A pet safe paint is applied to the back of a dog attending the Barks and Rec event Saturday, May 27, 2017, at Drake Park. The dog painting booth was a fun way to help raise donations for the Bend Spay and Neuter Project. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photo)

The dog-friendly atmosphere of Bend was celebrated Saturday afternoon as dogs and their owners filled Drake Park for the fourth annual Barks and Rec, a festival to support the Bend Spay + Neuter Project.

Some owners took pictures with their dogs in a doggie kissing booth, spray-painted designs on the backs of their dogs and entered their dogs in different contests, including pie eating, best trick and best voice. Dogs also competed in best kisser, best hair and best smile contests.

Andrew Terry and his wife, Jeanette, of Truckee, California, near Lake Tahoe, were visiting Bend on Saturday with their 5-year-old Bernese mountain dog, Robber.

Terry said he wanted to stop by Barks and Rec to get a feel for how dogs are welcomed in Bend.

He was impressed.

“We just figured we would check it out and see what the dog vibe is around here,” Terry said. “It’s pretty good, especially with all the restaurants with open-aired seating. It seems to be very dog-friendly.”

Shaylin Chabot, a dog groomer with Bark Avenue Pet Grooming in Redmond, brought her foster dog, Bentley, a 7-month-old shepherd-pit bull mix, to Barks and Rec.

Chabot was invited by Cascade Canine Rescue East and West, a Tumalo-based shelter, to bring Bentley and try to get him adopted. Cascade Canine Rescue East and West had a booth set up at the festival with a group of adoptable dogs.

“They offered to let me bring him to the event. I have fostered for them before,” Chabot said. “I’m a dog groomer. I rescue everything I can and bring them to work with me.”

Chabot has done almost as much rescuing as grooming at her job, she said.

“We rescue kittens, dogs, fish. You never know what we are going to have,” Chabot said. “We are not a real rescue, but we rescue everything.”

Bend resident Jamie Lowe walked through Barks and Rec with her 1-year-old son, Hunter, sitting in a baby stroller and her 2-year-old pit bull mix, Marley, on a leash.

Lowe said it was her first time at Barks and Rec, and she was excited to see nothing but activities for her dog. Lowe was especially intrigued by the doggie kissing booth and best kisser contest.

“I might enter Marley in the best kisser contest,” Lowe said. “She is a really good kisser.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7820,

kspurr@bendbulletin.com