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WARSAW — Several hundred attended the Ninth Annual Fur Ball Saturday evening, Sept. 12, to raise funds for the Animal Welfare League of Kosciusko County. The event was held at Toyota of Warsaw.

The evening consisted of food, numerous silent auction items, several vendors offering give-a-ways, and a live auction, the highlight of the evening was The Warsminster Dog Show.

There were four contestants in this year’s event: Moose, owned by Bill and Janet Hartman; Aires, owned by Martha Whetstone and Courtney Borntrager; Chu owned by Scott and Jan Campbell and Carys owned by Don and Rowena Impey.

Each dog told its story of how it picked its owner through the AWL.

Moose’s owners had been looking for a St. Bernard for some time and heard the shelter had such a dog. They took advantage of the weekend trial foster program and discovered they had a lot in common. They didn’t adopt Moose, he adopted them that weekend.

Aires met his owners when Martha, a volunteer, knew about a boxer up for adoption and recommended her daughter, Courtney come see the boxer. Aires was in his cage, next to that boxer, when Courtney came to visit. She fell in love with him at the start. He’s a pit bull boxer who was abandoned. “Those big eyes just pleaded to be loved,” Courtney said.

Carys found her owners when they went to find a dog for a friend who had lost her dog. “We fell for her,” said Rowena about the Corgi and Austrialian shepherd mix. She had been left at a shopping mall. “She’s a feisty little thing,” said Rowena.

Chu has been with the Campbells for 11 years. “We fell in love with him on first site. He just jumped down and said take me home,” said Scott. The Chow, Australian Shepherd and possibly lab or Newfoundland, “is the best dog in the world. We take him every where,” said Scott. Chu was born at the shelter and was the last of the litter to be adopted.

The winner of the event was Moose, followed by Chu, Carys and Aries. The winner was chosen based on the total dollar vote received.

Darla McCammon, executive director of AWL, announced the restart of the AWL’s capital campaign. Due to problems with state regulations, the plans to remodel at the existing location had to be discarded. AWL purchased new property at the intersection of CR 325E and US 30, across from Tractor Supply.

The new property is five acres with a 9,600 square foot building. The building will contain an education center for training with additional programming dealing with children, space for the animals and an indoor running/walking track. “We had over $700,000 raised,” sad McCammon. A portion of that money was used to purchase the new property.

“We’re back to square one raising more capital campaign funds,” she said. The architect is planning the remodeling around the existing building which is a sound structure. “We will be able to stay where we are at and in operation while the new shelter is remodeled. McCammon stated it is estimated the redesigning of the shelter will cost between $900,000 and $1 million. “We have some (money) left and its a start … it’s something the community really needs.”

The evening also included a special O.P.S K-9 Academy presentation and music was provided by Michele Payton Soft Jazz Band.