He finished the race, didn’t he? That makes him a winner too!

I may never understand how dog shows work – I know they’re looking for breeding standards and obedience and all that – but there’s one part of a dog show that I completely get.  That’s when a dog competes in an agility race.

You’ve seen these.  The dog will jump over some fences, he’ll run through a tunnel, he’ll slalom through some posts, and he’ll look cute while doing this.  It’s similar to an equestrian competition for horses, where they have to jump over fences and leap across streams and look dignified while doing this.

I saw this story in a recent Deadspin article, and it was too cute to not mention in my blog.

So we’re at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, and here’s a dog going through the obstacle course in lightning-fast speed.  It’s a Papillon dog named Gabby, and damn can this dog go.

God damn. That dog means business.

So let’s see what happens when you have a dog who’s just there for the free dog food and the crowd noise.  This is a Bichon Frise named Winky, and you can tell this dog is NOT built for speed.  In fact, this dog is going through the obstacles, finishing them one by one, and sorta giving a look of “How’m I doin'” like it’s just a weekend trip course.

No big deal.  Dog’s probably thinking, “Hey, I’m loved, no big deal, right?”

And at the end of the day, the Bichon Frise did finish the course – in about the same amount of time it would have taken Nipper the RCA dog to complete the course – if you actually threw an RCA record around the track itself.

And let’s face it.  Which dog brought a bigger smile to our faces – the Papillon that zoomed through the course like it was on rocket fuel, or a Bichon Frise who felt like finishing the course when it damn well felt like it?  😀