Last week, I volunteered with one of my best friends to a charity event called, the Mutt Strut. In a nutshell, we were given badges that said “Don’t bite me. I’m a judge!” and handed clipboards with all of the large dogs’ names and pens. We were told to go around, pet all of the dogs, talk to the owners, watch the dog parade, and make notes of our favorite dogs and costumes.

Basically, it was the best day of my life.

Every dog that I came into contact with was friendly. None of them bit me or other dogs. Everyone encouraged children and adults alike to pet their dogs. There was smiling, dog food and treats being handed out, and dogs of all shapes and sizes playing together. People complimented costumes and asked to take pictures to remember the wonderful things they had seen.

Dogs and their respective people in the Strut paid a fee to take part. All of the donations made helped to train service dogs for veterans. Overall, it’s a charity that I think everyone can get behind.

In short, volunteering for the Mutt Strut was honestly incredible.

My friend and I met so many people and dogs, and we got to know a little bit about each of them. One beautiful black lab was wearing her owner’s old army shirt that was cut to fit her torso and the sleeves rolled up to fit her legs. We talked to the owner, who was wearing a shirt stating how proud she was of her husband in the army, smiled as she told us all about her lab. The dog and the woman both had matching smiles as they looked around at the event, and realized how many people were there in support of our veterans.

Another favorite costume of ours came from a college aged girl and her lab/husky mix, Casey. They decided to match: the girl was a ghost-buster, and her dog, who was white and fluffy, was the Stay Puft marshmallow. We commented on her and Casey’s matching costumes, and she told us all about her aunt who is a combat nurse and lives with her and her family. She commented on how when her last dog died, they weren’t planning to fill the hole in their family; however, whenever they found Casey, they fell in love with the idea of having a dog again. The girl laughed as she mentioned that Casey got ice cream every day because of how much everyone, especially her combat nurse aunt.

I know pretty much everyone agrees that dogs are better than people. I was thrilled to learn, however, that they literally can change a person’s life.

Dogs are wonderful creatures. They deserve to be cherished. Service and therapy dogs are no different. They fill a void that many people have, and by volunteering time and money, I learned there is so much we can do to change a life because of a dog.