[pyrnet] Re: Rescue: Parade at Nationals

[Shirley McGreal <smcgreal@ippl.org>]

It was great to see several rescue dogs at the parade at the 
Specialty. But I was very disappointed that the parade came so late 
in the show - like an afterthought. The rescued dogs and their owners 
started to arrive very early, but had to wait and wait. For about 
half an hour a group of people stood in the ring chatting, which they 
could have done anywhere. By the time the parade began, at least one 
of the dogs had been taken home as he/she was not feeling well, and 
some of the dogs appeared stressed. There were very few people left 
to watch the lovely animals and their owners and listen to their 
remarkable stories read by the narrator.

Rescuing Pyrs (and some near-Pyrs) in distress is supremely important 
and the people involved are great and make tremendous sacrifices. I 
would like to see this rescue parade scheduled at a time when lots 
more people are likely to attend. I urge the planners of the 2007 
Nationals to try to find a better time for this event.

The people who participated in the creative fun event on Wednesday 
night deserve applause for doing such things as crawling round their 
dogs, leaping over a foot-high jump while their dogs walked round the 
edge, pulling a cart loaded with unstable objects while their dogs 
watched, etc. Jane Gill was just great and so also was the sleazy 
"judge" (!) whose name I don't know and may perhaps best be omitted!

Shirley McGreal