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Macungie September 15th 2007
GPCA Regional Specialty
Hosted by
PENN-DUTCH Great Pyrenees Club
in conjunction with the
Lehigh Valley
KC Show
by Donna
Mercado
If you skipped this
event we are sorry to report that you missed one of the most
spontaneous and comprehensively fun days you are ever likely to
exPYRience.
To coincide with
the AKC’s responsible pet ownership day, Penn Dutch invited several
groups of 4H kids to visit with them at their September specialty.
The response was overwhelming and numbers had to be eventually capped
at thirty kids from four different groups. The purpose of the
exercise was to introduce them to the world of show dogs and provide
information about the Great Pyrenees.
To this end, a week
before the show they gathered and were given a talk about the
structure and purpose of a dog show. This covered in broad
outline everything from the class structures to the relevance of
stacking to the judging of the breed standard. They also got to
meet the breed and learn a little of its history.
On the day of the
show Dianne Migas the Penn Dutch Specialty Show Chair greeted a
busload of eager, interested 4H kids and directed them to a brief
grooming demonstration. They then took their places to watch the
judging. Barb Bowes of Penn Dutch and Joanne Krausman of Garden
State provided a presidential running commentary of the judging to
help the kids and some adults understand.
After the
obligatory face stuffing lunch the real fun started. It was time
for the 4H kids to run off the cake and demonstrate what they had
learned. Dogs were borrowed from the exhibitors and a fun match
was held. Dr. Valerie Seeley was prevailed upon to extend her
judging duties from sweeps to cover the event. Three
rounds of close competition forced Valerie to reluctantly and with
considerable difficulty identify six individual winners.
In addition to
thanking Dr. Seeley, the organizers would like to take this
opportunity to thank all the owners who lent their dogs and helped
make this possible. In particular the pet owners who attended
the event and Mona the veteran sweepstakes star who stayed well past
her bedtime to play with the kids.
Out of the mouth of
babes … A selection of quotes from emails received from the kids
following the event.
…….I am glad the judge didn’t go easy on us just cause we
are kids …
Thanks, Thank You, Thanks, Thank You, Thanks, Thank You,
Thanks, Thank You, Thanks, Thank You, Thanks, Thank You, Thanks, Thank
You, ……………….(it
goes on like that for a page and a half)
I put in my log that this was the most fun thing we did all
year and so did A…..
Danny was my favorite, hes like a big teddy bear …
……….We learned so much and cant wait till the next dog
show.
To see more pics,
visit the three pages in the album at
http://groups.msn.com/4hPYRS/
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