Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg Saturday

I spent the first weekend of November photographing the Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg fundraiser in Fredericksburg, VA. The speakers for the event were Fabien Cousteau (son of Jean-Michel Cousteau, grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau -- remember "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" hour-long documentaries of his ocean research across the world? I was an avid watcher of those shows.) on Saturday, and Jim Nelson and René Agredano of Tripawds (I first learned of them in a PBS Nature episode Why We Love Cats and Dogs) on Sunday.

There were a few cancellations due to Hurricane Sandy passing by the area a few days earlier, but there was still a nice turn-out. Caryn Self-Sullivan gave a talk on clicker training:

While she talked, and since Sadie and Katie weren't with us and I needed a greyhound fix, I took a moment to massage Beka's ear:

In between talks, Jim Nelson and René Agredano of Tripawds and the Sunday morning speakers stopped by with their tripod dog Wyatt. What a great dog he is:

Patti Goettler of Greyt Hearts Service Dogs gave her talk about Greyhounds as service dogs:

This is Liberty, a Greyhound service dog:

Dr. Nancy Gustafson talked about canine osteosarcoma:

After a nice dinner in downtown Fredericksburg, we returned to the hotel. I took a picture of TJ, who is 28 months post-amputation due to osteo. I was astounded when I learned that:

Then it was time to listen to Fabien Cousteau discuss man's relationship with the ocean and all the animals that dwell in it. It was interesting to learn that his grandmother often brought a dog along whenever his grandfather's research vessel Calypso sailed on a voyage with Fabien aboard. This only reinforced his love of animals, and in particular his love of dogs.

He is a  really cool and down-to-earth guy. We had a great time talking to him.

After his talk was over I took a group picture:

I'll share a few pictures taken on Sunday in the next post.