A huge success!!

The weather yesterday for the 5K-9 Run/Walk couldn't have been more perfect!! The team met in front of the StuntPuppy booth at 7:30 ... everyone had their bright orange t-shirts on and the dogs (adoptable Pet Haven dogs and alums) adorned orange bandanas that either read "ADOPT ME" or simply The Fast and the Furballs.

Savannah, Pet Haven dog up for adoption, wooed a runner even before the race began. We of course gave him a Pet Haven business card and hopes he checks on her :) How can you not love this adorable face (she insisted on closeup shot!).

Other adoptable dogs that were there included: Winston, Lilah, Pepper and Katie (cheerleading team!) ... and two 9 month cattle dogs who will be coming into Pet Haven's foster program!


And Bode, co-captain of Pet Haven's Fast and the Furballs team, races to the finish line with his Human, Joe. He's the first to cross the finish line ....

while Mister, the other captain of the team, has pretty much had it with running. His Human has to drag him across the finish line. He claims he had a 5 mile warm up which is why he was too tired ... after a goodnight's sleep though he has graciously accepted the fact that Bode is #1, because the reality is, we all finished first ... thanks to everyone for helping make this a success and for helping us raise almost $3,000 which will go directly towards helping homeless dogs and cats.

A special thanks again to Downtown Dogs and Chuck & Don's, our t-shirt and bandana sponsors!

To view more photos from the event visit our Flickr site.

Last Minute Details

The Fast and the Furballs' first 5K-9 is this Sunday @ 8 AM @ The Depot in Downtown Minneapolis! Here are some of the last minute details you'll need to know.

5K-9 packet pick-up
You can pick up your race packets (t-shirt, flyers, race #, etc) Friday from 11 AM to 4 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 6PM and Sunday starting at 6 AM at The Depot in Minneapolis. If you don't want to run/walk with your goodies or don't have someone to hang on to them during the event, be sure to pick-up your packet early.

Fast and the Furballs participant t-shirts
You can pick up your t-shirt on Saturday, May 30th at the Pet Haven adoption event at the Richfield Petco between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM. If you can't make it to the adoption event on Saturday, please send your t-shirt size to Cheryl @ furballs@pethavenmn.org and your t-shirt will be available on race day.

The 5K-9!
The Fast and the Furballs team will meet near the Stunt Puppy exhibit booth between 7:00 AM and 7:45 AM on Sunday morning. Just look for the flashy Fast and the Furballs orange t-shirts. We'll head to the starting line at 7:45 AM for the 8 AM start. Team Ortho has parking information posted on their site @ http://teamortho.us/Minneapolis_Marathon_Parking. The Depot address is:
The Depot
225 Third Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401

The Minneapolis Marathon and Half Marathon begin at 7:00 AM - there will be lots of activity starting early in the day, so you shouldn't have a problem finding it once you get close. Also be sure to plan ahead for parking, crowds, etc - there are 1400 participating in the marathon and 2500 in the half marathon, plus the 5K and 5K-9 participants. Car pooling and arriving early are strongly encouraged.

See everyone on Sunday!

Racing to the finish!

Mister (co-captain of Pet Haven's the Fast and the Furballs team) and I decided we needed to get moving on our training. Granted it's not Mister's fault as I've been the slug and have not take him on enough runs. Early yesterday morning Mister said enough is enough, so we set our alarm and met others at the Furballs training run/walk at 8 am yesterday morning. Mister had a chance to loosen up his muscles at the Lake of the Isles dog park before the training run/walk began. He got knocked over a couple times by the big dogs but that certainly didn't stop him. Bjorn (another furballs dog in training) was there to warm up as well. Mister was very excited to wear his bright orange furballs in training bandana! He thinks bright orange makes him look very dapper against his smooth, shiny black coat! :)

We took off for our run a little after 8 am and ran one lap around lake of the isles. Mister does NOT ... i repeat ... does NOT like to be #2. Bjorn took the lead for the first part of the run and Mister just about took my arm off. Fortunately, Bjorn had to take a potty break so that gave us our chance to take the lead. Once we were in the lead, Mister went back to being a perfect running buddy. Then, on the last stretch Bjorn came sneaking up from behind us, my shoelace came untied so we had to stop (much to Mister's dismay!) and Bjorn and his running buddy finished first! Mister gave it his all though, and since i've been somewhat of slug lately, I was huffing and puffing too!

I forgot to bring my camera to the training run so I took photos of Mister when we got home. As you can tell, he was pretty tired after the big workout!

There's still time to join Pet Haven's Fast and Furballs team! Email Cheryl at furballs@pethavenmn.org for more info.

And, of course, please consider making a donation to any one of us running in the team. Visit our Firstgiving site to make a donation!

Group Run/Walk Sunday, May 17th

Join us Sunday, May 17th at 8:00 AM for a Fast and the Furballs group run at Lake of the Isles. Meet at the Lake of the Isles dog park: 2845 E. Lake of the Isles Parkway Minneapolis, MN 55405 (http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=4&parkid=388). We'll start walking/running around Lake of the Isles promptly at 8:00 (don't be late, you might have to run to catch up!). You won't be able to miss our bright orange t-shirts! Hope to see you there!

Many thanks to our t-shirt and bandana sponsors: Chuck and Don's and Downtown Dogs!

Group Run/Walk May 3rd!

Join us Sunday, May 3rd at 8:00 AM for a Fast and the Furballs group run at Lake of the Isles. Meet at the Lake of the Isles dog park: 2845 E. Lake of the Isles Parkway Minneapolis, MN 55405 (http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=4&parkid=388). We'll start walking/running around Lake of the Isles promptly at 8:00 (don't be late, you might have to run to catch up!). You won't be able to miss our bright orange t-shirts! Hope to see you there!

Many thanks to our t-shirt and bandana sponsors: Chuck and Don's and Downtown Dogs!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!

I'm Bjorn, one of the members of the Fast and the Furballs training team. A little snow on Sunday morning didn't stop Captain Bode from getting us up early for some "spring" training. That's alright though, it's been a long winter and it felt good to get out and stretch my legs a bit. It really got me in the mood for running and I'm even more excited for the 5K-9 coming up on May 31st!

If you want to train with us, we'll be back at Lake of the Isles on Sunday, April 19th. We meet at the entrance to the Lake of the Isles dog park - I like to do a few warm up laps in the off leash area before I drag my human around the lake (she really needs to do some speed work). Hope to see you there!

Snow won't slow us down!

Hey! Bode here. I’m co-captain of The Fast and the Furballs. Mister said you’d be hearing from me. He’s the other co-captain. He looks EXACTLY like me (which kind of creeps me out) and even wears a red collar like me, so we’ll do our best to not confuse you.

Sorry it’s taken a while for me to write, but I’ve been busy ya’know? Sure it might be winter and most humans like to just sit around inside during this season, but not mine! The 5K-9 might be months away, but the training has already begun for us!

Check me running in the snow with my mom.

And here I am running with a buddy I found at the dog park.

I take every possible opportunity to build my endurance, even if my mom and dad aren’t completely up for it all the time. I’m really looking forward to spring and our team’s first training run on April 5. Woo hoo! Hope to see your tails there!

Is your Human off the couch yet???

Mister is wanting to check in with everyone:

"Okay pals ... have you been able to knock your Human off the couch yet? I have to tell you, there have been moments where I am convinced, absolutely convinced that my Human has blocks of lead in her pocket. No matter what I do to move her she won't budge from the couch. I try jumping on her, stepping on her way, licking her to death, gazing at her calmly .... there are days when nothing, absolutely nothing works! What is about Humans where they have to think about things. I hear her say, 'I have to reflect on this before I can decide'. Well pals .. sorry to be so bold but that's a bunch of baloney! If all else fails, start acting like a lunatic and run around your house in circles, tear up and down the stairs as fast as your paws will take you, and I hate to say this, but just get into trouble. For the sake of our abandoned, abused and neglected friends, we need to do whatever it takes to get the attention of our Human!"

Have your Human set up his or her Firstgiving fundraising page. And send an email to Cheryl at furballs@pethavenmn.org. She's pretty cool and can help your Human walk through the process of registering for the run and setting up their fundraising page.

My Human told me that we're going to get cool bright orange bandanas for the run and they'll be wearing matching t-shirts with the cool Fast and the Furballs logo! I hear we're getting these bandanas and t-shirts because Chuck and Don's and Downtown Dogs is donating some money ... gotta love 'em! So be sure to stop by Chuck and Don's to stash up on great nutrition and when your Human can't take you out for your run then spend the day at Downtown Dogs!

Stayed tuned! I hear our first group training run is going to be the first Sunday in April! So, get your Human off the couch now!!

Humans off the couch! Sign up and join our Team!

Okay, fellow furball friends... time to get your Human companion off the couch and start training and getting ready for spring!

But first, let me introduce myself. My Humans call me "Mister" -- i'm not sure how they came up with such a crazy name but who am I to question them. There are more important things to do like chasing squirrels, taunting the bunny on the other side of the fence, and finding all kinds of interesting items like socks, shoes, tupperware lids, watches, and yanking on my sister Missy's collar. For an old geezer (editor's note: Missy is only 4 years old) she's actually got some spunk!


My Human just told me about this fun event on May 31st where I get to drag her along with me for a 5K-9 run/walk. If you haven't played this game before ... let me tell you, it's fun! I plan on running but if you're like my older sister Ahnung who's a couch potato and an embarrassment to us stealth furballs, then sauntering is fine.

So here's the deal... get your Human to do the following:

1. Register for the 5K-9 Run/Walk on May 31st (registration fee is $47 for one dog and $59 for two dogs). You can register online for the 5K-9 here. The 5K-9 run is a part of the Team Ortho Downtown Dash but you will running as part of The Fast and the Furballs. When registering if 'Pet Haven' does not show up as an option on the team names in the drop down menu, leave the field blank, and enter 'Pet Haven' where they ask "how did you hear about the event."
2. Sign up to join Pet Haven's The Fast and Furballs team by emailing our Furballs 5K-9 coordinator Cheryl at furballs@pethavenmn.org. She will then add you to our communications about upcoming training runs (okay ... for many of us it'll be a social time). We will also let you know when our team t-shirts are ready!
3. Set up your Firstgiving fundraising page and help us raise awareness and donations for homeless dogs and cats. The more you can help us raise, the more dogs and cats we can help!!


Pet Haven rescued me (and my two siblings too) so I just LOVE them. I want to help my fellow furry friends AND I need to get exercise (and quite frankly, my Human needs to get some exercise too!) ... so I hope you'll join the Pet Haven team. I'm hoping they'll let me be the captain of The Fast and Furballs Team but i'm hearing there are several other dogs contending for that spot. There's this other dog named Bode (who came from the same place I did and looks just like me) ... you'll hear more from him soon as I know he's going to run with me too!

And when you're done having your Human take care of all these steps, and have gone for your run or walk, join me in taking a nice snooze on the couch.


Pet Haven would like to extend a special thank you to Mark Bune for designing the logo for The Fast and the Furballs team and for donating his time and creative talent!

A special thanks also to our t-shirt sponsors: Chuck and Don's and Downtown Dogs!!