Hobbes goes to another dog show

Yes, we did wind up taking Hobbes to another dog show, but this time it had absolutely nothing to do with him.  His sisters Sasha and Jada were invited to participate in the Samoyed National Specialty dog show rescue parade, held last September (2007) in Lancaster PA.  This event, organized by the wonderful ladies from MidAtlantic Samoyed Rescue (the group that rescued both Jada and Kody) celebrates all sammy rescues--giving them their moment in the ring.  My husband and I were both really excited to take part (hubby LOVES sammies).  Of course, we had to bring Hobbes along, because he would need to be fed during the few hours we were away from home.

We got to Lancaster, and hung out with the parade coordinators for awhile.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go into the show arena, because our dogs were not officially competing.  The person running this show was not very nice, and certainly not fond of "dogs of color" as Jada and Hobbes were known (we thought that was hysterically funny!)

Dinner time rolled around.  We set up the x-pen and fed the girls.  Then, Tom (my husband) and I took turns holding up Hobbes while the other one fed him.  Then, between the two of us, we had to keep him upright for 20 minutes after the feeding.  Made us really appreciate the Hobbes Box!  Finally, we were ready to give Sasha and Jada their moment in the sun.

Because Tom and I each had to lead one of our dogs in the ring, we recruited some folks to watch Hobbes.  At this time he still had his shaved leg, being only one month after his visit to Cornell.  We told lots of people his story, and they were fascinated.  He got lots and lots of attention, which he, of course, felt was only right!  Some folks there knew all about lappies (sammy people tend to be the people who also know about lappies), and one gentleman had owned the first lappies in PA!  We also had the opportunity to meet Jada's brother and his owner.  He and Jada were by far the most stunning dogs there--the sammie/lappie mix is just amazing.  In fact, someone said they had talked to Hobbes' breeder a couple of years prior, and told her that they should create the perfect dog, a new breed which was a mix of the two.

While Tom and I were waiting to go into the ring, the most amazing thing happened.  A beautiful male sammy started to sing to Sasha!  He was staring at her and making "woo woo" sounds, while Sasha played coy and refused to give him the time of day.  It was adorable!  Our names were called, and we took our stroll around the ring.  Sasha just loved the attention, running from person to person seated around the ring to say hi.  Jada, on the other hand, slowly walked around with her head down and tail between her legs-she was so scared, poor baby.  As we left the ring, Sasha walked over to her boyfriend to say hi, but he ignored her.  Served her right for playing hard to get!

We collected our special ribbons and gift bags for the two girls, and back home we went, tired, but happy about our day spent at the dog show.