Love is in the Air!

For the 4th time, I was privileged to attend the Action for Animals fundraiser at the Latrobe Country Club.  Smail Auto is an underwriting sponsor, and several of us represented the dealership.  Jen, her mom Shirley, and I had a great time being part of the event.

This year the guest speaker was Lou Battistella, the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department’s Bloodhound Team Captain.  Lou has served the fire department since 1992, and has been part of the bloodhound team since 1996 with his first dog, Dixie.  Saturday night he had his two dogs with him – Delphie and Darcy, and his daughter Elysia had her dog Sophy there. 

The dogs were very fun to meet – all 100 pounds each! – and Lou gave a great presentation about the history, the training, and the effectiveness of the bloodhound team.  Lou is also County Deputy Sheriff and head of the Sheriff’s Special Assist Team K9 Unit.

After the presentation, which was both informative and entertaining, the winners for the basket raffle were announced (For the first time in four years we had a winner from Smail Auto!!!), and several people took photos of and with the dogs.  Although they were very laid back, we were assured that they could be rowdy and energetic with very little encouragement!

The country club presented a nice offering of Hors d’oeuvres and cookies, and plenty of time to ask questions of the speaker and his companions (although the dogs basically had very little to say!).  A huge thank you to Smail Company for the opportunity to attend, and to Lou and his team for giving so much of their time to serve Greensburg and Westmoreland County.