Houston Rockets Dog Walk 2016

If you don't already know by now, I am pretty much a hardcore dog person. I love all animals but when it comes to dogs, they will always have the biggest chunk of space in my heart! I mean who can resist the sloppy drools and the fur shedding along with those floppy ears and bouncy butts? Not me, that's who.

Gotta support the city's b-ball team!

So every year since 2012 there has been this dog walk called the "Houston Rockets Dog Walk", with proceeds going to the Hermann Park Conservancy.
You get to spend a nice morning with your best friend, get a T-shirt, Houston Rockets game tickets and some doggie goodies while supporting a good cause, I'm not sure how it can even get better than that!

Last year, being that Waffles (my dog) was way too young to be able to attend (I got him near thanksgiving of 2014 with him being a few weeks old, while the even was march 2015). I missed out on the event, this year however I took the chance. Waffles is a big boy now, though still pretty young at heart since he could not stay focused throughout the walk. Let me tell you, I was beyond excited!

Living in a big city like Houston, it's hard to drive my dog all the way downtown (about a 20 minute ride) without him getting bored of the ride. Also since he's still pretty young, I didn't want to take my chances and let him go off lease in a park just in case he wouldn't come running back. So a doggie human walk was the perfect idea!


The walk starts at 8am on a saturday and you could either pick up your package on thursday at 3pm or on the day of the walk starting from 6:30am to 7:30am. We didn't actually know that the package pick up closed at 7:30 as we literally left the house at 7:20. Thankfully traffic on an early saturday morning is nonexistent so by the time we got there, they were still about to close the registration. THANK GOD.
I would probably cry if I missed out my chances especially getting so excited about it. (I mean I probably got a bit cranky while driving there thinking I missed the check in... OOPS.)

Since Houston's weather is as predictable as a girl's mind, it was actually pretty cold (for us) in the morning but as the sun came up, it was the perfect weather for an event - nice and breezy in the shades and plenty of warmth and sunlight under the sun.

at the start gate (ironically after we had finished the walk)

If I'm not mistaken, the walk starts at 8am is the longer walk, or as they call it, the "active" walk. Which goes around the park (or sections of the park) for a total distance of 2.7 miles while the walk that starts at 8:10am is a shorter walk, totaling a mile around the reflecting pool. We wanted to go with the shorter walk but in the end decided to go along with the active walk just to see how it was. 2.7 miles isn't bad at all, but if you have a smaller dog, I've seen many of them ended up being carried because they were pretty exhausted! - I know Waffles after the event went straight home and slept for the rest of a day (and a little bit on the ride back home too. LOL)
Keeping in mind that almost all of the photos posted were taken after the walk had ended or around the time we have been walking for a bit, since it was the only way he was able to stay still and not try to go sniff another dog's butts - HE WAS SMELLING EVERY SINGLE BUTT WHEN WE FIRST GOT TO THE PLACE!!!!

Little side note to people who decide to attend and have a bit of a forgetful memory like myself, bring  poop bags! LOL. I know it sounds super irresponsible that I forgot the poop bags at home but since we switch out leashes and we were late this morning, I guess it would make for an OK excuse? Probably not. If you do forget it, people around are super nice and will probably lend you a bag for the accident if you ask them nicely. BUT. inside the goodie bags (with the dog bandanas and tshirt) there is also a poop bag container with the bags included (we got a fire hydrant with the Rockets logo, not sure if it's the same for every year) but unfortunately, we didn't figure that out till AFTER we got home. Oops. Anyway, lesson here is that never leave the house with your dog without a poop bag and Southern hospitality from fellow dog lovers is the best! Thank you kind person who just was about to clean up after her dog but decided to give me a poop bag for Waffles when she could've told me to wait.

For people who don't want to pay $35 for the event, the Hermann Park is truly one of the best places for early morning walks/runs/photos with your dog or any friend for that matter (since we saw birthdays being celebrated, baby photos being taken and obviously of course, people exercising)


The walk is at your own pace, there aren't any winners or losers so you can literally just sit down and start creating your own photo shoot.


Of course people will be looking at you for a bit but it's a photo with your furry BFF so who cares?


To be honest, sometimes, I wish waffles was as small as he was when I first got him home (and I could barely lift him back then).
Being 100lb dog that gets easily distracted doesn't really help much in photos because you either have to take 10 of them and pray that you two were both looking at the same time or you just kind of have to settle with an OK one.
Settling isn't bad.
Right???


Most of the time, Waffles really does not care about the camera and he would just be in his own little world but sometimes, very rarely (when he's a bit tired) you get his good photogenic face, other than that, he closes his eyes or turns his back about 98% of the time.

The best weather for this walk!

Hydration stations are throughout the walk so you never have to worry about your canine friend being dehydrated or even yourself for that matter. I didn't realize they gave out little goodie bags until the last station that had a goodie bag (rather randomly I thought they had gatorade but it turns out it was just water for the dogs. LOL. Typical Tami)

Waffles being himself, tried to drink from every bowl but didn't exactly drink any water? If that was even possible.

LOVE the water bowl - we tried asking since we saw a person with the bowl but since they couldn't give it out, maybe those people took it?

I would say this is the best $35 I've ever spent and I cannot wait till next year to sign up again!
I encourage every dog owner to at least look into the event even though you might not like basketball, it's a wonderful cause for the conservancy and a great saturday morning to spend with your furry loved one(s)!!!!
Can you tell how happy Waffles is?

Happy Weekend!

All for now,