Sunday, October 19, 2008

JRTCA Nationals




I spent a good chunk of Saturday at the national trial of the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America -- the only dog show I go to. As always there were a lot of dogs -- somewhere between 900 and a 1,000 terriers -- and quite a lot of them very good looking examples of the type.

I spent most of my time schmoozing with folks, but I did do a quick cruise of the stalls where I found a first edition (1931) copy of Igloo for sale for $14. I had actually posted a bit about this book a few weeks back, and the price was right so I snapped up the book on the assumption that God clearly wanted me to actually read it.

I did not spend too much time watching the dogs being paraded around the ring (there are no professional handlers at a JRTCA trial), but I did pause to note that this year 30 dogs got Bronze Medallions for having successfully worked three kinds of quarry in the ground (groundhog, red fox, gray fox, raccoon, badger or possum are the options) before a JRTCA hunt judge. For the record, these are real hunts in field, forest or hedgerow, and the JRTCA judges are not paid for their time, their gas, or their expertise. This is all voluntary and 30 Bronze Medallions represents a considerable amount of time in the field.

The weather for the trial was picture-perfect, and to my untrained eyes everything seemed to go off without a hitch.
Congratulations to all who work behind the scenes to put these kinds of things on -- it is a tyranny of details and thankless work to boot. Hat's off to all those who do it!
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