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A “Paw”some Sunday at the Athens Pool
By: Abby Grisez
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The 9th annual Athens County Dog Swim raised over $1,000 for the Athens County Humane Society spay and neuter fund.
The event took place at the Athens City Pool on September 30th. Owner of Friendly Paws Grooming Shelley Lieberman started the event almost a decade ago.
“I had seen that it was done in other communities and just thought it looked so much fun,” she said. “I just really wanted us to do it and I thought it would be a great fundraiser to raise money for different pet organizations.”
The event occurs annually after the pool has closed for the season. The facility gets closed off so pups can run and swim freely without their leashes. Entry was $5 and proceeds went toward the several low-cost spay/neuter clinics that the Humane Society holds each month. Arianna Rinaldi-Eichenberg is a volunteer at the organization.
“It’s really good for our area, since it’s so impoverished, to offer those low-cost clinics,” she said.
As for the dog swim itself, it’s unclear who had the most fun: the dogs or their humans.
“It’s just my favorite day of the year. I mean it really is,” Shelley said. “‘Cause these dogs are just having so much fun and it’s just so much fun to watch.”
Listen to the audio version of this story here.