The Dog Days of July

On a hot Friday morning, I picked up my adventurer and set out for The Dog Show.  Indoors.  Air conditioned.  Furry four-legged fun.

Bunny and Beagle are excited about
going to The Dog Show.

A good idea for transport from the parking lot
and around the huge exhibit halls at NRG Park.

 While waiting in line for my ticket, Daniel and I saw a dog in a stroller with ears that looked like a shaggy black butterfly.  We spotted a pair of white Scotties sitting expectantly with their owner.  Then two shivering Chihuahuas poked their heads from the pockets of a purse.  It was going to be a silly day.

We watched the Flyball competition, which involves lots of high-energy dogs running relays.  Tennis balls, hurdles, and celebratory barking made it exciting to see.  D wanted to get on the course, but it was only for dogs.

So we watched Field Trials.  That's the one where the handler guides his/her dog through a course of hurdles, tunnels, a big ramp, and a seesaw.  Of course, Daniel wanted to get out there and play, but it was only for dogs.  However, my sharp-eyed explorer spotted something across the hall.  "Wanna' go see the red and lellow?"  And he guided me to an idle ramp and seesaw right there in the hall.  No warning signs anywhere, so D took them on while I watched carefully.

Trying out the red and lellow doggy ramp.

 After at least five minutes of conservative dawdling, I was severely reprimanded by a passer-by for allowing a child to play on the equipment.  She growled through closed teeth, "It's only for the dogs."

We moved on.

The wagon made a good platform for access to water fountains.
Daniel acted like the Three Bears, trying out all the sizes.
I was pretty sure these were for people.

Every possible breed of dogs was represented by a rescue organization with booths lining one hall as far as the eye could see.  Good!  Hands-on snuggles with sweet little (and big) rescued canines.  Not so much.  At GiGiHeyYea's house Daniel has been spooked by one too many neighborhood yappers; and at this point I realized he wanted nothing to do with up-close fur on four legs.  Not the pugs in matching tutus.  Not the curly blonde cocker with soft brown eyes.  Not even the 40+ pound old basset hound who rolled over on her long back to beg for belly scratches.

So we moved on.

How great is this?!
Bins of dog toys are lots of fun to explore.

We poked around in bins of every kind of doggy toy from those loosey latex squeakers to a singing mouse to grunting wart hogs the size of personal watermelons.  In the middle of our Christmas morning experience, there appeared an Ichabod Crane-ish teenager whose apologetic demand went like this--"Please don't squeeze the squeaky toys too much.  You'll wear them out."

Okay.  a) We weren't squeaking that much because GiGi would have become crazed.
            b) He just lost a sale, because D was enthralled with the singing mouse.
   and   3) Wear them out.       . . . REALLY?!!!?!

What was I thinking?  These were only for the dogs.

So we moved on.

The next thing that my partner-in-crime spotted was baskets full of balls.  He made a couple of folks stutter-step when he struck a bee line for the big purple unit that must have been designed for a Bull Mastiff.  They didn't bounce like D thought they would, what with that big rope looped through the middle.  We moved on.

Tug toys for Great Danes and Bull Mastiffs

The Texas Collie Rescue Booth had an eye-catching wheel to spin for a prize.  The lady happily took my dollar, Daniel spun the wheel, and the dark green wedge earned him a plastic slinky.  Hooray!

The Wheel of Collie Fortune

 It was time to make our way to the arena where dogs would be dancing and exhibiting their Frisbee skills.  Down the exhibit aisles Daniel trotted, with me bringing up the rear, wagon and all.  D veered slightly to catch a peak inside a small trailer whose door was open to the aisle.  A stern-faced woman lurched to block my buddy and shriek at me, "Children are not allowed in here!"  You know that scene in Monsters Inc. where the monster is discovered with a child's sock stuck to his back and the alarm sounds for the hazmat crew to lock him down?  Yep.  By the look in that woman's black eyes, that's what I thought was going to happen next.

BTW, I assumed that people who love dogs would also care about children as well.  With the exception of  a couple of the folks manning those rescue booths, there wasn't a dog's water bowl full of hospitality to be found.  Maybe it was all clustered next door at the Ringling Brothers Circus.

But I digress.  We found the arena where the dogs would dance and play.  We had plenty of time to have a picnic of sorts while waiting for the show.

Annie's Cheddar Bunnies--that's what's for lunch.

What a hoot!
This dog actually sat in a seat and watched the entire show.

This pup, however, hardly ever sat in his seat.  :~D
See the black shape with blue neon lights in the top of the picture?

 From across the arena Daniel could see a big shiny black truck, and he was done with dancing dogs.  So we went to explore the tricked-out van on our way out of NRG Park.

Checking out the stats on this vehicle

Here's my partner-in-crime.
We had a good time.
And I learned an important lesson:
The Dog Show is only for the dogs.