Ashley Brooks and her 1 year-old German Shepherd dog Kaine won a CUSTOMIZED Grand Prize for the contest titled “Dogs on Camera VTV Video/Photo Contest” for Virbac.

Although Ashley won the Grand Prize, she decided to forfeit her win when she discovered that Kain would not be allowed to accompany her on the trip.

Original Grand Prize:

Prizes: Grand Prize: The Grand Prize Winner's pet will be selected to represent the Virbac Brands. The Grand Prize Winner will receive four days, three nights hotel accommodations at a premier hotel chain in San Diego, California from February 14th – 17th, 2008. The Grand Prize Winner will get to see his/her winning pet's performance at the Global Pet Expo 2008 on Friday, February 15th, 2008. This prize includes two certificates for airfare within the continental United States. The Grand Prize Winner and guest must complete travel on dates specified by Sponsor. Grand Prize Winner will also receive a $100 voucher that can be used for a special Valentines Day dinner and two tickets for a Saturday excursion to the famous San Diego Zoo. The estimated retail value of the Grand Prize is $2,000.

Ashley explains "Dogs were not included in the original Grand Prize. When Colin Brodie contacted me and told me I was the Grand Prize winner, I told him that I didn’t want to go to San Diego without Kaine. After all, without Kaine, this win would not have been possible. He was so understanding and he arranged a customized Grand Prize for Kaine and me." Here is our version of the Grand Prize:

The Grand Prize Winner's dog will be selected to represent the Virbac Brands. The Grand Prize Winner will receive four days, three nights hotel accommodations at Ocean Villa Inn in San Diego, California from February 14th – 17th, 2008. Ocean Villa Inn is a pet friendly hotel located within walking distance of a dog friendly village and the world famous Dog Beach. The Grand Prize Winner will get to see his/her winning dog's performance at the Global Pet Expo 2008 on Friday, February 15th, 2008. This prize includes gift cards from American Express totaling $700 for gas expenses, food and shopping. The Grand Prize Winner and guest must complete travel on dates specified by Sponsor. Grand Prize Winner will also receive three extra passes for the Global Pet Expo 2008 and a $100 voucher that can be used for a special Valentines Day dinner. Two of them were for Heather and my Dad and the third was for Jesse. The estimated retail value of the Grand Prize is $2,000.

I didn’t want to fly because I felt uncomfortable with Kaine in the cargo like a piece of luggage. Since we didn’t fly, Colin gave us shopping money and we still kept the $100 Valentine’s dinner coupon. I also didn’t need the tickets for the zoo (we had already been to the San Diego Zoo) so I traded those for three extra passes to the Global Pet Expo 2008. Colin pulled so many strings for us and we had the most AMAZING first vacation to San Diego. We were able to walk around the entire Expo WITH Kaine and Jesse. This wasn’t allowed, but the people were so impressed with how calm and obedient our dogs are, that they didn’t mind. We also got to meet Cesar Millan in person! That was the best! We used the gift card money to go on a shopping spree at the World Famous Dog Wash and we had dinner at O’Bistros Café. Kaine and Jesse were allowed to dine with us and they even got their own hamburgers! San Diego was the best vacation ever!

Sincerely,
Ashley and Kaine