Not many things will get me out of bed in time to see a sunrise. I'm all about sunsets, sunrises are to be slept through. Except when I get an invitation to a dog show......
The Pond's invited us to join them at the Wine Country Dog Show held this weekend at Sampson State Park, about 1 1/2 hours east of us. To take the sting out of getting up that early we stopped at Dunkin Donut for coffee and you know whats.
The drive along route 5&20 took us past farm fields of corn, soybeans and cabbage, up and down low, rolling hills and past the ends of Canandaigua and Seneca Lakes (two of the finger lakes).
The corn is being harvested for winter feed, the soybeans are browning in the fields, ready to combine and the cabbage heads are fairly bursting. In another few weeks, after the cabbage are all picked, these fields won't smell very good! The left over leaves begin to rot in the damp fall fields and the smell of cabbage permeates the air until the farmers finally plow them under.
Today was the third day of a three day dog show, so there were not as many entries as during the first few days, but the five of us thoroughly enjoyed our day. We'd packed a lunch and ate together on chairs in front of the agility ring. Agility classes are basically obstacle courses run by a single dog and its handler, judged on speed and accuracy. The dog works at the handler's direction and for the sheer joy of running, jumping and weaving. Dogs of all kinds and sizes compete and its a real hoot to watch. Some dogs race at breakneck speed, obeying their owner's every command. Others take their time and carefully negotiate each obstacle. And some just don't feel like doing it right now, they sniff, they stroll, they saunter and some simply leave.
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a small poodle negotiates a jump -
behind her are weave poles and a tunnel |
The breed rings, the rings where dogs are judged for their conformation, their beauty, and not on their performance are held on either side of long white tents. We walked around, stopping to watch breeds we were interested in and breeds we don't get to see often. We checked out all the vendors selling dog related wares. We made a few purchases....
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| a hot Great Dane |
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| two beautiful Afghan Hounds |
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| an Afghan's distinctive tail |
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| dogue de bordeaux |
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| two shy chinese crested dogs |
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| wouldn't Lewis hate this hair cut? |
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| a portuguese water dog like Pam and Vic's sweet Jetta! |
At first glance the parking lots surrounding the show look like campgrounds. The dog show people and professional handlers drive motorhomes, vans, and pull trailers loaded not with camping supplies, or granite countertops and queen size beds, but with crates and crates of dogs, grooming tables, exercise pens and all the other necessary accoutrements for dog show life on the road.
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| four crates of Shetland Sheepdogs move smoothly from motorhome to ring |
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| 6 very patient Goldens await their turn in the ring |
What a fun day we had!
That would be a fun day. Boy, there are some really bad haircuts! Lewis would be so embarrassed to even be seen with that poor white Giant Poodle. But those Goldens are beautiful:) Nice sunrise. I totally agree with your thinking, Sue, on sunrises:)
ReplyDeleteAlways dreaded those few weeks of stinky, harvested fields :-( I used to watch the Westminster show on tv every year - always cringing at the poor poodles' grooming. Now that we have Tessa, I cringe at the cuts on the Wheaten Terriers too - they look like completely different dogs! Looks like a very fun day, so glad the weather was great for them and you :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I never knew that the fields would stink for a while after picking.
ReplyDeleteGreat dog shots! Agility is a fun event to watch. I wonder if I'd have the patience to train a dog so extensively for that???
These are fun pictures to recall a terrific day with friends. No matter what we are doing,
ReplyDeleteit always seems to better doing it with the two of you. Great weather, beautiful dogs, a lovely venue
on Seneca lake...our favorite two friends.
We love dog shows too--sure sounds like a fun day to me and the sunrise was a lovely bonus. My favorite part is not the competition but seeing all the different breeds. I always try to take photos of them but they never turn out as good as these. Of course, I especially liked seeing the black Portie--wish I could groom Jetta that well--and you know my heart is always soft for the Goldens. Jetta has nine new grand puppies born two days ago in the Bay Area that we are longing to see.
ReplyDeleteWow, never been to a dog show except on tv. I like the Afghan Hounds, they are cute and seem behave :)
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