The Dog Party (Benny R.'s First Birthday)

Me: "I went to a dog party this past weekend."

Uncle: "What is that? A party with ugly chicks?"
Me: "...I have to write this in my blog."
Uncle: "What's a blog?"

For those who don't know, I just recently went to a dog party. More specifically, a birthday party for my co-worker's dog Bentley/Benny R. For those who don't believe me, kindly view the invitation to the right.

If was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Buying the Gift
Before I went to the party, I figured that I should get a present for my colleague's dog. I went to Wal-Mart and picked out a few dog toys and treats. I made sure every gift was blue, including the gift bag. Why? It is common knowledge that blue is Benny R.'s favorite color.

I headed over to checkout, where the cashier immediately asked me why I was buying so many blue items.

Me: "I'm going to my co-worker's dog's birthday party and his favorite color is blue."
Cashier: "A party for a dog?"
Me:"Yeah..."
Cashier: "Um, Okay."

Getting to the Party

I took my dog and drove about fifty miles north to a park where the party was being held.  Being that I have a terrible sense of direction, I can never follow printed directions. Example: last year I printed out directions for a colleague and it lead him to the middle of nowhere. He found his way back, but he was twenty minutes late to a company outing. He's hated me ever since.

Anyway, I was relying 100% on my GPS. After about forty minutes of driving through winding, narrow and hilly roads I lost signal on every radio station. The next ten miles felt like I was driving up a mountain until I finally found the park. I saw a sign and turned in.

Being that I was now driving through a forest, the GPS stopped working and I was on my own... For the next five minutes I just kept on driving straight, but ended up going around in the same circle twice. On my third try, I saw some random old people sitting in the forest and they motioned me towards a narrower path.

I thought it was a walking path, but I just kept on driving straight hoping for the best. Then I saw some guy walking his dog and I asked for directions.

Angry Man: "I don't know. Some people are barbecuing up there." (I thanked him, but I'm still not sure why he was no unnecessarily angry.)

I drove up further and finally made it to the destination which was deep, deep, deep in the woods.

Preparation
I arrived at the picnic area and I was shocked to find that everything was decorated as if it was a child's birthday party! There were balloons, table cloths, party hats and a specially decorated table just for the dogs.

Some people were even wearing black shirts with Bentley written in large white lettering. I originally assumed someone just happened to go to college at Bentley University. However, I was recently informed that these were custom shirts purchased in Wildwood, and made specifically for this party.

I was told that the other dogs would be sitting at the dog table. They would be served grilled chicken and bottled water for lunch. For dessert they would be given a special yogurt cupcake.

I asked some of the other guests if they had ever attended a party like this before. The consensus was that no one else had, but it was Benny R.'s first birthday, and his owners were going all out.

There was a lot of food for the human guests, but even more for the canines. The above pictures include the following:

- Birthday hats and decorations for the dog table
- Personalized water bottles for the dogs
- Personalized goody bag items
- Paw patrol cups for the human guests and/or the dog guests (not sure)

Benny R. Profile
Age: One Year
Birthday: September 14, 2014
Size: Small
Breed: 1/2 Pomeranian 1/2 Shih Tzu Mix
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Chicken
Favorite Cereal: Lucky Charms (Just the marshmallows)
Favorite Ice Cream: Vanilla
Favorite TV Show: Paw Patrol
Favorite Season: Winter
Fears: Balloons
Halloween Costume: A Firetruck (Yes, a firetruck.. I confirmed)
Favorite Songs: Uma Thurman, Beamer Benz Bentley and Benny & the Jets
Hobbies: Eating, playing, barking & attacking birthday guests

Festivities
I played fetch with my dog at the lower park, while the birthday dog ran around the upper picnic area wearing an NFL uniform and chasing/biting some of his four-legged friends.

Next, everybody ate lunch (including the dogs) and shortly afterwards it was time for desert. However before eating, Benny R. (wearing a birthday hat) was placed in a booster seat (A seat made for a child or for a dog... not sure) which was attached to the picnic table. Then everyone began to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

After the song, Benny R. blew out his candle and everyone clapped & cheered. I was stunned. Edit: I just found out it was a dog booster seat. He also has a dog car seat and a dog stroller.

Afterwards, the guests indulged in cookies (made for humans) and birthday cake (made for humans).

Personalized Birthday cake.

Dog bone and dog paw cookies.

Each dog was given a cupcake (apparently made for dogs). My dog was hesitant at first as he had never seen anything like this. However, after looking at it for a few seconds and evaluating the situation, he ate the whole thing in one bite.

It was then picture time for the four-legged guests. A picture with the party hats was attempted, but ended up being too difficult to pull off.

End of the Party?
I was about ready to start leaving, but it wasn't over yet! It was announced that Benny R. still had to read his birthday cards and open his gifts. I didn't know this was even possible, but I ended up being wrong again!

There were so many gifts, that even after about twenty minutes, Benny R. was still opening them. It was suggested by many of the guests that just some of the gifts be donated to those less fortunate dogs. It seemed as if the idea was entertained for a few minutes until the remaining gifts were quickly torn open. At that point everyone knew Benny R. was having none of that!!!

Finally, everyone started to clean up and each dog was given a goody bag. This included a dog bowl, treats, a plastic pig, personalized Benny R. M&M bags and some other things I can't remember.

Before I left, Benny R.'s owner tried to force me to take home a cupcake and one of the blue party balloons. Luckily I got out of there quickly before I had to take them.

All in all, my dog had a good time, but as I stated earlier, this was definitely a once in a lifetime experience...

Comments are welcome.