Owners pray for their pups in Bensenville

The Rev. Elaine Eachus was surrounded by the fuzzy friends of a few of her parishioners Sunday outside Peace United Church of Christ in Bensenville.

There was a tiny black terrier, an anxious black Lab, a shaking greyhound and a cat named Cosmo.

"We need to make people more in touch with God's creation," Eachus said as she spent the afternoon blessing animals in front of her church.

Parishioners brought back the once-annual tradition this year.

"In years past, we'd have iguanas, goldfish and pet birds," said Russ Jurns, the parish council president. "They're all part of God's family."

Organizers had plastic bags of treats and toys ready for all the animals outside their doors.

There were a couple of brief scuffles, sure, but mostly just a whole lot of barking.

Diana Frauzen and her 12-year-old son, Richard, have been coming to the annual blessings for years with their black Lab, Shadow.

"Sometimes (Shadow) needs all the help he can get," Frauzen said as Shadow took a keen interest in nearly every dog within sight.

While dogs dominated Sunday's ceremony, there was one unhappy kitty stuck inside a carrying case named Cosmo meowing to be let out.

"We only put him in there when we take him to the vet," said Sandra O'Hara, Cosmo's owner.

"He's blind in one eye," O'Hara's husband, Bob, said, "but you'll never know it the way he runs around the house."