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Blessing of the Animals |
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I saw a flyer at the pet supply store about it earlier this week, so we went to the Blessing of the Animals at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Opelika on morning of Saturday, October 2, 2004. |
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Emmanuel Episcopal Church. We met two dogs at the church's parking lot. Mercy was very polite towards them. |
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Activity center of the church. Blessing of the Animals was held at the children's playground behind the center. |
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There weren't a lot of people there (I thought it was going to be like the big one in Los Angeles), but we did get to meet about ten dogs. I think there were two adult Golden Retrievers, two Shepard mixes, one Cocker, one kitten, don't remember the rest, but Mercy did very well with all of them, including all the petting from the humans, except the Golden Retriever puppy (about 4 months old). |
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The priest who blessed Mercy and Anastasia. I think everybody else who were there were parishioners of the church. Afterwards, Mercy and Anastasia were each given a bandanna to wear. They were also having a bake sale inside the activity center. All the proceeds of the event go toward the Lee County Humane Society. |
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Mercy, wearing her new bandanna, Anastasia, and I. |
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The puppy (her dad is a vet tech) was not on a leash, running around in the yard, and jumped up on Mercy and licked her face, and Mercy barked at him. When Mercy stepped away from the puppy, she almost knocked over Anastasia's carrier, and Anastasia hissed at Mercy. But everybody said Mercy was very pretty, and the woman with the kitten said she has a fieldie (Springer Spaniel) also, and her dog was just there thirty minutes ago. Two people said Mercy's so sweet, and they can't believe that somebody would dump her on the streets, and they wished they could adopt her. |
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When we got home, I put the bandanna that they gave Anastasia on her. She didn't mind it at all. |
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Afterwards, we stopped by Petco. At the front of the store, a five-pound Chihuahua (the dog looked like he's adult and full grown) came up to sniff Mercy. Mercy pretty much just ignored the little dog. The dog's owner was amazed and said about Mercy, "What a laid back dog!" (uh-huh). We didn't meet any dogs inside the store and nobody petted her inside either. I got her three food rolls to reward her for staying still when I clean and shave her ears. When we were coming out of the store door, three chattering little boys (ages 4-7) rushed up to pet Mercy. At first Mercy was a little unsure and took a step back, but one of the boys kept walking towards her and petted Mercy�s back, and after about five seconds, Mercy took a step towards the little boy and let him pet her more. Mercy is not like Samson, who would jump on and bark at people (even at strangers) until they pet him. Mercy is a little reserved for the first five seconds when she meets strangers; she usually just stands there, and after five seconds, she would actually walk toward the person and nudge or sniff him/her wanting some petting. |
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