Monday, August 15, 2011

A winning team


She loved the attention.

Luna was awesome at the Somerset County 4-H Fair!  She enjoyed meeting so many new dogs and people during the three days she was there.  I was surprised by how good she was with the small children.  It is hard to believe that this is the same dog that was terrified of an oncoming toddler six weeks ago.  

Luna keeps her eyes on the judge.

New for this year the dog project had an alumni show.  Previous dog club members came together to see if we still had our dog showmanship skills.  I decided to use Luna who had all of ten minutes practice on a show lead before entering the ring.  We were competing against some dogs who had been trained for years and handlers who I had never been able to beat.  One person in particular was my good friend Nathalie.  When we were in the dog club together I was never able to beat her in showmanship.  She always placed higher than me.  This was always a running joke between us.

It turns out Luna is a natural at showmanship.  She looked amazing running around the ring with her head held high, a prancing gait, and a look that said "I'm having fun!"  She was perfect when in came to stacking.  Our training on "stay" really paid off.  I would place her feet without any trouble and she would hold her stance for a very long time.  It drove me crazy to think that inexperienced Luna was doing just as well as Eris, my project dog, had done at the height of her career.

Not only did our performance outshine Nathalie, but we ended up taking 1st place!  Not to shabby for a dog who I adopted from the racetrack six weeks ago.  Since Luna shows so much promise for showmanship and obedience I have offered her to one of my club members for training.  Hopefully, there will be many more ribbons in their future.
Luna is proud of her ribbon, but she really wants the treat.


1 comment:

houndstooth said...

It looks like Luna is a natural! I'm not sure I'd let somebody else show my dog, but that's a particular peculiarity of mine. Luna looks beautiful in the ring.