Dachshunds, weenie dogs, teckel, hot dog puppies! You name it we got it at Howl-o-weenie! Dream Rescue of Atlanta is a dog rescue group focused in saving lives of dachshunds everywhere. They run solely on foster care and do not have a facility. This allows them to help with overcrowding in animal shelters and humane societies. It is overcrowding that leads to the unnecessary euthanasia of perfectly healthy and loving furry friends. There are many homeless doxies in the southeast. Dream even has to turn some of them away due to lack of resources. This is so sad and the exact reason it is so important to support them.

But, this post is not meant to be preachy. I want to share with you the good that can come out of a support system like DREAM Rescue and show you how I use my talents to do what I can to bring awareness. I want to encourage you to do the same. I am a firm believer that we all have a purpose and can help in some little way. Even if helping dogs in need is not your passion, maybe you want to make a child with cancer smile, donate to the homeless, or help to clean our world by picking up trash or recycling. You can use what you have to make the world a wonderful place for yourself and those who will follow in your footsteps.

Anyways, back to Howl-O-Weenie! With Halloween right around the corner, we do what we can to bring our doxie lovers out to support this cause. Howl-O-Weenie is a very large event and is an opportunity to have fun while spreading awareness. This year I volunteered to create the t-shirt design. They did so well and sold out at the event very quickly! They also put my design on a glass to sell beer at the event. It was such a fun time! Here are the highlights…

DREAM Rescue wanted a wordle for the t-shirt design and asked me to make it. First I gathered a list of words that described our short legged friends and I sketched it out into the shape of a dachshund.

In Adobe Illustrator I was able to use my wacom tablet to trace over my sketch. The design had original hand drawn words as well as typed font.

I am quite pleased to see how it turned out. I am glad I was able to create something that would bring joy to people as well as awareness for DREAM. Not to mention all the money that these shirts raised for the cause.

I did a small sample chalk drawing. I kept it short and sweet because we all know Howl-o-Weenie is a very busy day!

And now for our favorite part, the costume contest!! Zach slaved away making Angry Bird Costumes for Daphne and Maxwell. Our adult costumes were store bought.

We won the costume contest!!

Maxwell is our foster dog. This means that we keep him until he gets adopted. If you want to know more about him visit his pet finder profile.

Our #doxieposse twitter friends were there as the Three Doxie-teers! Browse more photos of costumes from Howl-O-Weenie!

The events of the day also included a dachshund race, costume contest, hot dog eating contest, face licking contest and a howling contest. There were venders and dogs for adoption. Food and beer was also for sale. It was such a wonderful time!

Maxwell and Daphne showed their twitter friend Reagan how to climb a mountain!

The pups all were sooooo tired by the end of the day!!