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FairAugust 23, 2009 I'm almost certainly going to regret it by midweek, because I've got one horrendous crunch of a deadline coming up, but I spent all day at the fair, escorting or escorted by Travvy. We showed up early to help Karen Ogden set up her space under the trees near the ferris wheel. This was quite an undertaking -- imagine setting a stage with a very complicated set. Fortunately Karen is well organized, and several of us were helping. The first step was enclosing our area -- a trial-size space with a smaller section for us, our dogs, and their crates -- in snow fencing. Then setting up a small tent, table, and various signage and resource materials. Then setting up the agility obstacles: agility was first on the demonstration schedule. Now you understand why Karen drives around in a good-size Tundra pickup and hauls a trailer for special events. I brought Travvy's crate, which involved moving all the piles of books, bumper stickers, printed materials, newspapers, and half-forgotten mail that have accumulated on top of it onto the nearby chair. Travvy stayed in the truck. Now I can't remember why I didn't leave Travvy at home; it had rained overnight, but the rain had stopped, so I could have left him on the deck. He got a little stressed and started chewing on the driver-side head rest, It doesn't look nearly as bad as the one on his side, but it's heading in that general direction. Turned out he had serious business to do in the woods. When set-up was nearly complete, we went home so Trav and I could take a walk and I could fortify myself with tea and cereal. Back at the fair, Trav and I went over to register for the dog show, which would be held in the pulling ring. While we were out in the open, the sun came out of the haze and the temp shot up about 20 degrees. The humidity was, as usual, somewhere close to 100%. Travvy was pretty good considering all the dogs in the area, and especially considering the ones whose owners weren't paying much attention to what they were doing. We hung out at Karen's camp, taking occasional strolls around the grounds, mostly sticking close to the ring where the draft horse show was going on. The mounted classes were all bareback, and the riders were having way too much fun. Some of those horses looked about as drafty as Allie. Maybe we can crash the party next year. Alaskan malamutes come near the top of the Working Group list. Travvy and I were ready to enter the ring, only first I couldn't see where the entrance once because it was so jammed with people, and then some people wouldn't move themselves and their dogs out of range. Finally we made it in. Trav was the only malamute -- which I suspected he would be, seeing as last year there were none -- so he got a blue, despite joshing by my judge and ringmaster buddies that they thought he'd get an honorable mention. (If the judge doesn't think the sole entrant in a one-dog class deserves a blue, they can give it a red or a yellow or an honorable mention.) We trotted our stuff. Trav was very good, but he couldn't quite figure out what he was doing there. In the Best of Group class, a judge appeared out of nowhere and tried to inspect his teeth. He snapped at her. My bad: I hadn't expected a teeth inspection so I hadn't prepared him for it. That might have got us disqualified but maybe not: the competition was very keen, including Travvy's classmate Sailor the Great Dane, who has won ribbons in serious AKC dog shows (which this one wasn't). The Bernese mountain dog won best in group. Later we participated in the Rally O demonstration. Trav was fine once we got going on the obstacles, but getting his attention before we got started was a, ahem, challenge. He was fascinated by the A-frame agility obstacle, which by this point was stowed at one end of the "ring." Then he was fascinated by smells in the grass. Our second run was better. Given how well he dealt with distractions and other dogs, though, I think I'm not totally nuts to be taking him to those trials next month. Breaking camp at the end of the day went very smoothly. We left before everything was stowed in Karen's truck and trailer because we still had barn chores to do. We stopped at home first. I fed Trav his supper and called Cynthia to say I'd be late to writers' group because I really needed to shower before I went into any human-inhabited dwelling. I left Trav on the deck when I drove off to Cynthia's. When I returned, well after nine, Trav wasn't on the deck. Uh-oh. After a moment's thought, I dismissed the possibility that he'd jumped the gate onto the stairs and taken off. Then I noticed he was inside. Uh-oh again: had he caused a ruckus and the neighbors put him inside? Then I noticed that the screen was no longer fully attached to its frame. Trav had made a dog door of it. And I was so hoping to get through the summer without a trip to the window and door shop. He hadn't committed any mischief inside, though. Both wastebaskets were upright and full up.
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