Paws on Parade

Just a warning- This is not school related, but a little glimpse of my day with my three boys and some information on a "pup-blic" art project here in New Orleans.

Today I took my boys to Cool at the Zoo located at the Audobon Zoo here in New Orleans. They love this place, and this year we purchased a Zoo membership so I am sure we will be visiting often. Then after our time spent in the water, we began heading home. That's where we began running into the Bead Dogs. I have seen these art projects around the city before and have even seen a friend or two posting pictures of them on Facebook. So, thats when the idea came to my mind that we were going to try and find as many as we could and take pictures with them today. My boys really got into it and were having a great time on our Bead Dog hunt. We will definitely go on another hunt soon this summer and try to find them all.

So what is a Bead Dog? According to the LASPCA, it is a tradition among generations of New Orleanians children to create Bead Dogs from discarded Mardi Gras throws. A few twists and turns transform a necklace of beads into a fun trinket to enjoy. Haydel's Bakery adopted the Mardi Gras Bead Dog as their mascot and has graciously donated the sculpture's mold to promote the LA/SPCA's mission.

Check out the link here for all the locations of the Mardi Gras Bead Dog. You will see we're going to have a busy summer locating all these Dogs.

Here are a few shots from today!

This is the Ornamental Mutt located at Whole Foods Markets. Artist: Jacques Soulas

This is the Street Dog located at Napolean and Tchoupitoulas Street Artist: Rex Dingler

This is the Twisted Dog located at St. Charles and Napolean Avenue Artist: Simon

This is the Tie–Dye Dog located at 2031 St. Charles Ave Artist: Barbara Shaw

This is the Elephant Dog located at  Audubon Zoo 6500 Magazine St Artist: Alex Beard