4-H dog show highlights agility of man’s best friend

Despite heavy rains and low crowd attendance Friday evening, Leighann Edwards, a 4-H organizer, set up obstacles for the Monroe County Fair’s 4-H Dog Agility Show. \n“Normally if it’s not raining, the bleachers are full,” Edwards said. “But because of the rain, I doubt we’ll get anybody.”\nAs the rain got heavier, approximately 100 people filed into the stands as contestants and their dogs set up for the show. \nEach dog had two trials to run around the 10 obstacles in the arena. There was no winner this year because there was not enough time to practice during the week, she said. Every dog, however, did receive a blue ribbon after its run around the course.\nMost dogs were slow at first – clocking in anywhere between a minute-and-a-half to two minutes. Edwards had to stay on the track during each dog’s run to make sure the canine made it through the course.\nEllettsville, Ind. resident Scott Dreher registered his German Shepherd Sadie for the first time this year in the show. During both trials, Sadie started off fast but became distracted when the crowd began cheering. Sadie ran the course in about a minute for both trials.\n“My mom and step-dad took her to training when she was a baby,” he said. “She still doesn’t listen to me though.”\nDespite the distraction, Dreher claims that Sadie would have gone faster if he had run the course with her.\n“She performed pretty well for first time,” he said.\nBloomington resident Michelle Sears and her daughter Hannah attended the dog show for the first time this year. Sears said her family has been going to the fair for as long as she can remember.\n“We wouldn’t know what to do not coming to the fair,” she said.\nHannah said she enjoyed watching the different breeds of dogs and seeing whether they could make it through the various obstacles. She said she would definitely come back to the dog show the next year.