Thursday, June 29, 2006

Cultural diversity in dogdom

Because I'm the registrar for our dog trraining club, I don't usually bring my dog to training on the first night of a new session. I'm busy before class starts, about 10 minutes into the class and again towards the end, when the next class is getting ready to go.

We run two rings with classes, the Beginner and Open dogs train first, then the Novice and Utility dogs an hour later. I've got to say that watching is almost as much fun as being in the ring.

Dogs are a great equalizer. When we're all in the ring, you have absolutely no idea what anyone does in "real life" - what they do for a living, what kind of house they live in, who they live with. We're all just getting together to have a good time with our dogs. And we're all pretty much dressed alike - jeans, t-shirts and sneakers, or their equivalents. We also may not know each other's names - but we know the dogs! I'm Roc's mom for training purposes. And I know when the instructor calls for Roc to do something, she's not expecting him to act independently. My dog and I are a team and the instruction is really meant for the team member who actually speaks English.

I was particularly enjoying the different kinds of dogs in class this week. We had:
  • Weimeraner
  • Giant Schnauzer
  • Border Terrier
  • German Shepherd
  • Rottweiler
  • Miniature Schnauzer
  • Golden Retriever
  • Sheltie
  • Saluki
  • Spanish Water Dog
  • Cocker Spaniel
  • Parson Russell Terrier

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