RSPCA Million Paws Walk 2012

Barbie and I flew solo at the RSPCA Million Paws Walk this year, and taking inspiration from Pitties in the City, I used a split ring to hang my Gopro off her camera on time lapse mode. The Million Paws Walk in Perth is held near the Swan River and it's a very nice walk along the paths near the water. You have the choice of walking 2.5ks or 5ks, or really any distance you want. Barbie and I went the full distance and she did better this year than the previous two years.

There were a lot of people and doggies near the start and Barbie wasn't sure where she should go. She tried to pick her way to the open space, so we ended up walking on the path closest to the river. 

There were a lot of sight hounds on the walk. This little Saluki was a sweetheart. There were also wolfhounds, a borzoi, whippets and italian greyhounds, as well as our big group of greyhounds. Notice that you can see Barbie's chin in this shot, but her tongue is not yet protruding. 

After about 4 kilometres of walking, the chin drooped lower and Barbie's tongue starts making a more frequent appearance in the photos. The Great Dane in front of us was a lovely fellow, as all Danes seem to be!

After a long walk, we decided to get ice cream at the finish. We joined the line and Barbie made friends with an adorable black and white greyhound called 'Mini'. Apparently Mini had not lied down all day, but she decided to follow Barbie's lead and flop herself on the grass as we were waiting in the queue. 

Barbie really enjoyed her icecream, and a lot of people walking past seemed to thing it was strange that a dog would eat an icecream. She was very dainty about it, carefully nibbling at the icecream until she got down to the cone while I held it for her, then crunching up the cone like any other dog treat. 

The Gopro got a lot of comments as well, and I expect there will be some more dogs with Gopros hanging off their collars next year!

Barbie did really well this year, and didn't really regress into zombie-dog mode. She had a little sleep on the grass after her icecream which attracted more comments 'oooooh poor baby, she's tired!' On the way back to the car she flopped down in shady spots twice without warning, but she was quite willing to get up and keep walking when I asked her. 

She also accepted pats from many, many friendly strangers. She was quite good with all the attention. All in all it was a great day and I hope it raised a lot of money for the RSPCA. What do you think of Barbie cam?