Last weekend, the Canadian Jebel K9 Boarding Kennels together with Canines for a Cause held a dog festival at the Al Bustan hotel for charity. There aren't many dog friendly activities in Muscat, so we just had to take Ralph.
There was a variety of competitions and entertainment on throughout the day, including obedience challenges, agility demonstrations and even a game of musical hoops.
Everywhere Ralph goes, he seems to attract a lot of attention and today was no different. The first event was called "Leave it" and quite simply involved sitting at one end of a short piece of red carpet with lots of distractions on and running when called to Jenny at the other side, without touching any of the items on the carpet. He was the first up and although a bit jittery at the start aced the test. After about another 30 dogs had their turn, Ralph was awarded first place and took his first rosette and prize of the day.
The second event for Ralph was the obedience challenge, which involved a series of 10 short exercises, including heel work, sits and downs. All the competitors went at the same time and after completion of the round, Ralph was tied for first place. This meant a "dog-off". The two dogs were asked to repeat some of the previous exercises, but it soon became clear that this was no real challenge so the final exercise was a long recall with a "down" halfway through. He may be out of practice, but after Jenny barked the command, he went straight down into position to the roars of the crowd.
His final competition was to bark on command. No sweat to Ralph.
Having swept up three first prizes, Ralph was then awarded the Judges Best in Show and won a brand new Samsung smart phone.
The event was well covered in the press and Ralph made it into the Times of Oman and the Y Magazine.
Y Oman Article
