Poser

Juno attended a Northern Breed dog show this weekend. I have to admit, I'm not into these "poser" dog shows. But it was a "fun-match," meaning, not very official and useful for anyone who is slightly interested in posing, err, I mean, showing their pure-bred dogs. I entered the show because I thought there were going to be some demonstrations on cart pulling, weight pulling and activities that I though Juno would have a blast at trying. The entire day I was completely confused by the word "class" because sometimes it was used as a "learning class" where you'd go and learn something like how to teach obedience to a cat, err, I mean a Northern Breed, and sometimes "class" was used as "classification" or "poser class" for showing and competing your dog against others.Juno and I attended the whole day's show with Christine and her red Siberian husky-mix, Yukon and Christi-Ann with her 10-year old Samoyed. Christi-Ann is our dog trainer at The K9-Clinic. Later on, a few other K9 Clinic friends showed up with their GSD's for fun. Any breed dog got to enter the sled dog class and the weight pulling contest.

Here's a round-up of the day's results:

Husky Charm Obedience Class: I actually thought this would be a "poser contest" for most obedient and I was excited because Juno has so much charm I thought for sure she'd win. Turns out it was a "learning class" where trainers would teach you how to get your dog to obey. The trainers were 100% positive reinforcement trainers who quickly put down the prong collar and supported the use of a harness. So the three of us, the only ones using a prong, sat in the corner and quietly listened. Then we got called on to heel our dogs, specifically because we weren't participating and we had prongs. So we did it. And our dogs heeled. SMACK DOWN! Each of us got in trouble for doing it all wrong. I guess it doesn't matter that our dogs were the only ones behaving and quietly sitting peacefully while everyone's dogs were squirming around.

Siberian Spayed Class: This was actually what I thought it would be, a "poser contest." There were so many classifications, male/female, several classifications of puppies ages, that it took forever for our classification to be called and Juno was constantly impatient. When they got to Juno's classification, we did our best. They called on each dog to inspect it. Juno hated standing for the judge, she wiggled and jumped any time a judge tried to handle her. But she heeled next to me beautifully and pranced with her mouth open. I think there were 12-15 entered and she took 4th place! It was her best placing because it was her biggest group.

Sled Dog Class: Ok, this is where I'm the doofus. I thought this would be a "learning class" to teach your dog how to pull a sled or cart. Turns out, it was a "poser class." And I'm embarrassed to admit, Juno came in 5th place out of 6 dogs doing only one better than the sixth place winner, a Labrador! Poor Juno. I think her extra 7 lbs weight was working against her here.

Adult Handling Class: I thought this would be a "poser contest" and it was actually a combination of both. The judge came and educated us on what judges look for in a dog and handler and gave little pieces of advice on how to make the dog stand and get felt up by a stranger. This actually would have been better if it was given before we "posed" our dogs! Again, we weren't allowed to use our prong collars and had to use a choke chain. I had one of my dominant dog collars with me, which is a little like a choke chain, but sits high up under the chin so it can't hurt the larynx. After the education, we got to demonstrate how we handled our dogs. Juno and I took 3rd place and Christine and Yukon took 4th. Christi-Ann our "dog trainer?" She got 5th place! Boooowhahahaha! The apprentices beat the master! All kidding aside, the judge loved how we all handled our dogs so it was pretty much a tie for all 5 of us.

Weight Pulling: Finally! An event that made sense to me. I could hook my dog up to a harness and see what she had in her. First she had to weigh-in. That was an event in itself. I kind of wish they had an escape artist competition because Juno would win easily. They used a sling and hanging pull to lift the dog up and weigh it. Juno would have none of that and escaped it three times. One of the times she took off and ran away in an unfenced area. Of course the event people started to chase her and I had to tell them not to chase her because it would only increase her drive to run and I'd never get her back. So I calmed down, was happy to see her heading 900 feet away from the road and into a field and I stayed glued in one spot. I squatted down and called her three times and she finally returned. Thanks to all our training. For the record, yes we train on the prong. The exasperated event leader took my word on her weight since she had just been weighed that week and we were good to go. For Juno's first pull, 300 lbs, she was a bit freaked. She wasn't used to getting in and out of the harness. And she didn't know what to do. When she figured it out, the audience cheered and she got a huge treat when she pulled the cart over the line. She loved the cheers and treats and figured out what to do. So she did her next pull, 400 lbs, beautifully. By 500 lbs, she looked like she was stuck in the mud. Still she managed to pull it over the line.  But we quit her at 500 lbs. For a 62 lb dog, who's not in pulling shape, I'd say that was not half bad! She made me proud!

Juno's favorite part of the day was flirting with a very big hunk-a-hunk of burnin' love sable malamute named Bandit. She batted her eyes, play bowed him and jumped all over him whenever she could. She could not take her eyes off of him. Later on, I found out why. He still had his bits in place. It's nice to know my dog is a hussy.

 More pix to come hopefully later this week!

"Ya, whatever. Ribbons are highly over-rated."

Juno shows how much she values her poser winnings.
"Ha! these poser prizes must be destroyed! I am a Husky. I do not pose. I work."

Too bad there wasn't a class for digging. Here's a first place winning I found in the back yard today.

Someone wasn't too pleased with all the toys that the husky brought home and bullied her into sharing her loot.