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Dog shows here and there
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Second-place puppy seen returning to line-up at far right. All good-natured dogs.
My first (and only, so far) trip to the UK last fall included a morning spent most agreeably at the annual Open Day of a jump-racing stable. The horses were splendid-looking animals, but the auxiliary events made this a truly British event: the tent with local baked goods and a Cheddar cheesemaker (local, from the original Cheddar—and great cheeses), the local hunt club drumming up interest with their pack of hounds, the sheep races (hysterical—even chased, sheep don’t race!), ferret races, and (of course, since Britons don’t seem to go anywhere without their dogs) an impromptu dog show.
No nonsense about pedigree or fancy show ring—this show consisted of a modest roped-off section of close-mowed field, right next to the car park area. I only caught a couple of the categories: Puppy Class and Most Good-Natured Dog.
A woman my friend Becky and I had talked to got a second in the puppy class with her not-quite-a-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, a lovely Blenheim (brown and white) lady. Apparently, the puppy got distracted by all the new dogs and didn’t pay attention to commands well enough for first…
I don’t know who won the best natured, but I got a chuckle watching the judge come up to each dog entered, take its face between her hands, and smush it to and fro, like an over-fond auntie with a young child. All the dogs were good natured enough to take this with a smile, amazingly enough.
Closer to home, someone commented a while back, in response to an earlier post, that he’d like to find a dog show for his dog. With a little searching, I found a site, InfoDog, that lists local dog events by location, breed and type of show (regular breed shows, agility competitions, costume parades, festivals, etc.).
Another site, BringFido, lets you search for an even broader range of dog events in Illinois—fun walks for pet charities and other non-show events get listed here. The site keeps a Worldwide Dog Events Calendar, and 70% of the events listed benefit humane societies.
The BringFido site also has pages where you can search for Pet Friendly Hotels, Dog Parks & Beaches, and Restaurants that allow dogs. Because this site is not Illinois-centric, you can search for events or dog-friendly hotels, parks and restaurants in cities across US … and elsewhere—Paris IL, KY, TN, TX and France all show up in the location search window. And site-featured hotel listings mention if an extra charge applies for pets. So besides letting you find local/regional information, this site can help you expand your dog-event horizons beyond Chicago if you so choose.
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