By Dongyun Kwon
Adventure Dog is back to Wandin Park Estate on Sunday 6 April with an inaugural program for dog lovers who won’t be able to participate.
Adventure Dog is an annual event where participants and their four-legged teammates take on a five-kilometre course packed with mud, water crossings, and obstacles, designed to test endurance, teamwork, and a sense of adventure while raising funds for Animal Aid and the homeless dogs in its care.
Animal Aid communications and engagement manager Elle Ammann said the Animal Aid crew is aiming to raise $90,000.
“At the moment, we’re at $25,000. We’re still hoping for a lot more participants, and we do have some sponsorship funds coming in soon, but there’s lots of opportunity if you do want to donate to this event, or if you find someone else that you would like to support,” she said.
“Every dollar that’s raised from this event will go directly to our welfare program, so it’s helping to feed desex care for animals that come through us because they’ve been surrendered or found lost in the community.
“It’s going to be a five-kilometre course with 25 obstacles. There’s still going to be foam, mud, jumping over logs and crawling under nets.”
Last year, Animal Aid faced an unexpected challenge, a last-minute location change, and had to find another venue.
The original event venue Wandin Park Estate failed to get a relevant permit to run the event.
Dramatically, Animal Aid succeeded in finding another venue Yarra Glen Recreation Reserve and Showground to get Adventure Dog off the ground.
“It was very tricky. It was Thursday before Easter Friday when we found it out, so we had four days with no information and had to try and make every plan we could without the council office or without anyone being in the office like usual,” Ms Ammann said.
“We were really proud with how we pulled it off, but also how well our community also got involved. They were really supportive of the last-minute change. As much as it was very unexpected and very tricky, It was a heart-warming experience to see everyone come together to make it happen.
“We still had 950 participants. We still raised $91,000. It was a very successful event.”
This year, Animal Aid is introducing a new program for virtual participants.
Animal Aid welfare vet director Dr Adele Scannell and her dog Rusty have been chosen as virtual trailblazers.
They will represent virtual participants, who won’t be able to make it on the day, carrying their stories and spirit through every muddy obstacle.
“We’re going to try to make it as involved as possible. I’ll let people know all along the way about what Rusty and I are doing,” Dr Scannell said.
“We’re doing some training down by the river. So we go for walks several times a week, doing some runs and training.”
The four-year-old Australian kelpie came to the Animal Aid shelter about two and a half years ago.
Dr Scannell said Rusty was very skinny when he first came to the shelter.
“I took him home to look after him, and the whole family fell in love with him,” she said.
The duo participated in the Adventure Dog last year.
“It was lots of fun. I didn’t realise how much fun it would be,” Dr Scannell said.
“Rusty found some of the challenges a little bit overwhelming, and he did not like the foam.
“It was great to see all the people and all the dogs having fun and getting together.”
For more information, please visit the following website, animalaid.org.au/adventure-dog
