The dogs have their day in Centennial Park
By Andrew Zwicker
One of the first waves of warm weather brought the Golden City out to play over the weekend as a preview to the dog days of summer. The dog days of spring were already in full flight at Centennial Park on Sunday, however, as 47 of our four-legged friends came out to play in the first annual Mutt Strut.
While the weather in the sky cooperated nicely, the previous week’s weather was less than kind leaving the ball field event site still largely covered in snow. It didn’t bother the dogs an inch, though. High speed passes through the slushy snowpack and rollicking, rolling backrubs to cool down between event heats just added to their fun.
Proudly displaying his golden paw medal after an impressive run through a combination of tricks culminating with a flawless execution of the classic play dead and roll over, Dakota Ravestein and his black lab mix, Hutch, took home the prize for Best Trick. The trick field was a tough one, however. Although not a winner, Yukon the black lab’s whisper trick wowed a few, including event organizer Ida Koric.
“One guy had his dog whisper. That was really impressive. He had his dog speak, then bark and then whisper. I would have voted for them for sure. Unfortunately they didn’t win.”
In the head-to-head fetching showdown, the dogs’ mental toughness as well as their speed was challenged. With two dogs at a time chasing down the ball in a best-two-out-of-three contest and a pack of other dogs watching in anticipation for their chance to charge after the ball, not all contestants could focus on the task at hand.
“The fetching contest was definitely my favourite part,” added Koric. “It had some hilarious moments. We’d throw the ball and one dog takes off while the other dog just wanders into the woods. We had another dog that was just so happy to be off leash he just tore off around the field instead of chasing the ball. For sure we’ll do that event again.”
Nanny Fine, strutting on command, rounded out the skills competition along with her master Tom Trubetskoff, taking home the gold medal after a fine performance.
The real question to be answered on this Sunday dog day of May, however, was the following burning question: just whose dog was the cutest? On this day four wannabe show dogs got their moment in the spotlight as four pampered pooches took the prize in each division. Dividing the dogs up into size categories, cleverly named after some classic doggie icons.
From dyed pink hair through Santa Claus and one of the funniest costumes of the day (Brody dressed up like a Mexican wrestler from Nacho Libre), the mutts did indeed strut their stuff. Mady Dahl’s Nadia took the overall People’s Choice Award for Kootenays’ cutest pet.
If you felt like your dog was robbed in the best trick contest, narrowly missed out in the fetching showdown or should, in your mind, have been the cutest pet, fear not: you’ve now got just over a year to hone your skills for next time.
With Event One now under her sleeve, Koric is looking ahead to next year’s event with some tweaks and improvements already in mind. One change already agreed upon is moving the event further into the spring or early summer to avoid a field still full of snow. In the end all were having fun, nobody got bitten and the event raised $600 for the appreciative Trail SPCA.
The Winners:
Toto category: Brody. Chicette Chartres
Snoopy Category: Oliver. Ida Koric’s dog won but she passed it on to second place Noble K (Stacy Dank)
Scooby Doo: Jackson. Chad Cochrane.
Marmaduke: Mari Og. Desiree Cassidy.
Best Dressed: Piper. Alyn Smith.
People’s Choice Kootenay’s Cutest: Nadia. Mady Dahl
Obedience winner: Nanny Fine. Tom Trubetskoff
Quirkiest Trick: Hutch. Dakota Ravestein
Bestest Fetcher: Quin. Andraya Hughes
