We have known for some time that we would be attending the annual Eukanuba Dog Show at the Orlando Convention Center. My sister-in-law from California had two dogs in the show, so this was also an opportunity to see her and her Portuguese Water Dogs, Garth and Nikki. Garth was the stud dog we used for our dog Jetta’s second litter and Nikki is Jetta’s nephew.
I love going to the shows to see the different breeds of dogs, plus we get a behind the scenes look by hanging out around Garth and Nikki’s handlers who had about ten dogs entered in the show. If you have ever seen the movie Best in Show, it is a pretty realistic spoof of these events. The showing part with the judges, my least favorite part, is highly political in terms of the judging and who’s who. I don’t even understand all the different groups and types of qualifications. I do know “our breed,” the Porties, are in the working class but we didn’t stay for that part of the show where they do the groups and then best of show. The amazing thing to me about seeing all the Porties is the varied appearances of the dogs. First of all, the most traditional color is black, with black and white (like Bo, the President’s dog) being the second most common followed by brown, brown and white, and then the least common—silver, champagne, or silver fox like our dog Rico.
Here are a couple photos of my sister-in-law’s dogs: Garth and Nikki. The shaved rear body (called the Lion cut) you will see on Nikki is the most traditional cut for Porties. This cut allowed them to swim more efficiciently; the short cut in back and the long hair in front would keep their bodies warm when they were used by Portuguese fisherman to bring in their nets or as messengers between boats. The judges also allow a retriever cut which is what both of our dogs have.
Of course I had to snap some photos of some other breeds who caught my eye while walking around.
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The other fun part of the show is to check out all the booths with everything under the sun for your pooches. Since I groom the dogs myself, I often have to get a new comb or the latest and greatest shampoo. I am also a big sucker for dog toys, but, luckily, our dog Rico is too rough on the cute soft ones so it is easier for me to resist. This year, what I was unable to resist is the purchase of new collars for the dogs. Leather collars are hard to find (especially at a reasonable price) but I found some that had a bit of bling for less than half the price I saw on-line. So here are our Christmas presents for J and R.
Since we are on the topic of dogs, I thought I would include a few photos of our latest “grandpuppies.” The mother of this litter is Rico’s sister from our litter of nine puppies born near Christmas three years ago that we named after Santa’s reindeer. (Rico’s litter name was Donner; his sister was Vixen.). These are Vixen, now known as Nixie, and Garth’s puppies. Good thing they are all spoken for and that we live in a motorhome!
To round out the “all about dogs” blog, I will leave with you a little Christmas video of Bo, the first family’s dog, checking out the White House decorations.
Love that first picture. They seem to be tolerating the foolishness fairly well but can you just imagine what they are thinking?
ReplyDeleteYes, there is a fair amount of foolishness at dog shows. Knowing the Golden Retriever breed quite well, I am guessing these two dogs just lap up the attention.
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