Not a woof or a growl could be heard during the opening prayer at St. Peter’s School Tuesday afternoon as a menagerie of four-legged friends, including dogs, cats, turtles and frogs gathered with owners, masters and mistresses for the annual blessing of the pets in Covington.

The Rev. Robert Cooper, Parochial Vicar of St. Peter Catholic Church, said that animals were given to humans as pets for companionship and quoted scripture from Genesis 1:1, 20-28 which talked about the creation of animals.

At one pause in the reading, a dog barked, reminding everyone why they were there.

Scarlett, a black lab, retreats behind Liz Pflug’s legs as Fr. Cooper attempts to bless him while Scarlett’s mistress, Isabella, looks on. (Staff Photo by Debbie Glover)

The custom started many years ago at the school and although the animals gather with their humans under the pavilion, the animals sniffed and played together as friends.

The blessing is traditionally given as part of an observation of the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. However, due to bad weather on Oct. 5, the blessing was rescheduled.

Cooper presided over the blessing, moving from pet to pet, asking the pet’s name, then sprinkling the pet with holy water.

Many of the animals hid behind their owners to avoid the sprinkling of water, but Cooper succeeded in blessing each animal. In some cases, he blessed the pets by proxy, using a photo of the pet brought by students.

Even third-grade teacher Kristie Haik brought her poodle, Miette Larue, to join in the blessings.

Parents brought the animals at the designated time and met their children, pets in hand or on leash, under the pavilion.

The third-graders all enjoyed meeting each other’s pets, especially the kittens and puppies.

After blessing dozens of pictures and pets, Cooper traveled amid the crowd, making sure all pets had received the blessing before he returned to the church.