Corgi-licious

I had never been to a dog show. My only experience was watching the comedy "Best in Show" which I love, but it isn't necessarily a testimonial for watching dog shows.

Anyway, my daughter and I went to the Duluth Kennel Club's Dog Show at the DECC on Friday. Before I had a dog, I would never have dreamed of going to a dog show. I get a little hesitant in any large group of people that have a singular goal (today a dog show participant, tomorrow a gun runner for the Sandanistas).

But we find our pup beguiling and we do love to look at other Corgis.

So we arrived and then realized we forgot the camera. Oh,well, we paid our way in and checked on when the Corgis would be judged. We had an hour and a half to wander around and watch the fluffing and the grooming.

We noticed two distinct catagories of people. People that treated their dogs like sacks of meat, only to be used for their own glorification, and people who seemed to realize that the dog in front of them was a living creature with feelings. We scoped out all the Corgis and watched how the owners acted. We then drew up mental lists of who we wanted to win. Not based on what their dog was like but based on what their owners were like...as you can tell, we have a lot to learn.

One thing we noticed right away was the fact that the show Corgis didn't have any tail at all. Our Shuggi had his tail docked but apparantly incorrectly. He has enough of a tail that he can chase and bite it. This automatically makes him a loser in the dog show eugenics world.

I even found this shirt which seems to address the issue rather succinctly...

We even spoke to a very nice lady with a wonderful Cardigan Corgi that talked about someone trying to give her a male Corgi for free because he had a tail and was therefore "Useless" to the present owner. This lady checked into getting his tail surgically fixed but it would have been $500 and major surgery. They are, in essence, removing the end of the spine. She didn't want to have to pay for the surgery and she felt that it would be too traumatic for the dog so she didn't take him.

It makes me want to take Shuggi to the next dog show after dyeing his fur blue and pink. It is my personal philosophy that people who sweat the small stuff need to be introduced to the big stuff...that, and I just like pissing off snobs. I kept whispering "It's racism! It's canine racism!" My daughter pretended not to hear me quite sucdessfully.

So, we saw beautiful dogs.
Some looked like this















and some like this




















others even looked like this

















But the Pembroke Corgis all looked like this from the rear


















Well, I'm just reliving the moment when I realized at about 9 years old that I would never be
1. A ballerina
2. A beauty queen

At least our pup has a fairy saddle, which I think is the most important thing of all. The fairies don't care if you have a tail or not.