Doggie Date Auction
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Posted by: Hopkins Insider | 
March 30 2009 | 
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Name: Anne Mumford
Year: Class of 2010
Hometown: Barnstable, MA
Major: Pyschology
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On any given day, you’re likely to see tons of dogs running around the Hopkins. Families bring their children and puppies to frolic on the The Beach, older couples walk joyful golden retrievers along the brick pathways and a pair of adorable black and white Pomeranians are always chasing each other around the Decker Quad in front of the Admissions Office. However, despite the abundance of canine energy that tends to pervade the Homewood Campus, most students never actually get to hang out with a furry companion outside a perfunctory snuggle of someone’s friendly beagle on the way to class. Hopkins PAWS, the university’s first and only animal welfare group, is looking to change that. After all, everybody could use a big, wet, sloppy kiss… even if it isn’t from another human.
This March Hopkins PAWS (or the Pet and Animal Welfare Society) put on their second annual Doggie Date Auction in the Glass Pav. The concept is simple: one Hopkins hottie and one adorable dog dress up as a themed couple (such as Nancy Drew and her Detective Doggie, or Obama and his Presidential Puggle – see attached picture) and a date with the duo is auctioned off to the highest bidder, along with a picnic basket full of goodies.
The auctioneers, popular campus improv comedy troupe The Buttered Niblets, kept the audience entertained by cracking jokes and taunting the bidders to go higher. The offbeat group also performed a brief “half-time show” complete with acoustic guitar and bubble-blowing, and even went as far as to auction off one of their in-characters MCs (sadly, the painfully awkward “Franklin” sold for less than two dollars). All the proceeds from the event were donated to BARCS, the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, a downtown shelter where the PAWS students volunteer several times per week.
In addition to the Buttered Niblets, a number of Hopkins student groups and sports teams contributed to the success of the event, mostly by providing the human halves of the date pairs! Many of my sisters from Kappa Kappa Gamma both attended and were auctioned off at the Doggie Date Auction, including Sarah Mae, who represented the softball team as the “Sweet Slugger” (see attached picture). Another sister, Lydia, was not only auctioned off but played a large role in organizing the entire event! “President Obama” is actually a brother of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. The true stars of the event, however, were the hard-working students of Hopkins PAWS, who raised over $1,500 for BARCS animal shelter through the evening’s events including the silent auction, date auction and sale of event t-shirts emblazoned with “Bitches Love Me” and a picture of… a dog, of course! The dates were undoubtedly the most popular hot-ticket items: most pairs sold for around $60, and the most expensive date of the evening, the letter-clad Doggie Dominatrix (also known as Heather, the group’s vice
president) sold for over $200!
Outside of the Doggie Date Auction, PAWS members help BARCS by promoting on-campus awareness about issues like the importance of spaying and neutering pets, as well as adopting instead of buying when looking for a new animal companion. During Spring Fair, members set up a booth on the Freshman Quad where adoptable shelter dogs greeted passersby and student volunteers collected donations. Students also help out at events around the city like the SPCA’s Walk for Animals, the World of Pets Expo and BARCStoberfest. A small group even left Maryland this March to spend their Spring Break caring for homeless pets in Puerto Rico!
Though Hopkins PAWS was only founded a few years ago, they have been enormously successful in supporting and promoting their cause since 2005. The Doggie Date Auction is their biggest event of the year and was more successful than ever this Spring, bringing in more than twice the donations of last year’s event. I guess it just shows that even in shaky financial times, everyone could still use a date!
