Franklin 4-H student earns spot in regional dog show

BELMONT — Among the cows, goats, horses and fried food at the Belknap County Fair last weekend, 4-H participants displayed their dogs, too. All the preparations Jenny Wood put into her dogs was put to the test during Sunday's dog show.

Jenny, 16, of Franklin, competed in both obedience and fit and show. In obedience, dogs perform exercises to demonstrate their listening and behavior without treats or toys. She showed her 3-year-old German shepherd Apollo, and 1-year-old red merle border collie Percy.

Jenny performed in the Subnovice B class, due to only having her dogs for a few months. Out of 200, Apollo earned the highest score of the show with 171 points, and Percy the second highest, with 122. Jenny was worried Apollo would lose focus after a bug flew around him during the show, but he stood strong. Jenny was excited with the result, and explained it’s her responsibility to make sure the dogs stay on track.

“They make bad choices, and your job is to not make a bad choice following that bad choice,” she said. “And just keep smiling. Keep your head up.”

During the show, Jenny’s mother Lois Wood was nowhere in sight. She waited elsewhere so the dogs wouldn’t get distracted. Sometimes, she stood just across from the show in the goat pen.

“In the goat pen, the goats smell so bad, it masks my scent,” she said.

The fit and show event focuses on showcasing breeds and the trainer’s handling. Scores are out of 100 points. Jenny showed Apollo, who was noticeably fidgety and did not follow commands. Jenny said she made mistakes, too, including keeping the lead in her left hand instead of her right.

While she did not place in fit and show with a ribbon, Jenny and Apollo earned a 96 in the senior class, the oldest age group. It was only a 4-point spread. Madeline Kassin, 17, of Londonderry, won first in class with a perfect score of 100.

A score of 96 is no small feat, especially since Jenny trained Apollo for only four weeks after he was hit by a truck in May. Lois said compared to the other handlers, Jenny performed incredibly well.

“They've had a lot more time,” Lois said. “The fact that she's doing this well, after only about four weeks, really, since she could train him again since his accident, is amazing.”

Apollo had one mishap during the fit and show. When all dogs lined up with their handlers, Apollo barked at another competing dog. Organizers asked Jenny to separate Apollo into another corner of the fenced-in ring to calm him down. Jenny thinks he could have been bored. But dog show Superintendent Abby Beaulieu wasn't worried. She acknowledged the shows are learning experiences for the kids, and the incident wouldn’t affect Jenny’s score.

“Your average pet on the street couldn't stand in this arrangement and just be chill. They'd either be worried, trying to leave, [or] trying to go say 'hi' to everybody,” Beaulieu said. “It's an amazing level of training that these kids achieve, just being able to kind of chillax in tight quarters like this with a bunch of other dogs.”

Jenny’s handling of the incident impressed the judges, who bestowed to her the Herds Person Award. This is given to a kid who embodies the 4 Hs of the program: Head, Heart, Hands and Health.

The Belknap show was a qualifying event for The Big E, in Massachusetts, the only multi-state fair, encompassing six New England states. Because the shows use the Danish system, starting with a perfect score then deducting points for mistakes, the total score is more important than the placement for qualifying. Jenny got a 92% on her dog knowledge quiz, a score so high that, combined with her show scores for both dogs, both qualified.

4-H Day at The Big E is Saturday, Sept. 13.

Having trained Apollo for a short time, and registering Percy as a backup in case Apollo didn’t heal in time, Lois was proud.

“She's only had four weeks, and so she's doing absolutely amazing,” she said. “I have to keep reminding her of that. She's her own worst critic.”

Showing Apollo and Percy is not Jenny’s first rodeo. She trained and exhibited two dogs previously, Tumble and Mia. Tumble, a husky and German shepherd cross, was a family dog, and her first show dog. He started competing at age 7, but retired after two years due to old age. He was her only other dog to qualify for The Big E. He died this year in July, at age 11. Mia, a border collie mix, was shown for one year, experienced trauma from a previous owner and severe hip dysplasia, and died at age 2.

Jenny learned a lot from showing Tumble and Mia.

“I learned just a lot of general experience" with Tumble, she said. “And then with Mia, she was a very hard dog. We only took her to one show, and it really just taught me to relax. It's not that big of a deal.”

While the family looks back nostalgically at former dogs, the new ones are creating waves.

“Nobody's ever going to replace Tumble, but I think Apollo might come a close second,” Lois said. “Because where Tumble was a family dog, Apollo is [Jenny’s] dog.”