A dog’s world

You’ve heard of “people watching,” right?But there may be something even more fun, and that’s “dog watching,” especially on the last day of the New Hampton Municipal Pool season.Take Sunday, for example.Before the pool closed for good, it welcomed a flock of folks — some walking on two legs and a lot walking on four legs — as the Chickasaw County chapter of Spay and Neuter All Pets (SNAP) held its annual Doggie Swim.And here’s what we saw as we dog watched for a while Sunday afternoon:There’s nothing cooler than seeing a dog strutting around in a life jacket ... some dogs are social ... big dogs get a little nervous when two smaller dogs approach them ... some dogs love the water ... some dogs don’t want anything to do with the same water ... some dogs appear to be sunbathers ...The list can go on and on, but for two hours, man’s best friends ruled the roost at the pool, and SNAP volunteers not only garnered plenty of awareness but also held a pretty neat reunion.“We have a lot of dogs that we’ve placed here,” said SNAP volunteer Gayla Hugeback, “and it’s so much fun to see them and how they’ve changed.”SNAP officials say they can’t thank the New Hampton Parks and Recreation Department enough for the use of the pool.The money — $1 entry fee for humans, another buck for the dog and sales from a makeshift concession stand — is nice, but for Hugeback and her fellow volunteers, that’s not the best part of the Doggie Swim.“I think we’re busier than ever,” she said, “and that’s in part because people understand what we’re all about because of events like that. So if someone needs to ‘surrender’ a dog, for example, they know they can turn to us.”Still, as Hugeback put it, “every dollar helps.”When SNAP places a dog in a new home, it will come with updated shots and vaccines, flea and tick treatments and a microchip, which can help reunite lost dogs with their owners.And the 2016 edition of the Doggie Swim also allowed SNAP volunteers to spread the word about Lyme disease, which local veterinarians say has hit the area hard this year.“We’re all dog lovers here,” Hugeback said, “so it’s a chance for us to let people know what they need to look for and how they need to respond.”But mostly, Sunday was a day about the dogs enjoying a swim, meeting other dogs or just hanging out on a deck chair.“Oh my, they’re so all so cute,” Hugeback said, “that I just want to take them all home.”