Pet lovers from the Battlefords sent a message of hello - or more accurately, "halo" - to Ellen DeGeneres over the weekend.
Organizers chose the day of the Strut Your Mutt Walk to roll out Ellen's Halo brand of natural pet food in the Battlefords at the Battlefords Animal Shelter.
The shelter has attracted attention because it is the first animal shelter in North America to not only feed Halo food to its shelter animals, but also sell it to the public, generating funding for the facility.
Participants brought their dogs down to the shelter as part of the Strut Your Mutt Walk, where people walked their dogs and took part in a range of activities. But they were even more excited about the interest shown in the animal shelter by DeGeneres and her executives.
At noon June 19, the participants gathered in front of the Access 7 camera to send a special message of thanks to Ellen, in hopes the clip will be used on DeGeneres's TV show.
Krisy Wandler, a board member with the humane society, said it started when she ordered Halo food for her cat Jane off the Internet.
"She absolutely loved it," she said.
Wandler decided to try to buy more Halo food for her cat but couldn't find it for sale anywhere. She contacted Halo directly for some samples. They called back and in their discussions learned she was with the local humane society board and she asked if they could help in any way.
"They were very excited. We were the first to receive a donation from the Ellen Degeneres show and from Halo," said Wandler, who said she has been dealing with Halo since February.
The shelter also got word to take pictures and shoot some video Saturday in case DeGeneres wanted to show the video on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. As a result the large number of pet-owners at the animal shelter gathered together in front of a camera to say "Halo, Ellen!"
Later, many of them made their way to the Battleford block party around 4 p.m., for the dog parade. There they walked their dogs and danced in front of the TV cameras to the tune of Who Let the Dogs Out.
They were also joined by some of the other people who had come to the block party, including the women from the Red Hats Society, who danced in front of the cameras so the Battlefords could say hello to DeGeneres.
It was the capper of a full day of activity for the shelter, which had seen participants take their pets on a walk to and from the dog park and win various prizes.
Nicole Weeks, manager of the animal shelter, said the entire day combined fun activities with fundraising for the shelter. They had "made $3,000 in registrations alone, so that's amazing", she said, and expected with the Halo sales and other activities for a large amount of money to be raised for the shelter by the end of the day.
