Race 4 Hope - Paws 4 Autism

On Saturday, we decided to head to Lee's Summit, MO (near Kansas City) for the Race 4 Hope benefiting a very cool organization, Paws 4 Autism. The mission of Paws 4 Autism is "to bring Autism Service Dogs and related services, including community outreach and education, service dog awareness, informational training and social skills classes, to children who demonstrate autism spectrum behaviors. Our vision is for all children on the autism spectrum and for those with spectrum behaviors to have access to specifically trained autism service and/or therapy dogs to assist with their peer interaction and improve social integration in their schools and communities." They will be combining their Egg Hunt and 5k next year to create a larger event. It will be held at the beginning of April. 

We decided to bring Denali along to spend a little one-on-one time with her, and to allow her to meet other dogs. Joy was debating racing with Denali, but despite the rain the weather turned out to be a little too warm, as Denali has not yet shed her winter coat. 

While Joy was racing, Nick worked with Denali. It was a good exercise for her to meet other dogs her size without having Ruger around as backup. She did very well, and made several new friends.

The course was a little short, but overall we had a great time.

After the 5k

Waiting for the 5k to begin