 Darby's Big Day (June 7, 2003)
It seems like Darby just came to live with us, and the next thing you know, the annual Guide Dogs of America Open House & Puppy Trials were upon us.
It was a beautiful spring day, and over 120 puppies in training from all age ranges came out to compete. The prize? The title of Top Dog in their age group for the year, the dog's name on a brass plaque in the kennels, and lots of enthusiastic appreciation from the crowd. And, speaking of the crowd..... this was the largest turnout for Open House in GDA history, with many thousands of attendees.
The photo at left shows Darby with her dad, Bill, navigating the open staircase in perfect form, while a group of captivated Girl Scouts look on. Great job, Darby!
After the stairs, Darby breezed past some funky looking animals (lamas, ducks and other barnyard pets), ignored the balloons, stood nicely for her vet check, and sat quietly during the crate test. But, we won't mention the raw hot dogs..... those swinging links on a string were just a bit much for this 6.5 month old puppy to ignore. Overall, there were about 25 dogs in each age class.  We're not sure exactly where Darby placed, but we'd guess she made the top half of her class. That's not too bad, considering she was competing in the 6 to 10 months old age group, and puppies with much more experience and maturity.
Here is Darby with her yellow Lab pal, Jamie (on the right), who is about 4.5 months old. Aren't they the cutest? Jamie did very well at puppy trials and, in fact, even WON for her age group. Congratulations to Jamie and her hard working puppy raisers, Bob and Kathy for earning Top Dog status for Under 6 Months for 2003.
We had a wonderful time at Open House and met a lot of nice people, including some far away puppy raisers who are fostering Darby's sisters and brothers. The silent auction fundraising tables were great this year -- they are always my favorite. Bill had to drag me away from the tables, but not until I'd dropped $390 on miscellaneous gift baskets, dog toys, and collectibles. Oh well, it was for charity, right? ;-)
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"Darby's Page" ~ Dedicated to Guide Dogs of America
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