Cantigny goes to the dogs as more than 2,000 attend special event

The dog days of summer never felt more real than they did Saturday at Cantigny Park.

Nearly 2,000 dog lovers and their pooches spent an increasingly hot and humid afternoon taking in demonstrations on dog training, perusing more than two dozen vendors and animal shelters, and watching man's best friend take a few dips in a backyard kiddie pool to cool off.

"I found out I can't exactly water the backyard when he's outside," Elmhurst resident Sally MacInnes said of her new black Labrador puppy, Wrigley, as he bounded across a fenced in area with dozens of other dogs. "Otherwise, he'll just take a dive into the flower beds."

Saturday's Dog Days of Cantigny was the first time the park has allowed pooches onto the park grounds, said Laura Evans, Cantigny Park's director of visitor services.

"We were simply responding to suggestions made by visitors, and we thought we'd give it a try," Evans said. "So far, everything's been great."

Saturday was a sort of a homecoming for 22-year-old Lombard native Jessica Ritchie, who spent part of the afternoon entertaining crowds with her 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, Sarge.

Ritchie was one of several members of the Windy City K-9 Disc Club to show off their dog's tricks. She has been competing in Frisbee throwing competitions with a variety of dogs since she was 7 years old,

"More than anything, being home before a hometown crowd is great," said Ritchie, a recent University of Michigan graduate who hopes to move to the west coast to train dogs for a living.

Several dog shelters and animal rescue groups made up the roughly 28 tents sprawled along the Cantigny lawn, among them Siberian husky Rescue, a group of volunteers from the Western suburbs who work to place the dogs in safe homes.

"We've had a lot of good conversations today with people who were looking to adopt," said Mike Dagley, one of the volunteers. "We've been very busy."