Due to the recent fire at Griffith Park, the 5th Annual SoCal Jindo Picnic was moved to Hansen Dam the day before the actual event.  No biggie, right?  The sun was shining, the grass was green, there were lots of shade trees, and there were plenty of space ... but wait, what's missing from this beautiful picnic scene?
 
 

No BBQ grill!

It could have been a disaster, but never fear, someone bought a new portable grill the night before, which was quickly assembled by the IKEA buffs on-site.

Ta-da!  We even had some extra screws left over.  That's good right?

 
With a working grill, there could be Korean short ribs (kalbi) to eat alongside the noodles (chapchae), cooked sushi rolls (kimbap), Korean pancake (pajang), and yes, even the ever fragrant kimchi*.

For dessert, Korean rice cakes (dduk), watermelon (subok), and Korean sweet buns (bbang) were brought in by Sue and Linda.  The sweet buns were a big hit with the kids.

With the food under control**,  things started rather leisurely***.

While Halla's adoption forms were filled out by Greg & Keri, everybody else got a good look at Iri with his unusual coat color.   He seems to be some sort of agouti, with the characteristic rings around the eyes.  Everybody was rather curious on what he'll look like after his adult fur grows in.

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Here is a picture of Halla after she was adopted by Greg & Keri.  With Halla, there is no mystery on her color.  ;-)

There were several yellow dogs, one black/tan dog, and one gray dog (Malamute) who came to the picnic, but by far, the white dogs made the largest showing.

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During this year's picnic, notes were exchanged on some of the health concerns in Jindos.

Below is a picture of Kkandori in his glorious new skin and coat after he was treated for hypothyroidism.   He's also acting and feeling much better.
 

Last October, before treatment Notice the bare spots and redness on the belly and inside the legs.

This May, after treatment Look at how the fur filled in and the skin is no longer visible.

 

Discoid Lupus was discussed and information about the most recent treatment for this disease was shared.

Jinju - The first Jindo that we know of that was diagnosed with this disease.

Halla- Scaley nose with spotty scabs.

Seorok - Persistant, abrupt pink on the nose needs to be monitored.

There was a vet from Korea who came with Paul, Jinju's owner.  His specialty is government livestock instead of small animals, but just maybe with Paul's help he can start a research paper in Korea?

Paul came again with his youngest daughter, Rachel.  It's wonderful to see the next generation being so involved with Jindos.  She went through a big growth spurt and is blossoming into a real dog-savy young lady.

Nichole, Loralei, and Rachel, who is now almost as tall as Nichole!

The first official event (besides eating) was the drawing.   This year really showed off the generosity of Jindo owners.  Linda is a guru when it comes to getting drawing items, but two families spontaneously gave baskets and bundles for the drawing.  Thank you, Jeff & Lorelei and Jan & Matt!  Everybody took home a prize (except maybe Nichole who got skunked?), but two couples really struck gold.   Greg & Keri (Halla's new owners) won the grand prize.  Number-wise, the Castros (Nanuq and Kaliska's owners) really raked in the prizes.
 
 

"Let's see.. one... two...three... Good job mom!"

After the drawing, Nichole conducted an urban mushing demo and people were enthusiastically putting real mushing harnesses on their dogs.

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Not all the dogs were as thrilled about this though.

"Wait, this isn't my regular harness.  What's going on?"
 
 

Some dogs were good sports about mushing...

 
 

... while others had something else in mind.

"Don't you mean heel instead of mush?"

The last official event of the day was the agility course.  Some dogs showed that they were old hands at this favorite repeat event.  Others... not so well.

The last unofficial event was the grand uphill carry.  The same hill that tested the structural integrity of the drinks cooler had to be conquered.  Kwest the Malamute helped out by pulling the supplies back up to the cars on one leg.  The rest of the legs were done by humans who 'gained a new appreciation' for a working, weight-pulling dog.   (Yes, this is an euphenism.)

The 5th Annual SoCal Jindo Picnic ended up on quite a hilarious note.  We hope to see everybody next year for another Jindo adventure!

*Did you know Kimchi was mentioned in the Whole Dog Journal?
**Yes, really, the food WAS under control.  No soda exploded on anybody even after the cooler tumbled down the steep hill.
***About "leisurely"... let's just say that the schedule wasn't figuratively on Korean time but literally on Hawaiian time this year.