The Easter Bunny came early for Hillsborough’s canine citizens this year.
The Hillsborough Police Department hosted its fourth annual Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs on Saturday, March 31, at Gold Park in downtown Hillsborough.
K-9 Senior Cpl. Scott Foster said Hillsborough police created the Easter egg hunt after realizing how much local dogs might enjoy hunting for treats, just as the K-9 officers do in their training.
“Whenever we do our training it’s very similar to this, because our dogs are usually searching for something we’ve trained them to look for, be it discarded evidence or articles or narcotics,” Foster said. “That just sort of spawned into, ‘Well, why don’t we actually put on an Easter egg hunt so people that have dogs that are truly family members can come out and do something with them over Easter also?’”
Before the hunt began, Foster’s K-9 partner, Vader, gave a demonstration of how to properly hunt for Easter eggs. A volunteer placed an egg that smelled like marijuana — similar to the eggs they use in training — among eggs with treats. Within minutes, Vader alerted his handler that he found the correct egg, all without getting distracted by the eggs filled with food.
Hillsborough’s Top Dog Training and Resort also gave a demonstration with a search and rescue dog.
Police officers and volunteers hid over 1,000 plastic eggs in a field at the park, each egg containing a treat. The event also included a costume contest. Dogs dressed in bunny ears, bunny tails, tutus and even a bee costume strutted down a runway taped off by streamers. Three people judged the contest, including Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens and a Hillsborough police officer.
The three dogs with the best costumes received Easter baskets filled with treats and toys.
Judges awarded first prize to Tank, a 4-year-old bulldog-black lab mix who donned a bunny suit and a multi-colored bowtie. Tank’s owner, Lewis Brown of Hillsborough, also dressed up for the contest, wearing a checkered pastel suit jacket.
