Our friends at Good Dog University and K-9 Daycare in West Springfield MA, hosted their eleventh annual Wag-a-thon fundraiser to benefit Deaf Dogs Rock so we can continue to sponsor deaf dogs out of kill shelters into the loving arms of rescue. We are so blessed to have supporters in the Northeast to help us continue to help more deaf dogs in need. Kim Balboni (our hero) who organizes the fundraiser every year, and her Good Dog University generous patrons raised 1391.00 to help Deaf Dogs Rock continue to sponsor deaf dogs and puppies into rescue. This generous donation will sponsor SIX deaf pups into special needs rescues throughout the U.S. We are beyond grateful for their continued support and commitment to our cause! Below is a photo of their chart with all the pup’s wagging totals. Over the last ten years. Good Dog University had raised right around $21,400 which sponsored around 85-95 deaf dogs into special needs rescues!
Photo above: Check out the rockin participant 2026 Wag-a-thon bandanas for all the dogs (and one pig) who wore them while competing in this year’s rocking Wag-a-Thon!
More about the Good Dog University and K-9 Daycare Wag-a-thon:
Every June the patrons and team members at Good Dog University and K-9 Daycare organize a Wag-a-thon. I bet you all are wondering what a Wag-a-thon is. A Wag-a-thon is when a dog participates in a tail wagging competition. Each person who participates with their dog tries to get his/her dog to wag their tails as many times as they can in a 30 second time period. Every dog is timed by a stopwatch with a couple of spotters counting each wag. Each human participant agrees to pay a certain amount money for each wag (could be a quarter a wag, fifty cents a wag or even a dollar a wag) prior to the competition starting.
Check out some of our rocking dog participants in the 2026 Wag-a-thon!
Wag-a-thon Recaps
The first day of their 2026 Wag-a-thon brough some very competitive wags with these pups from Good Dog University!
Above: Nita came tied for first with 100 Wags!
Above: Handsome Lab pup Moose rocked his competition with 100 wags tied with Nita for first place.
Above: Too cute Benji was the top tail wagger in the Small Tail Category.
Above: Handsome Arlo coming in second
Above: Daisy supporting her 2026 Wag-a-thon rockin bandana
Above: Nita and Bear chilling in the shade while waiting for the judges final postings for the day
The rest of the week of recaps on Wag-a-thon 2026
Above: Lola is resting in the shade after being the Top Wagger on Day two of the 2026 GDU Annual Wag-a-thon!
Above: Jukes sticking her tongue out at the competition (a little smack talk to her competitors).
Above: Sweet sister duo Violet and Ollie raised $50.00 for Deaf Dogs Rock in the 2026 Wag-a-thon!
Above: Sweet Biscuit needs a water break after she wiggled her bum as many times as she could in a very short amount of time. She came in third on the second day of the 2026 GDU Wag-a-thon! Look at her sweet face!
Above: Sister and brother team Timber the husky and Hopper both were in the top five waggers on Wednesday the third day of the Wag-a-thon
Above: Adorable senior Corgi Doug participated in the Wag-a-thon with his little stump tail. No pup is too old and no tail is too small to participate! Way to go Doug!
Above: Australian Shepherd Brady was happy to be wagging in this years Wag-a-thon for all his fellow Aussie friends many of which carry the Double Merle deafness trait.
Above: Sweet happy pointer Tilly rockin her wags in Wag-a-thon and her rockin Wag-a-thon bandana!
Above: Even though it was a humid 93 degrees out sweet Lola has 103 wags while she was participating in this year’s 2026 GDU Wag-a-thon.
Below: Photos of piggy Chunk! Even sweet pig Chunk participated in this year’s GDU Wag-a-thon to benefit Deaf Dogs Rock so we can continue to help deaf dogs in need of rescue! Great job Chunk, thanks so much for helping us!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to the entire GDU family who participated in this year’s Good Dog University Annual Wag-a-thon! We are so honored and thrilled they choose Deaf Dogs Rock to be the recipient of their amazing event and generous donations every June! We think they totally ROCK!
~ Christina Lee and deaf dogs Axl Blu, Marshall Tucker and Emmylou Harris
