2019 Logan County Fair

4-H Dog Show

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[July 29, 2019]  On Saturday the University of Illinois Extension District 16 4-H Dog, Cat, and Guinea Pig shows were held at the Logan County Fairground. Because these three shows are district shows, participants included 4-H members from the three district counties – Menard, Logan and Sangamon.

At the Dog Show, the Dog Care Class was judged by Lorena Leinweber of Best Friends Animal Hospital in Lincoln. The obedience classes were judged by Barbara Light, a professional dog handler and trainer.

In the Dog Care Class, there were four participants, Audrey Gerberding, Cheyenne Stout, Charlotte Toohill and Jayden Wheat. All four participants took blue ribbons and Jayden Wheat was awarded Best of Show.


Audrey Gerberding with 2018 Miss Logan County Fair Queen Molly Schempp, Junior Miss Julia Collins, and Little Miss Kylee Fulk.

 


Cheyenne Stout with 2018 Fair Queen, Junior Miss and Little Miss.


Charlotte Toohill with 2018 Fair Queen, Junior Miss and Little Miss.


L to R: Judge Lorena Leinweber, Queen Molly Schempp, Jayden Wheat – Best of Show, Junior Miss Julia Collins and Little Miss Kylee Fulk.

In the obedience classes there were three participants, Gerberding, Stout and Wheat. The three participated in a number of classes including a new class for this year, the Novice Rally.



Judge Light explained that the Novice Rally is somewhat similar to the other shows with a few rule exceptions, plus the marked course that the exhibitor must follow is a bit more complicated. At award time she said that the three entrants did well and she applauded their courage for taking on the class. She noted that it is always difficult to be the first ever to compete in a new class, and if the exhibitor is also a first year showman, that makes it all the more difficult.

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She said the class was scored by points with a perfect score being 100 points. The top winner in the class was Stout with a total score of 90.

Audrey Gerberding showed, but did not qualify for an award. Light noted that even though this first year competitor did not qualify, she had done a good job in the ring, and that she was working with a very young animal. Audrey’s dog was the youngest in the show, only eight months old. Light said at that age, it is very difficult to train the dog to do this type of discipline, and she felt under those circumstances, Gerberding had done an excellent job.

In the Novice one and two classes, Wheat and Gerberding both showed. The top score when to Wheat who earned 189 out of a possible 200 points.

In the Rally course, Wheat had used a young dog named Willow. For the Novice classes she chose to use Bella, an eight-year-old, who is very calm and laid back. The girl and dog worked perfectly together and Judge light gave them much praise for their performance and announced that Wheat and Bella would be selected as the District 16 delegate to the Illinois State Fair.


L to R: Logan County Fair Queen Molly Schempp, Jayden Wheat, Audrey Gerberding, Junior Miss Logan County Julia Collins, Little Miss Kylee Fulk with Bella in the foreground.

There was an unusual class in the dog show this year, the Preferred Novice. Again an obedience course where the dog and trainer performed a number of tasks according to the layout of the course as well as the direction given by the judge.



This class, as well as Novice one and two, include doing figure eight leads around to standing posts, and the sit stay where that the trainer commands the dog to sit and stay and then walks away. The goal is for the dog to stay in place and then on command go to the trainer. Another particularly difficult portion of the three classes is when the dog is to sit and stay while the trainer makes a full circle around the ring.

At award time, Light explained that the Preferred Novice class had been set up for Stout because she no longer qualified for Novice one or two. The reason she didn’t qualify is because last year Stout won the state competition in the regular Novice classes. For the Preferred Novice, the course and commands were much the same, but the trainer and dog performed with tasks without the dog being on leash.


Stout took a blue ribbon in the Preferred Novice and also in the Senior Showmanship class.

[Nila Smith]

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