Dog Show

I have always loved going to the Houston Dog Show. It has a much longer name than that but, it's just the Houston Dog Show. Jeff and I started going to it back when we were dating and back when it was at the Astrodome. Jeff really doesn't care too much about dog shows, but he's always been a good sport about going with me. Going to the show this year felt different. Now that I'm a dog owner I felt like I was one of "them". Of course, I was deluding myself because "them" have very expensive, well trained, well groomed dogs and I have a $50 marginally trained, scruffy mutt. But the dog show is a celebration of those regal canines, those dogs that are true to their breeds. Ok, ok, I know. The dog show is fun but it just seems a little like those little girl beauty pageants. Just a bit over the top. I can't go to the dog show without thinking of the movie "Best in Show". But I still like it. I would really like it if I could take Jake to a show and let him see what these well mannered dogs are capable of. But that would probably destroy his self esteem. Or mine.

Every year I go to the Dog Show, I always say I'm going to take Abigail and her friends one day and go by myself one day. My idea of a perfect Dog Show itinerary would be to get to the show, browse the breed judging and see which breed I want to check out. Since flyball and the agility trials run continuously, I would see those in between. They have something called canine musical freestyle which is dogs dancing with their owners. Sounds silly but I've seen clips of it and I've always wanted to see it there. I can't dance at all so I think dancing with a dog would be very difficult. Anyway, they had 2 dancing dog shows scheduled and I wanted to see one of those. Then, I would go by the "Meet the Breed" area and see which dogs are there. Then go through all the vendors and get free samples and head on out. Yes, that's the way I would do it....if I had been by myself.

This year Jeff and I took Abigail and 2 friends. When we got there, immediately the girls wanted to walk through and see what the vendors had to offer. They all had money in their pockets and it was burning a hole. After walking up and down every aisle and getting all the free stuff we could, the girls decided on their purchases. Abigail's friends both bought something for their dogs. Makes sense. We were at a dog show, get something for the dog. Abigail bought an ankle bracelet. For herself. It didn't even have a dog charm on it. I think the charm said something like "dream" on it. Anyway, we got that out of the way. Jeff took the bags out to the car for us. Next, I thought it would be great to go watch the Jr. Showmanship competition. What could be better than kids showing off their dogs in the ring? The dogs don't even have to be pedigree dogs! Ok, kids, we're going to watch Jr. Showmanship. We went to the ring and sat. They were judging toy poodles (probably one of my least favorite breeds) but I thought they were just a little behind and would finish quickly. We waited 40 minutes....still judging toy poodles. The kids were saying they were hungry and wanting lunch for 35 of those minutes. We finally gave up and went for lunch, spending an exorbitant amount of money for some little pizzas and sodas. After lunch was over, so was the dancing dog show. Ok, well, maybe next year. We decided to go watch some flyball. We watched that for awhile and the girls loved it. Then we went over to the agility trials. We watched 2 dogs go through the course and then everyone walked away. I guess they were done. We heard the music at another arena and decided to get some seats and see what was going on. It was Frisbee dogs. That's always fun. We got through the people, got some seats and watched one guy and his cute Border Collie perform before the announcer thanked everyone for coming. I hadn't even settled back in my seat. At this point, the girls were tired, I was hungry (Jeff and I had split one of those little pizzas) and Jeff was still being patient. I asked the girls if they were ready to go and they were.

As I mentioned earlier, we got some free stuff at the show so I was anxious to try it out on Jake. The market area at the dog show is interesting. They have booths for dog food, accessories and treats, jewelry, teeth whitening (people, not dogs) and the ShamWow. Some of the people at the booths try to talk to you about their products, while others know you're just there for the sample so they're not going to waste your time or their breath. They just hand out the freebie and let the product speak for itself. Those are my favorite booths. One booth's biggest selling point was that their food wasn't made in China. I suppose that would have been a big deal several months ago but I really wondered if that was the best selling point they could come up with. Several places offer all natural dog food now. I think if I wanted to feed Jake all natural dog food, I would just make it myself. Anyway, I came home and tried giving Jake and Freddie (my dad's doxie that we were dog sitting that weekend) some of the samples we received. One of the all natural ones said it was made out of whitefish and sweet potatoes. That didn't even sound good to me. Jake wouldn't touch it. He likes sweet potatoes but he didn't like this version of it. Jake and Freddie's favorite one was from Natural Balance. I had never heard of it before but they ate it up. Natural Balance was "developed" by that world renown dog expert.....Dick Van Patten. Huh? Not Cesar Milan or Victoria Stilwell. Dick Van Patten. He's the guy from "Eight is Enough". I think they had a dog on that show. He and his son Tim came up with this food. They must know what they're doing cause Jake loved it. I was fortunate to snag 2 bags of their food at the show and each time I put it in the bowl, Jake didn't just eat it, he devoured it. The bigger news is that so did Freddie. Freddie is the pickiest eater I have ever known, of people or animals (and I work with 3 year old preschoolers....I know picky eaters). He will only eat if you hand feed him or if it's in the cup holder/dog dish in my dad's pickup. But he ate this food. I think Jake could do a commercial for them. Then maybe next year he would be invited to the Houston Dog Show as a spokesdog. That would be one way he could get in there.