Dog Show Champion

Despite not being fully healed, Lalu rocked the Patna Dog Show on Sunday. Yes, you heard me correctly. A dog show is something I would never consider participating in in the US, since everyone would be all snooty about breeds and behavior and such. But here in Patna, it was a riot.

As I imagine is the case for dog shows the world over, it was primarily an opportunity for the wealthy people here to flaunt the dogs they view as accessories: e.g. the woman with the Saks Fifth Ave bag, pea coat and pointy high heels with the springer spaniel wearing a red bow tie (she is very, very atypical here in Patna). Or the pug with the multi-colored petticoat. If I hadn't had my hands full of puppy, I would have taken a lot more photos! All in all, there were 270 dogs at the dog show, of all different kinds, and nearly all morbidly obese.

Of course, Lalu was the transgressive entry - the only street dog (a.k.a. "community dog" or "mongrel"), not wearing a sweater, thinned by illness, and accompanied by his American owner and four JPAL friends.

The MC of the event was the same vet we've been going to (who I have pretty mixed feelings about), but he was incredibly excited to have us there and definitely treated us like VIPs:  he announced our entry, then he gave a long explanation for how we got Lalu and how we're training him now, then he explained that since my "husband" Jeff was ill, he'd be moving up the "mongrel" category to be judged earlier so I could get home and take care of him. Then, after the judging, he proudly announced that he'd be offering free vaccinations to our puppy and anyone else who adopted street dogs (fat chance of me taking him up on that).

The "judging" consisted of three tests: an ears check, a teeth check and a short walk in a circle. Of course, Lalu has some baggage now about vets, so he growled and snapped at the assembled judges (I checked his ears and teeth and pronounced him fit). And he limped and got distracted when I tried to walk him in front of the judges. If he'd been healthy, I could have shown them all his tricks (sit, down, shake, kiss, and roll over, so far), but right now he's struggling to even sit. But since he was the only competitor in his class, he won! Which meant an eentsy little trophy that we're definitely keeping for life.

We were hustled on stage for photos, which resulted in a short newspaper article that was published the next day; the piece is about the event in general, but the caption explains that at an event with hundreds of international breeds, an international woman named Vargaynee brought her Indian dog.

Honestly, although it was the highlight of my week, I don't think I'd put the little tyke through it again, since it's clearly designed to primarily satisfy the dog owners' egos and Lalu was really nervous around all the other improperly socialized dogs. But what a fun way to spend a Sunday!