Cornish Countryman's Fair

a dog show: can you spot the grey hound?

gun dog test

farmer helping confused dog

and the black labrador lines up to go!

a little spaniel sprinting back

beagles in kennels

horse and dogs

On Sunday we went to a countryman's fair. We were so excited to go, thinking there'd be lots of vegetables, animals, stalls, something like a state fair. We were greeted by a thick layer of mud (up to our shins in places!) and cursed ourselves for not bringing wellies.  In the ring, there was a not-so-very-active performance of a dog show.  We walked around at the stalls, expecting them to be local individuals selling vegetables or milk. They were like AGA kitchen heating or The Pampered Chef.  I was disappointed there wasn't a Cornish Pasty stall.

Dogs were everywhere and it was such a joy to be around them! The one we watched, I think was the water test. It wasn't in water, but a (flare) gun was shot, and then a man tossed a rubber bean bag so that animal couldn't smell it well: he had to see it. The dog was then released, had to run about 20 meters, and then return with bag.

This was much easier said than done. So many times the poor dog ran down to the end only to not find the bag, become confused and run back to the master.  The funniest one was when a spaniel got fed up and simply took a poo to the frustrated time-conscious owner. Overall the Spaniels did very poorly in this test. The grey hound, the best, with the black Labradors as next best to them.  The labs were better in focus and retreat. The grey hound was so fast, but it's attention span rather short.  However, not nearly as short as those spaniels. While the lab could focus and look straight ahead, the spaniels kept wanting to look at the master as if they were saying, "Whats up? What am I to do? Did I do well? What can I do to show you how much I love you?"

Overall the women trainers were by far better than the men.  I was really impressed with one woman who merely said her dog's name in a high, yet commanding tone, and off he went on the release and directly brought back the bag.

At the end, we went back to the main arena where "knights" were on horses jousting.  Jousting. It was rather staged and fake, but still-- so dangerous! As we left, I saw a pack of beagles, I smiled because I knew what they were for.  Every Thanksgiving we went to the Hunting Club where they brought out the beagles which chased the deer and we followed on foot or stood in our stands.  But then I saw the horses and the people in red coats on horses and realized they weren't out to secure dinner for that day: this was the gentrified country folk in action. This startled me.  It shouldn't have as I know better.  Knights had land, land meant gentry and that still to some extent survives in Britain today. But it was a long shot from I expected!