It all began on a beautiful day in early 1995. Being a kid and animal lover, I thought it would be charming to take my three dogs and my neighbor's children (they never spent much time with them) for an outing to the Mardi Gras dog parade in New Orleans, The Mystic Krewe of Barkus.

With sheer determination, I taught myself to sew the royal robes for my three dogs. I decided that I would make our male lab Jocko, King; our female lab, Lady, Queen; and our little poodle Manuel, the Court Jester. Of course, the outfits turned out splendid, complete with a crown, tiara, and jester hat, respectively.

I then packed up the children, Lindsay, 12, and Burton, 8, and the three dogs in my Jeep, and headed for the French Quarter. Being from the country, we weren't too sure where the Good Friend's Bar was, but I figured that it couldn't be that difficult to find. Having been warned not to park too close to the quarter, we opted for the perfect space close to New Orleans East (well maybe not quite that far east, but quite a good hike to the quarter).

Leaving the car, the kids and I each took a dog. I took King Jocko, Burton took Queen Lady, and Lindsay took the Court Jester, Manuel.

I guess this would be the appropriate time to mention that none of the animals were very familiar with being on a leash, and liked wide open spaces such as golf courses, rather than packed streets of people that had been imbibing for days.

As I led the way when the going became rough, I could hear Burton and Lindsay behind me screaming, "Miss Denise! Miss Denise! Lady doesn't like these hippies!" or "Miss Denise! Miss Denise! Manuel is throwing up because he doesn't like to be on a leash!". I never looked back, but met each cry with, "Just keep moving children! We're almost there!"

I guess this marked the point in their lives that they realized adults can lie.

After a good hour of weaving in and out of streets in the quarter, and rushing to get to the Good Friend's bar for the starting time (little did we know you could be hours late, and still secure a coveted spot), we finally spotted the throngs of canines and their companions on Dauphine Street. It truly was a miracle how I pushed our way through the crowd to pay our registration and secure the bumper sticker and certificate they bestowed upon us.

I guess we really didn't know when the parade started, as it was sheer pandemonium. We did have a lot of people stop and take our picture, and after about another hour of being trampled, and smiling for the camera, the kids and I decided we better skip the parade and head for the car.

It was around this time that a carriage approached. Since the dogs led a sheltered life, I had no idea that Lady would be so crazy at the sight of a mule. It took five adults, two kids, and two dogs hanging by leashes to try and keep her from attacking the mule. We had never witnessed such a scene. On each street, we would have to make sure we didn't see any carriages coming before we could make the turn, and head back the couple of miles to our car.

Luckily, it started raining, and this provided us with the much-needed opportunity for a rest. Of course, where we were resting we weren't protected from the rain, but we were so exhausted we didn't care.

All in all, it was a wonderful day! We got to show off our dogs and their outfits to throngs of on-lookers, we supported a very worthwhile charity, the Louisiana SPCA, and the dogs slept for two days after the parade.

During the next two days as the dogs slept, I forgot how misbehaved they were, and started plotting our own parade for kids and dogs on the Northshore with my dearest friend and neighbor, Donna Beakley. I figured if the dogs didn't like being on leashes, we'd just do it in our neighborhood, and thus our Mardi Paws Celebration was born. We lived on Bocage Lane, and we named ourselves the Krewe of Bocage. Within weeks we had pulled together outfits for almost 100 dogs. Of course, my three were the first royals, and we held it on Lundi Gras that year, 1995.

With the success of our first parade under our belt, all the kids decided they wanted to parade again real soon. So we had a St. Patrick's Day parade! After that, we had an Easter parade! And the parading went on, and on, and on!

Our first claim to fame came when we invited Sheila Stroup (of Times-Picayune fame) to have her dogs Sunny & Gladys, as our King and Queen the following year. With all the publicity, outsiders couldn't be controlled, and dog lovers throughout the parish entered our subdivision gates.

The tradition was built upon each year, and finally in 1999, having moved outside of the subdivision, and with our canines growing in number each year, Donna and I decided to try moving the event to the Mandeville lakefront.

Mandeville's Mayor Price was a kid and dog lover as well, and he paved the way for our tradition to continue.

Laissez Les Bone Temps Rouler!
Denise Gutnisky

Disclaimer: Our dear friends, The Beakleys, actually did spend time with their children