Ramblings of a former 4-H’er

Back in the last century (come on, it was the 1990s, not that long ago), I made a second career out of judging 4-H and FFA dog shows at county fairs. I traveled to the four points of the Iowa compass to stand in dusty show arenas and do my best to make the experience beneficial for all involved. Some days, it went better than others.

Unlike livestock shows where the animal is judged on its physical merits, 4-H dog show classes are judged on mastery of skills as demonstrated by the dog and handler working as a team. To prepare for the county fair, most of the kids attend weekly training classes through the spring and summer. These are taught by volunteers who range from folks like me who have trained and shown their entire lives to parents who have never trained a dog for competition but had seen it done and stepped forward to support the project. Trying to master obedience training and showmanship skills in three short months is asking a lot of kids whose schedules are already jammed with sports, school, church, family and other demands.

But wonderful 4-H volunteers soldier on and when the kids and dogs show up at the fair, they’re as prepared as they’re going to get. The dogs have had a bath (some even get into the spirit of things with green ribbons in their fur) and the kids are scrubbed clean with crisp new exhibitor T-shirts and nervous smiles.

It takes me a couple of years of almost daily training before I take a new dog in the ring at the beginner level. Even at that, there’s no guarantee of performance. I’ve gone into the show ring with a young dog I felt was prepared to shine . . . and fallen flat on my face. With that in mind, I always reminded myself these were kids showing the family pet or farm dog after short months of instruction and judged them accordingly. The kids were having fun spending time with their dogs and at the end of the day, that was all that really mattered.

I have a lot of 4-H judging memories. Like the repeated summers I judged for a county where I was assured year after year I would receive a free meal at the 4-H food stand when the dog show was over. And year after year the dog show stretched long after the food stand closed its doors for the evening. After the first year, I wised up and made sure I ate before I arrived.

One evening in the summer of 1993, I headed home after a day of judging in a northern county. Due to flooding that year, the Iowa River bridge between Amana and Homestead was closed and the bridge at South Amana was also closed. Knowing I had to go west to go south, I drove to Marengo, only to find a road crew closing the river bridge north of town. They let me go through and I got back home via Highway 6 and 151. If I’d been a few minutes later, I’d have had a heck of a time getting home.

I remember one young exhibitor who the other kids gave a wide berth. I figured his dog, a cheerful looking mixed breed, wasn’t socially adept with other dogs. When I got closer during a showmanship class, a familiar, eye-watering reek greeted me. His dog had been sprayed by a skunk the night before. Neither dog nor handler seemed concerned.