The Kansas Humane Society, this month alone, has helped find homes for over 700 of their furry friends. How KHS achieves these high numbers is through community outreach.

“We love getting out in the community meeting people,” Ericka Goering, director of marketing and communications, said. “We love hearing stories about pets that they’ve adopted from us because we often remember the animals they’re talking about.”

This month, KHS put its name in the community by incorporating ‘Howl-o-ween.’ On Wednesday, KHS hosted their second ‘Howl-o-ween’ themed Wag N’ Woof event at Chicken N’ Pickle.

“[Wag N’ Woof] is a fundraiser that we do several times throughout the year for the Kansas Humane Society,” said. “This time, since it’s in October and we’re getting really close to Halloween, we wanted to have a doggie costume contest.”

The free event put the Wichita community to the test to try and come up with the most creative costumes.

“We had a good turn out with dogs all dressed up in all different kinds of costumes,” Goering said.

One dog, specifically, that caught the attention of the group, was Zuzu. Zuzu wore a stylish Winifred Sanderson costume made by her owners. Her human friends dressed up with her as Winifred’s sisters, Sarah and Mary.

The creativity didn’t stop there as furry brothers Zeke, Russ and Griffin dressed up as characters from Toy Story. Their owner joined the fun by dressing up as Barbie from the  “Toy Story” series.

While the dogs played and got to meet new friends, humans were welcomed to enjoy food, drinks and outdoor games at Chicken N’ Pickle.

Chicken N’ Pickle donated 10% of all food, drink and pickleball sales from the evening to KHS, to help care for the animals.

The community was also able to meet vendors from Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming as well as Hands Full Dog Training. Woof Gang brought delicious limited edition fall flavored treats. Hands Full brought doggie cookies while providing information about their services.

“We love doing these community events because it’s really important to get out messages out there about what we do for the pets in the Wichita area as well as the kinds of services we offer pet owners,” Goering said. “It’s also really good brand awareness for us. As an organization, we want people to know, when they’re thinking of adopting, to think of the humane society.”