Special to ViewFaith Lutheran students Stephanie DeWyn, left, and Gabbie Boyadjian pose with Joan Hammer, middle, and her new dog Charlie. The Hammers paid $11,000 for the pooch as part of a charity auction.
Larry Cruikshank/ViewThe Dream Weaver Dinner and Auction was held to help Faith Lutheran Junior Senior High School pay for a new chapel, which cost $11.5 million.
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How much did you pay for your dog? Jim and Joan Hammer paid $11,000 for theirs.
The pricey pooch was auctioned off on Feb. 2 at a fundraiser at the JW Marriott, 221 N. Rampart Blvd.
The event, called the Dream Weaver Dinner and Auction, was attended by roughly 200 people. It benefited Faith Lutheran Junior Senior High School.
"Although it's a very cute puppy, it's not that cute," joked Kevin Dunning, executive director of Faith Lutheran.
Before the auction began, Frank Kautzmann, business owner and former chairman of the board for Faith Lutheran, had his own estimate on how much the pooch would bring.
"I thought if they could get $1,000, it would be awesome," Kautzmann said. "When they announced what it went for, everyone there went, 'Whoa.' "
The Hammers wrote a check and took the pooch, a Papillon breed, home with them that night.
"When it comes to auctions at charities, I can never keep my hand down," said Joan Hammer. "I had a figure in mind and when we passed it, I just kept going ... My husband was just staring at me."
Her initial top figure, she said, was $5,000.
Joan Hammer said when she held the pooch, "I fell in love with him. He was calm and you could tell he was great with people."
Better yet, when she got him home, he was already house-trained.
The auctioneer began the bidding at $300. The sum soon went up to $1,000 and kept rising in what Dunning described as "spirited bidding." He said he was grateful to see the bidding price being ratcheted up by so many well-meaning people.
At the $7,000 point, the auction was suspended so the dog could be held and petted. Then bidding resumed and the amount kept climbing.
The puppy came from the Lied Animal Shelter, 655 N. Mojave Road. Doug Duke, executive director of the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), said he was happy to hear that the pricey pup, now named Charlie, was a rescued dog from Lied.
"That tells me a board member was involved," he said. "We had a pet store donate a dog for a charity auction one time, just for the publicity."
He said that particular scenario supported over-breeding.
The Dream Weaver evening brought in more than $100,000 for Faith Lutheran. Where its annual auction normally benefits its scholarship program, this year, the money went toward construction.
The school is building a new chapel on the southeast corner of its campus at 2025 S. Hualapai Way. Faith Lutheran's board originally anticipated that the building would cost between $6 million and $7.5 million. The actual total ended up being $11.5 million.
"When the bids came in and the amounts were that large, we were unpleasantly surprised," Dunning said.
So far, the school has raised $6.5 million.
The $11,000 Charlie, Joan Hammer said, is fitting in nicely with the family's other pets, two Chihuahuas named Chips and Salsa.
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