So, it seems as though some people have a problem with the fact that Travis campaigned before he got to Goldstock. I thought the whole reason to campaign in the first place was to raise money for rescue. What better dog to campaign in his hometown, before coming to Goldstock, than Travis.
Travis' story, locally, is well known and Travis is very loved. People were horrified at his story and joyous when he received his forever home with us. Everyone wants to die and come back as one of the Kibuk pets.
People were very generous with their donations. Sure, they wanted to see Travis win the Sweetest Boy title, but most importantly, they wanted to help other dogs like Travis escape horrible situations and find better homes.
Advance campaigning wasn't against the rules and Travis brought $373 from Armstrong County PA to Lakewood, PA. I personally think everyone should come to Goldstock with money from those that want to help but can't attend.
Bottom line, money was raised and goldens are being rescued. That's what it's all about!
I Used to Keep a Blog Here...
4 years ago
3 comments:
are you kidding me???? WTH is wrong with people-wasn't this about the animals! and raising money no matter how you do it!
sorry people were buttholes to you about this- makes it even better that he won!
BTW, he is adorable--I just want to squeeze him!
Don't worry about it. Any way you look at it, Travis (and you!) did a great job raising money for rescue. There really are no rules to the sweetest dog contest, and it's not against the rules to raise money ahead of time.
Some of the people who have known Irish and his story for years, were actually at Goldstock and gave quite a bit of money to Irish couldn't understand why he didn't win when they knew other Goldstock attendees were giving Irish a lot of money, too. When they found out that Travis had "stacked the deck" by collecting quite a bit of money ahead of time, it bothered them.
I look at it a couple of different ways. On the one hand, it used to be called the sweetest dog at Goldstock contest (and has kind of shortened in title over the years), which in my view means that people actually at Goldstock should meet the dogs and vote for who they like, even if they vote for more than one dog. (After all, just as you said, aren't they all the sweetest?!?!?) On the other hand, during the years when I was campaigning Tori, she did all her own campaigning and raised money only at Goldstock, but she lost to several dogs who went about it a different way, including collecting money ahead of time. I quickly realized that the winning really doesn't matter, it's the journey that counts, and Tori was having a great time giving hugs and cuddles and kisses to get people to vote for her. The fact that she had to try for several years to win by doing it the way I felt comfortable getting votes just meant she was able to raise somewhere around $1200 for rescue, be pet all that much more and give all that many more cuddles, hugs and kisses to people, which made my little therapy dog pretty darn happy!
I can't lie and say that I wouldn't have loved for Irish to have won this year. While I sure do hope he'll be there next year to try again, realistically he'll be 16 years 8 months old and while my last two dogs have lived to be over 16, the oldest one lived to be just 16y4m old, so this may have been Irish's only chance. But I'm glad that he had competition this year because that meant that rescue got more than twice what Irish earned in two days, and that's a good thing!
You and Travis ran a smart campaign (thanks for the cute button!), you broke no rules, you raised good bucks for rescue and you won fair and square! So don't worry about what some people think and just remember the journey that you and Travis shared while you were getting votes. In the end, that's what counts more than anything else.
Give him a hug from me and Irish (and Tori and Moxie!)
Thanks for your comments, Laurie. Our journey was a good one. This was the third trip to Goldstock for Riley and myself and of course, Travis' first. Goldstock truly is the happiest place on Earth for both dog and human.
It's just sad to read of people having issue with this whole thing. We worked very hard to raise our money and truth be told, we came home with $293 for our rescue, of the nearly $1200 that was raised.
The REAL winner was the rescue, who's name was pulled out of a hat, which I never heard, who got half of the total pot, $600 or some dollars.
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