Kiwanis Pet Parade the cherry on top of National Pet Week

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – As part of National Pet Week, the Kiwanis Club of Cape Girardeau held its first annual pet parade at Arena Park on Saturday.

The event was a hit, and first Vice President Jeff Hine said it won’t be the last.

“That’s why we called it the ‘first annual,'” he said. “We intend to do this every year from now on.”

After a short strut around the park, the four-legged friends showed off their costumes, some more menacing than others. They also showed the audience and judges all the cool tricks they had learned.

This event went along in perfect symmetry with the Kiwanis Club’s mission.

“Our mission is to transform the world one kid at a time,” Hine said. “We really try to focus on bettering the community for the children. And in that sense, we thought a better pet world makes a better world for the kids.”

Tiffanie Johnson and her German Shepherd, Zuko, won the pet talent show.

Johnson said Zuko has made the training part a walk in the park.

“He was amazing to train, very easy,” she said. “At eight weeks he was fully potty trained pretty much.”

Zuko and all the other pups seemed to get along.

“It was really amazing how the dogs get along with each other,” Hine said. “I mean, nobody growls at each other. They were all really well-behaved pets.”

And during National Pet Week, that is very good news.