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At least there weren't any party hats. I have never pictured myself as one of those dog owners who go overboard when it comes to their pets. Then I met Riley and it was love at first sight.

Riley is a German shepherd with sad, pretty brown eyes that captured my heart the first time I saw her sitting at the animal shelter. Before I knew it, she was in the car coming home with me. Within days, she was a member of the family.

So it seemed only natural that with her first birthday looming, something special should be planned. But I never intended to have a celebration that would include loot bags, or a cake shaped like a bone.

Originally, my idea was to have a few friends and their dogs over for a barbecue in my back yard. But, with a guest list that included nine dogs, I soon nixed that idea.

The park near my house seemed like the next obvious choice. The owner of a wandering malamute who was on the guest list vetoed that plan -- busy streets surrounded the park.

Eventually, I decided on Cherry Beach in Toronto. There would be more than enough space, the water would act as a natural barrier and it would be fairly isolated in mid-October.

Now that I had a location, I thought that all that was left was to finalize the guest list and send out the invitations.

Looking back, I can't believe how naive I was.

Things started to snowball after I visited my local pet store to pick up a couple of treats for the day. Looking at the tennis balls, I thought they might make cute party favours.

But by the end of the shopping trip, I had purchased the following treats for each dog: a tennis ball, five apple-cinnamon cookies, five peanut butter cookies, two carob and banana cookies and one greenie. For the uninitiated, these are edible treats, shaped like tooth brushes, designed to clean your dog's teeth.

Now all I needed was something to put them in. At a nearby dollar store, I found yellow bags with a cheerful "Happy Birthday" motif.

And that's how I ended up with loot bags for Riley's birthday party.

All I needed now to make it a true birthday party was the cake. I went to Three Dog Bakery on Toronto's Queen Street East for a peanut butter cake shaped like a bone.

Then I realized I would have to feed the dog owners too. The easiest thing, I reasoned, was to go the finger-food route.

Bagels with cream cheese, chicken wings, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, trail mix and a couple of bags of chips.

These could easily be assembled the morning of the party and none of it required cutlery.

I was all set for Riley's big day. But the weather had other ideas. The morning of the party, it rained.

I thought about postponing the party, but with the food all packed in plastic containers, and Riley getting excited, I decided to go ahead and hoped that people and dogs showed up.

Armed with the food, cake, loot bags and Riley, I headed to the beach, and fortunately it stopped raining.

It was time for the party to begin. I gave each dog a treat when it arrived. Then we played tug of war and fetch. Meanwhile, the owners chowed down on the food that I had spread out on a picnic table.

As soon as all the guests arrived, I dished out the cake. The trick here was to ensure that there was enough space between the dogs so there were no fights over food.

After the cake was demolished, we played a game of sit and stay, but it was hard to figure out who had won. A couple of hours of playing later, it was all over. I gave out the loot bags and packed up.

Everyone agreed the day had been a success despite the bad weather. The owners had a chance to catch up with each other and watch their dogs play. The dogs loved the treats and the chance to swim in the lake.

I don't think they even missed the party hats.

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