Advertisement A woman took her dog to a furry convention thinking it was an event for pets Cheryl Wassus and her therapy dog, Link, quickly learned what a furry is.

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Cheryl Wassus is a retired state parole officer and part-time dog trainer living in Monroe, Michigan. Cheryl also spends a lot of her time volunteering her one-year-old licensed therapy Bernese mountain dog, Link, for Pets for Vets–a non-profit program that provides canine companionship for veterans. On Saturday, Cheryl and Link rolled into the parking lot of the Sheraton Hotel in Novi, Michigan, in the hopes of raising some money for the charity and providing some cuddles for a convention called "Furrycon." In an interview with New York Magazine, Cheryl said, "I really had no idea what to expect going in on Saturday. This organization had chosen us as their charity."Cheryl explained to Cosmopolitan.com that the organizers of the event contacted her asking her if she'd like to do a presentation for the non-profit, and she agreed, though she didn't quite understand what the convention was for."I usually try to do some research the night before I go to these events but the website was pretty obscure," she said. "It had a links and information on how to register but no pictures. So I just assumed it was a regular business convention of some sort." So when she and Link entered the hotel that day, she expected to be greeted by the concierge and see various people in business casual. Instead, she was met with hundreds of people wearing full-blown animal costumes. She sent a few text messages to her son, who explained that she was at a convention for furries: A fetish community composed of people who enjoy dressing up in furry animal costumes, often involving a sexual component."I've seen a lot of humanity in my line of work, but nothing like this," she said. Once she got past the initial shock, though, she wasn't fazed, and neither was Link. "His eyes got bigger and bigger as we walked through the convention. He's not used to seeing people with tails so he was very intrigued,” she said. "He kept sniffing them under their tails and I kept apologizing but everyone was very nice about it." And while she's not planning on going to furry conventions recreationally, she respects that to each their own."I talked to one of the mothers whose son was a furry, and she talked about how a lot of these young people don't feel comfortable in their own skin, but then they put on these costumes and they're transformed." Best of all was the fact that, in just two days, Furrycon raised a whopping $10,000 for Pets for Vets. "The whole experience was pretty amazing.”