While visiting the Detroit Kennel Club Dog show one of my favorite events was the dog agility trials. I have never seen such a sport live. First there were the trainers walking the course pointing and talking to themselves in a sort of bizarre pantomime. I later learned they were walking the course because all courses are different. The dogs can’t just memorize a course like bored horses on a tourist trail ride, they have to “listen” to their trainers and obey instant commands, which made me realize that if I were to run my children through this course, we would be instantly DQ’d! The dogs were run in size categories from the very largest hounds running to tiny yorkies. I especially liked watching the dogs run through the weaving poles, each had their own unique style. To learn more about agility training please visit, www.sportsmens.net or check out this cool blog, http://www.johannthedog.com/My_Blog.html and http://www.squidoo.com/agilityfordogs If you have a cool agility video to share, let me know maybe we could link! check out Johannthedog’s
agility run, http://snurl.com/d2yu7 thank you for sharing Johannthedog

Ok readers, many of you guessed what type of dog Molly is and the results are in from the Canine Heritage. The paperwork originally said the test is
determined to be around 87% accurate of higher for breeds in their
database so the results could have some inaccuracy. Too, if they don’t
have a specific breed type in their database, the DNA can be from a more
“ancient” breed that was part of the newer breed’s makeup.

With that said, Molly was determined to be the following:

No breeds noted in the “Primary” or “Secondary” categories, but 4 listed
in the “In the Mix” category.

In the Mix:
* Chow Chow
* Border Collie
* Collie
* Labrador Retriever

Interested in testing? http://www.canineheritage.com/

Molly’s test was purchased from www.CanineHeritage.com The cost was $119.95. The company has a over 100 breeds intheir database, and the information on the site says they will continue
to add more breeds.

It takes only a few days for the test kit to arrive after ordering, and
from the time you send in the sample (to a lab in California) until you
receive the certificate, the process is around 6-8 weeks. Our wait was
closer to 8 weeks due to the number of samples they received after
Christmas. The customer service rep I spoke with mentioned that they
sold a lot of tests as Christmas presents this year so they expected a
spike (and a little longer processing time) in January and February.

Uno with M.D. handler & Erika aka cleanybeany

Had a fabulous time with my sister at the 102nd and 103rd Detroit Kennel Club show. Amazed at the number of show rings with such gorgeous animals. It was an absolute treat to be able to touch the dogs and talk to many of the owners and handlers. The Detroit Kennel Club is only one of six clubs that have these benched shows. Benched shows are when dogs are available and out on a “bench” before, during and after their time in the ring. Now, Uno, the Best in Show winner at Westminster, wasn’t “showing” but was on display and for a small donation to the Therapy Program for the Children’s Hospital, you were allowed to get a picture with him. Well how could I resist…I mean the first beagle to win “Best” I even got an “autographed” paw print picture. So many interesting aspects to the show, like the agility, confirmation, terrier racing , duck herding I am going to have to break it up into different posts. Stay tuned for more information about this wonderful dog show.