SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- The life of a show dog is pretty sweet.
According to several show dog owners at this weekend's Fall Conformation Show & Obedience Trial put on by the Sioux Empire Kennel Club at the W.H. Lyon Expo Building, they're just like your mutt--except prettier.
Whether big dogs or little dogs, the dogs are pets that just happen to have a side gig. Like a beauty pageant or a track meet, there are different events. Confirmation is not getting confirmed in your church as a youth but checking the dog to see if it physically meets all the standards of the breed.
Obedience, is well, obedience. Do they mind their handler and interact properly with their humans. Then there are other competitions of physical prowess and agility, such as rally. That's where there are various stations the dog and handler have to navigate.There's also tracking, which is not just a practical skill in finding lost people but competitive as well. Agility is speed, jumping, and navigating a course.
Once the event is over, the dogs go back with their handlers to a waiting area--usual sitting in groups of other handlers and dogs. There, owners talk amongst themsleves, groom their dogs, let them take a nap, or even let them play with other dogs.
Holding two long-coat chihuahuas and one short-coat version who liked kissing their master, Kathy Hulstein from Sioux Center, Iowa, talked about the joys of being a person who has been showing dogs since 1996 and what she thinks the dogs feel.
"Oh absolutely, they love it," she said while holding the wriggling dogs. "They're so happy. It's a good social event for them--and for us."
She then turned and exclaimed, "They're wagging their tails!"
The events goes on all weekend and is free.