Hi, Shaggy!

(This photo comes from last year's demo -- we forgot the camera this time.)


Last night, my local obedience club put on its annual obedience/flyball demo as part of the York Days festival on York Beach. The folks in my club have all sorts of breeds from Skye Terriers to Newfies, so we made for a pretty varied crew. Seamus was (as usual) the only Beardie there.

After an introduction from our president and some "team sit-stays" by her four Cockers, a bagpiper piped us all into the ring. We did a little drill-team heeling to "Scotland the Brave," and I could hear a few kids in the crowd calling, "Hi, Shaggy!" or "Look -- the Shaggy Dog!". We performed a few of the Novice exercises (sit-stay, down-stay, and figure 8s) and left the ring. People ooohed at the puppies, applauded wildly at the flyball demo and the Jack Russells doing freestyle, and cheered as the Open and Utility dogs did retrieves.

When the demo was over, most of us stayed around so people could pet the dogs and talk to us. Seamus loves kids, so he was more than happy to sit and lie down for the smaller ones, and to offer slurpy kisses to any and all interested parties.

Although lots of people of all sizes wanted to pet Seamus, our token Shaggy Dog didn't draw nearly the attention that the Golden Retriever puppies or the Jack Russells did -- so I think it's safe to say that Beardies weren't the Flavor of the Month breed here, even if the movie did just release on DVD. We had a good time anyway.