Home From Pet Expo

We were a hit! Due South performed at Pet Expo and people were excited by the variety of performances! Jennifer and River made the television news! Joan and Beau made the on-line Herald video! Donna put our square dance performance and her freestyle and disc on u-tube! I must say that having the 'men' square dancers wear black golf shirts and the women white shirts was a great idea. On the "swing the women back to back" set, it looked very classy.

In the Carting Olympics, Joan and I were very proud of RoZe and Beau as they actually did drill-work harnessed and hitched. A subtle message about obedience was given when Brazil and Levi stayed in the carts for the entire entrance and figure 8 moves.

Tubby's DDX dog, Lexi, showed the finesse necessary to do a 360' turn without having the wheel of the cart move outside a one foot circle. His brace of Newfoundlands, Lexi and Simon, finished off the performance and, because he will be out at the Nationals on the west coast for his birthday next weekend, we took the opportunity to sing Happy Birthday to Tubby at the end of our afternoon performance. We wish him well at the "Olympics".

Deb maneuvered our eight dog/handler drill team around posts and made us look really good. Actually Louann and Maureen were so in-synch it was amazing. Their footwork matched perfectly!

We had some pretty fast runs in barrel-racing by Ryder, Lexi and Beau as big dogs and by Brazil and Krissy, the smaller dogs.

I think the dogs enjoyed the opportunity to run!

Our dogs were a real draw for people who appreciated their obedient natures and came over to the booth to find out more about our club. We had 10 people interested in joining and making the trip to Cowley to train with us. I know Swayze was a huge draw for people over at the CAPPDT booth when Sarah-Jane and I were manning it. He met his first ever baby and was a prince, lying down and remaining still while the baby touched him on his ears and face. He was fascinated by the little elastic headpiece with a tiny bow on it and ended up kissing the baby on the head while he smelled the bow. He was just as great with the people in wheelchairs, taking it all in without a care. All our dogs walked through the building without incident, which was difficult at times because of the numbers of 'rescue dogs' being led around by kids and allowed to run out to the ends of their leads to 'greet' other dogs and people. Not all of us want our dogs visiting at will with strange dogs, thank you very much.

I had occasion to call AMA and have them check my van tire and put in some air. It lasted until today....... slow leak.

Saturday night 12 of us headed to Mavericks for a well-deserved supper and some relaxation. Then back to the hotel where we shared some refreshments and some laughs before bed. RoZe decided that if she couldn't stay with Swayze and Token and me, then nobody was going to sleep. In the end, she slept in the van with Walker. Sunday night she joined us and after a great

play with Swayze, she turned in and slept the entire night without moving a hair.

We had the Red Deer Pet Expo try to entice us to go to their Pet Expo in October 2010 but it's an expensive venture to travel for the fun of it. Hotels, meals, parking passes, exhibitors' badges and gasoline are not covered by the Pet Expo and they add up.

The club is in the midst of ordering some very nice vests with our SAWHDA logo and a pawprint on them. Paid up members for 2010 are encouraged to visit Logos in Lethbridge to try on a vest should they wish to purchase one. Cost will be around $60.

No dog club this week. We all deserve a rest. Thank you to everybody who made our trip to Pet Expo a blast.

Judi