One of the main reasons I went to the Fair, was to visit the Canada Pavillion and reaffirm my Canadian citizenship. Since the entire Ea-pea series, plus Once, Twice, Three Times A Canadian, is all about discovering what it means to be a Canadian I thought it only fitting that I should start off by reaffirming my pledge to my country. For better or for worse, I'm a Canadian, and I'll do the best I can because of it or in spite of it..
The other main reason I went, was to see the Little Moe's Paws For Fun dog show.
Little Moe's is a kennel in Truro, Nova Scotia. In 1998 the kennel formed the group Paws For Fun, which tried to give both humans and dogs something athletic to do for fun, in a non-competitive environment.
I don't know much more of the history other than that, but I can say that the group is fantastically inclusive, with everyone from 50 year old women down to 15 year old girls, and everyone else in between, and every shape and size included.
Furthermore, just about every kind of dog was included in the show too. Whether they were speedy collies, or tiny short haired purse dogs, or even great big hairy lumbering something-or-others, there seemed to be a place for every dog. There was even a rescued, blind, German Shepherd that performed on the agility course with her trainer.
Check out the video below, of Ace the border collie, to get just a hint of the fun you missed.
Bonus photos/videos:
(What the Brady Bunch opening would have looked like, if the Brady family were horses... and there were only four of them.)
(No, it's not a rag doll with elephantiasis... it's a 1109 lb. pumpkin that was grown in Nova Scotia.)
(Sheep getting a hair cut before its big competition.)
(Chef Hans makes a scrumptious pork tenderloin with raspberry couscous, of which I gladly accepted a second sampling. Between the free samples at the cooking seminars and the two giant apples I won for answering skill testing apple questions, I barely had to spend anything on food at this event - which is a good thing because one slice of pizza cost $5.25.)
(Amazing frisbee catch. My dog won't even bring her ball back to me, let alone catch it...)
(When I first saw "pole bending" advertised in the schedule of events, I thought horses were going to try to bend metal poles. The actual pole bending competition is far more interesting than that though, as you can see from the video above.)
(And that leaves barrel racing, which must be about 500 times more difficult than it looks, and that's not to say it looks easy either. It's wonderfully exciting too.)
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