Unfortunately, our several detours meant we arrived too late for the costume contest at 1:30, or so we thought. Later, we found out the emcee of the contest never showed up and after waiting quite awhile they finally started the contest without her around 2:00. I'm so bummed since we had the girls already dressed in their costumes from last year and changed them out of them when we got there at 1:40, so poor Lane wouldn't have to walk around in her fat suit in the heat. I think a Ghostbuster and Slimer would have given at least a few people a chuckle.
Here they are in their Halloween picture from last year:
Feel free to chuckle here.
After a quick walk around the festival, we stopped by the play area hosted by Camp Bow Wow, where the girls attend daycare regularly. They were very excited to see all their human friends from camp, and I think it might have been Rory's favorite part of the day. She loves to make an entrance! It typically consists of sprinting in and running the length of the room/yard and immediately greeting all humans and pups in the area while simultaneously casing the joint to make sure no one accidentally left a stray tennis ball. Unfortunately for Rory, no one did, so she had to settling for lots of running, sniffing a lot of butts, and appeasing me by running through the tunnels and into the pop-up dog house on command.
After we left the small dog area, we bumped into Gizmo and Bella, some of our yorkie friends from our local playgroup. The girls were so happy to see more familiar faces, and maybe a bit jealous that both Gizmo and Bella's mommies had slings to carry them around in when they got tired. I'm still not sure carrying a 12 pound yorkie around in a sling is a good idea for my back, but I'm starting to think it might be worth finding out. Apparently, doggie strollers are so 2009. Not that I'll be getting rid of ours any time soon, it's wonderful to have a place to set my purse and shopping bags.
Pawsitively Famous was there to offer training tips and search for new talent. There were quite a few adorable dogs who immediately got stage fright once they got up there. They'd freeze and look at their owners with a confused look on their face. And then there was Rory. There were several steps up to the stage, and I felt confident she wouldn't jump off the stage. Also, my fiance was sitting in the audience with Lane in the stroller, so I knew if Rory decided she wanted to take an unchaperoned tour of the fairgrounds he would be able to stop her. The second I pulled her step-in harness and leash over her head she made a mad dash running around all areas of the stage, sniffing everything and ignoring me completely. I suppose it was just Rory making one of her grand entrances but talk about embarrassing. Never again will I let her off-leash for another contest! I know not to chase her (or any dog) when she runs. I know she thinks it is a game. So I'm unsure why I found myself chasing her all over that stage. She finally walked to the edge of the stage where the trainer met her and stopped her. When I finally retrieved her from the trainer and put her harness and leash back on, she did all her basic tricks perfectly (sit, down, roll over, circle, counter circle, shake, speak, etc.) and finished up with getting me a Kleenex out of a tissue box when I “sneezed.” Needless to say, I believe her entrance overshadowed her perfect execution.
I have no idea what gets into Rory when she gets on stage, but this is the second time she has done something like this. Last year at a Woofstock festival in Atlanta, she darted off within the fenced in yard when I took her leash off to show off her tricks. She has excellent recall during our Paw Scouts training sessions and at the dog park, so I'm not sure what gets into her when it's time to show off on a stage. I don't trust her (or Lane) off leash anywhere that isn't securely fenced in for obvious reasons, but I can't figure out what it is about the outdoor stages that makes her lose all interest in me. She does great when she is front and center at any indoor event. Maybe the great outdoors are just too much for her to resist. Thankfully, there are no pictures of this.
After the embarrassment that was Rory's performance on stage, I thought I was done being embarrassed for the day. I was wrong. We bought our tickets for Lure for the Cure's lure racing, with all proceeds going to the National Canine Cancer Foundation (Hutch would be so proud), and waited in at least a thirty minute line behind other dogs and their owners for our turn. A couple in front of us had two large mixed breed dogs. The male dog had what I refer to as a “scream bark” that was higher pitched than Lane's and only stopped when his owner held him in her arms!!! He was easily sixty pounds too. As we got closer to the front of the line, Rory, like many other dogs, noticed the lure and started barking and went into attach mode. I figured the girls would be naturals since they love to chase the laser pointer at home, and they are also constantly on squirrel patrol when we are out on walks.
We paid for two runs thinking Rory would zoom through the course, and Lane would be more timid and perhaps not complete it. Wrong again. Rory was up first and immediately launched after the lure, but once she got close to it she backed up and continued to bark at it. She was terrified of the lure! I was trying to communicate to the guy working the lure that if he would just let her sniff it without it moving, she would be okay with it and go for it, but I don't think he heard me. We attempted to do both girls together hoping strength in numbers would prevail and also thinking if Rory was this scared Lane wasn't going to do anything but bark and run to us. Well, Lane had other plans. She darted off when she saw the lure, but, unfortunately, they put all the jumps at the beginning of the course and the small dogs can't see over the lure over the pipes (jumps) like the taller dogs can, so she kept backing up thinking she had lost it. I eventually walked her over the jumps, and she was off and really cruising until she reached the tire jump. We've actually been working on jumping through hoops in Paw Scouts, but apparently a tire jump is different enough to be utterly terrifying.
Here is a video with a few clips of them attempting to lure race:
Be sure to note Lane's imitation of a charging bull around the 31 to 34 second mark. You can also see Rory back her little yorkie booty up towards the beginning while Lane zooms off.
For more pictures of the event, check Doggie Debutantes out on Facebook here.
Get the Look
Rory and Lane were sporting their Halloween fufus to the event and can be purchased from Fu Fu Fashions.
Their adorable matching candy corn bows were made by M'Lady's Dog Bows.
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