GAP at National Dog Show in Feilding

By Fatima |

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Judy with her lovely Fish (Thrilling Fish) and also Stretch (Stretches), with GAP marquee in the background (on the right hand side, you can see Gail arranging her coat display :-)

We had fantastic three days at the National Dog Show in Feilding : our cute little town was buzzing with all the people and show dogs - there were many events organized in town square too :-)
But, of course, the biggest one for us was our GAP Marquee at Manfield Center, where the National Dog Show was held.

Antony and Michelle at the GAP stand. Gorgeous black&white boy is Rozzo (Maximum); Cilla, our foster girl, is on the beanbag on the right :-)

Gail and her lovely family did a fantastic job with the GAP marquee and the shop (again!). Gail is truly a superwoman - she deserves her own blog post!

Judy with Fish and Nelly, Gail with Beryl, and Jim with Corey

We had a great turnout too -GAP hounds came from as far as Wellington :-)
 Many people stopped by the GAP marquee, there was plenty of interest in adopting and fostering, so we hope to see more hounds off to forever homes as a result. We were asked to parade in the main ring again today, while the announcer interviewed Michelle about GAP and the hounds. It was wonderful to see our hounds so well behaved in the ring -my two foster gilrs Cilla and Shannon (Moon Dancer) were handled by Gails's kids, whom they have never met before. I LOVE this aspect of greyhound nature, it is so lovely to see a dog handled by a child and behaving perfectly.

Zoe (Fantasy Shifter) and our foster gilrs Shannon and Cilla handled by Gail's kids :-)

Beautiful Beryl (Winsome Deluxe) and Snuffles (Baileys Dream)

Belinda and her foster boy Luke (Lauretana Boy)

Cynthia with Shannon (Moon Dancer) and Snuffles (Baileys Dream)

Joey (Slingback) came over from Wellington with his parents Marci and Walter

Cilla kept making friends with children :-)

Cilla and Sara having a break at the back of GAP tent :)

Stretch made some new friends too :-)

Cilla and Lucy being flat :-)

Our foster girl Shannon is so small that she can easily walk UNDER Stretch!

Oh yes, that was a nice shortcut !

And we even lure coursed the hounds! There was a mechanical lure (with two white plastic bags to chase) set up for demos in the field at Manfield. My Louie had a go too and he is still on a high! :-) It was amazing to watch all the retired racers do what they love (most of the GAP hounds there tried it and loved it - Beryl was an absolute champion, check out the picture below:)

Beryl (in full flight!) and Jade lure-coursing (you can see the white plastic bag lure at the left-hand side)

My gorgeous Louie (Charlston State) resting after his lure-coursing : "Mummy, I reckon we should make this a regular event!"

Louie and Lucy ::)

Back home , Lucy the Ferret was absolutely exhausted and spent most of the evening in this position:

Tired ferret :-)

Along with being day 2 of the big 3-day National Dog Show, Friday was also Rural Day and the whole town gets in behind the rural theme.  The shops and businesses compete for best dressed rural themed window, there are many displays and competitions and lots of the displays included dogs.  Blue's Mum Odette is a manager of Curves, a woman's fitness and health facility in Feilding, and she included greyhounds in her gym display ; she did a great job with GAP leaflets and promoting GAP, with help from Sue and Beryl, and Judy and Fish. Thank you so much for everything Odette! Check out the cute picture below, taken at Curves:

Odette with Blue (Belfast Blue) and Edna, another Curves staff member, with Beryl (Winsome Deluxe)

Beautiful Beryl :-)

Beryl's Mum Sue also blogged about this past weekend on her blog, she has some gorgeous shots too, do check it out here:
http://greyhoundscansit.blogspot.com/2010/10/gap-greyhounds-hit-town.html