May 8 Struttin’ for Paws adoption fashion show.
Karlee Angel has a special place in her heart for pets, especially shelter dogs. When she lost a friend, her two dogs, Benny, a mixed breed rescue, and Yeti, a golden retriever, consoled her.
Now, Angel is combining her passions — pets and fashion — through a new adoption fashion show.
The Struttin’ for PAWS adoption fashion show will be held May 8 at 4 p.m. on the Graduate Life Center lawn. Admission is free. During the show, student models will walk the runway alongside local shelter dogs with the goal of finding homes for the dogs.
Angel, who is founder of Hokie Designers, a group of students interested in fashion design, created the platform PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) during her homecoming campaign last fall. She has been committed to pet adoption since she was young, when her family fostered dogs.
“Animals have always offered me a sense of purpose and comfort, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to give back to them and help them find their purpose,” said Angel, a fashion merchandising and design student who will graduate in May. “I believe every pet has a purpose, whether it is serving as a therapy companion, police K9, search and rescue hero, or child’s best friend.”
For the show, students with Hokie Designers have been restyling “adopt me” vests for shelter dogs using materials, such as paint and jewels, to draw more attraction to the dogs and help them find homes.
The student models who will walk with the dogs during the show will be wearing earth tones to represent the warmth of a home.
“We were thinking of colors to bring it all together,” Angel said.
Dogs who will be participating in the fashion show are from the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center, Franklin County Animal Shelter, and Roanoke Regional Center for Animal Care and Protection.
Undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Animal Sciences are supporting the cause through training and enrichment classes for the shelter dogs who will participate in the show. Eva Giguere, a graduate student in the School of Animal Sciences, has worked with dogs at the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center since last fall.
“We’re training them to help with their adoptability and their mental state,” Giguere said. “We start with basic things like learning their name, sit, down, and leash walking skills to help with the dogs’ ease of handling while being walked.”
Eventually, the dogs can develop behaviors like check-ins, which is when they look back at their handlers during walks, a helpful skill during the fashion show, Giguere said.
Roya Cranford, a junior majoring in animal and poultry sciences and a models for Hokie Designers, will be helping direct the models and dogs during the show. Last semester, she worked with the dog shelter training team, and she said she can use that experience to help ensure the show goes smoothly.
“I understand the difference between a shelter dog and a regular breed, so I can bring that to Hokie Designers and say, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t do this because the shelter dog might not be comfortable with that,'” Cranford said.
This will be the Hokie Designers’ second outdoor fashion show. Last year, the event took place on the Drillfield with the theme “Spring Fever.” This year is the first time that dogs are featured as the models.
“Showcasing the dogs in an event like this helps them find homes and having the support of our students will help ensure the dogs have a good experience,” said Lisa Gunter, assistant professor in the School of Animal Sciences. “Additionally, great adoption vests are hard to come by in animal sheltering, but it is how our community members learn that these dogs are looking for homes when they’re out and about.”
After the fashion show, Angel said the adoption vests will be donated to local animal shelters.
Brooke Van Beuren for Virginia Tech
