia is a Belgian Malinois and was shipped to the U.S. earlier this year from a kennel in Holland in January. After an intense training period for both Braden and Zenia, the pair hit the streets.
“She’s so pretty!” Squealed one little girl as kids gathered around to pet her. For her part, Zenia appeared to enjoy being the center of attention at the event and posed for photographs with supermodel confidence.
When asked what would become of Zenia after she retires from the department after (hopefully) many years of service, Braden said he hoped he would be permitted to keep her, but that nothing was written in stone.
“That’s a long ways off,” he said. “For now, we’re just concentrating on doing our jobs.”
But, despite all the oohs and ahhs, the event wasn’t just about Zenia — the Pickens County Humane Society was represented as well and showed up with dogs of all ages, shapes and sizes.
Roxie, an older lab mix, had spent three years in the shelter, waiting for someone to take her home.
“She was adopted out a couple of times but they always brought her back because she had some anxiety issues,” said a PCHS volunteer. “But she’s been with us for so long she’s like our mascot now, she’s not up for adoption anymore. She’s our ambassador.”
Another dog, a Chihuahua puppy named “Trump” bounced around at the end of his leash, happy to be a part of the celebration.
“This has been a good turnout, I’m glad everyone’s having a good time,” said Becky Horace of the City of Pickens. “PetSmart donated a lot of the supplies here today too. That was really great of them.”
The Puppy Parade consisted of dogs of every age, shape and size — from a perfectly groomed pure-bred white standard poodle named “Hans” to a two-year-old scruffy mutt named “Rusty.”
On Saturday anyway, Pickens had really “gone to the dogs.”