So, I’m sitting here waiting for Westminster to start for the year. I’m excited. I can’t wait to see the hound group. Seeing as how there are 3 hours of dog show tonight I’m hoping to actually see some coonhound on the TV. plus, blueticks and redbones are new this year so hopefully they will get a little TV time.
Yesterday, Grannie and I went to the state fair. We watched some of the 4H dog performance events. The one that really interested me was brace obedience. This is doing obedience work with two dogs coupled together with one handler off leash. It must take so much work! One little girl and her basset really were memorable. That dog LOVED his little girl and you could tell. He wanted to sniff stuff, but he kept his eyes on her and she rewarded him with love and excitement. She did advanced rally and agility with him. There is nothing cuter than a basset doing agility.
The one thing that was a little sad was when the kids were working with dogs where you could tell the dog did not consider the kid “theirs”. The dog was looking at what it considered its person out in the audience or in the sidelines. I know sometimes in 4H you just have to use the family dog though. The other interesting thing was the number of kids with “performance breeds” like border collies and Australian shepards. Lets just say that some of these kids weren’t quite ready to handle these dogs. The great thing about all of it was it was set up to be fun and to try to help the kids succeed as much as possible. Hopefully it makes the kids love working with their dogs long into adulthood.
The girls also got new collars from Grannie. She saw them at a booth and had to get them! And who am I to complain?
OK, dog show is starting…here’s to the coonhounds!
