#1 Dog Contest

On March 5th at Kenston Intermediate School, Geauga County Auditor Charles E. Walder presented the #1 Dog Tag for Geauga County to 4th grader Juliana Shumaker and her dog, Maggie.  Awards courtesy of Auditor Walder were given to Juliana, her class, and their teacher, Ms. Monroe.  Juliana’s essay about her dog truly conveys the loyalty and love we all have for our dogs.  Congratulations to Juliana and Maggie, and our thanks to all of the Geauga County students that shared their dogs’ stories.

“Hello! My name is Juliana Shumaker and I would like to nominate my dog, Maggie for the #1 dog contest because she is the #1 dog. We got Maggie when I was only six months old. So, my parents were looking for a kid-friendly dog. My dad and mom said when they were looking for a dog at the APL all the dogs were jumping and barking in their cages. Maggie was the only dog sitting nicely and quietly. We said hello to her and she waged her tail. My mom brought me in her baby carrier to meet Maggie. She walked up to us, sniffed me and immediately waged her tail. She came home with us.

My dog is kind but she is old. Two and half years ago, Maggie got diagnosed with Lymphoma and the doctors said she only had six months to live. My dad told her that we loved her and that she needed to heal herself. Funny, right? But, somehow it worked because look at her now, two and half years later alive and well. She loves to go for walks and play fetch and eat loooots of treats. Sometimes she talks for treats too. Not a bark but a moan. Maggie is protective over her family because when she hears one of us cry she checks on us to make sure we are ok.

She doesn’t bark at other dogs when they walk by like other dogs do. That is why I think Maggie is the #1 Dog in Geauga County.”

I am pleased to announce, that we had numerous essays that were judged on November 5, 2018, by Mary Balog from Bainbridge Library, Jesse Huge from Burton Library, Christine Peace from Chardon Library, myself Auditor Chuck Walder, Deputy Auditor Mary Beth Armao, and Administrative Assistant Pamela McMahan.

The judging was difficult, but we were able to find the one essay that conveyed the loyalty and love we were looking for in the Number One Dog in Geauga County.  I presented the Number One dog tag for Geauga County to Notre Dame Elementary School’s fourth-grader, Olivia Caschera, and her dog S’mores.

“My Three – Legged S’mores

Hi I’m Olivia, and I’m going to be telling you about my dog, S’mores.

S’mores was a stray dog rooming the towns of Ohio living a happy and stressful life. Until one day S’mores came across a road, now S’mores didn’t know that was a road but he still tried to go across it. Boom!!! (S’mores got hit) The person that hit him called the vet. The vet came to bring him back to the shelter. They took some tests and they found out that his leg had to be amputated!!! So they did, but that wasn’t the only the only problem, the vet still needed to find his owner!!! They called everybody in the area but no owner to be found. After a whole week, still no owner to be found. So the head vet had to give S’mores to ”Mutts In A Rut Rescue.” Now, our old dog had just died. So we got guinea pigs first, then we heard about this dog, S’mores, that we decided to foster. My family and I went to go meet him and he was the perfect fit. So one week later we did it, we started fostering S’mores!!! Then only one month later a family wanted him!!! So we had to make a decision, ether to keep S’mores, or to keep fostering. My mom and my brother wanted to keep fostering, but me and my dad wanted to keep him. After a day we decided to keep him!!! He is an awesome dog because he can show you even though you may be a little different, you can still achieve anything!!! S’mores is 1.5 years old and he still can jump, run, and do SOOO many tricks. He is on his way to becoming a therapy dog as well. It’s like S’mores doesn’t even know he has three legs!!!

Hope you enjoyed this paragraph about my three legged dog, S’mores. Bye!!!”

I am pleased to announce, that we had numerous essays that were judged on November 4, 2019, by Mary Balog from Bainbridge Library, Christina Mihalic from Burton Library, Christine Peace from Chardon Library, myself Auditor Chuck Walder, Deputy Auditor Mary Beth Armao, and Administrative Assistant Pamela McMahan.

The judging was difficult, but we were able to find the one essay that conveyed the loyalty and love we were looking for in the Number One Dog in Geauga County. I presented the Number One dog tag for Geauga County to Westwood Elementary School’s fourth grader, Lena Wright, and her puppy Jennie.

“My adorable puppy Jennie is the #1 best dog in Geauga County. One reason is that every day my sister Rebecca and I always get a very nice goodbye and hello when we go to and from school. Jennie will run up the driveway next to us inside the fence. Then when we get home, she will be waiting and wagging her tail when we arrive, and she will lick us for what seems like forever!

We got Jennie at Rescue Village, she is a hound-mix but has a little bit of beagle in her. My family and I were looking for a puppy when a notice went out that Rescue Village had gotten a new shipment of puppies. We drove to Rescue Village and saw her and her brother. We decided on her because she was a little smaller than her brother and I have a four-year old brother named Paul who is not too big into dogs. It felt good to give a dog who needed one a home.

Getting Jennie also inspired me to raise money to give Rescue Village by selling my gourds. I was selling my gourds because I grew too many of them, and I was picking an organization to give the money to. I thought of Rescue Village and couldn1t think of anything better. I raised $73.45 including donations. Those are only a few of the many reasons Jennie, my 5-month old puppy, is the best dog in Geauga County.”