Occasionally Shelley helps out a colleague's husband by manning his dog-food-selling booth at dog shows. One of the shows she agreed to help at this year is Nuts for Mutts, a show specifically for mutts rather than pure-breds. It's a money raiser for New Leash on Life, an organization dedicated to rescuing unwanted animals.

When we found out about the show (this is only their second annual), we decided that I would enter Zero into competition there. They have many categories, so we chose Best Singer and Best Stupid Pet Trick for her. (We wanted Prettiest Small Mutt too, but it was already sold-out.) Other categories are Worst Breath, Best Jumper, and several for various mixes in the muttship arena. And a few other miscellaneous ones.


Zero and her stupid mooing trick.



Zero and me after her singing.



Zero - hot and tired!


This event was originally scheduled for three weeks ago, but we actually got rained out then. Although no rain fell today, I'm not sure the results turned out any better. All the dogs (and owners) thought it too hot and tiring to be at the show all day.

From what I saw, the vast majority of the dogs did not perform their tricks or stunts well, because they got distracted by everything going on around them. Much about the show disappointed, therefore, just because of that.

Zero sang as well as she usually does, however some larger dogs did better so she did not place in that contest. As for mooing, she didn't really do it at all, and kind of lapsed into a yelping and a little bit of the stretch motion we wanted her to do. Disappointing for sure, but it was late in the afternoon and she wasn't into it. Ah well.

Overall, I'd give a C grade to the show. Kim Basinger serves as the figurehead for it, but didn't show (perhaps because it had to be rescheduled). You won't have heard of any of the dozen-plus "celebrities" who served as the judges because they have played only bit parts, or on shows you've never heard of. There were no seats around the two show rings, so it was hard to see anything going on. The PA systems for both rings overlapped, so hearing about the goings-on also proved difficult. And lastly, the silent auction organization turned out to be a shambles.

Lots of venders appeared, and offered a huge range of dog items and services. A few food booths served good lunch stuff. And Zero and I may appear on Animal Planet, because we were interviewed early in the morning. I'm not sure which show of theirs we may be on, or even that we will be for sure, but we don't get the channel, so if you do -- and you see us -- won't you record it?