A doggone good contest
By JOHN MURRAY Ledger Staff Writer

Ledger photo by JOHN MURRAY Patti Wyatt, left, and Austin Goode of Gaffney brought their dogs out in full force by dressing them in biker wear. She showed off her Yorkie, Harley Lynn, left, and her Chihuahua, Bubba James.

Pulling into the parking lot at the Old Post General Store on Saturday, it was apparent something big was about to happen. Stepping out into the 1 p.m sun and into the middle of what is usually an empty field, the heat was stifling. It was like opening up a furnace door, but that was nothing compared to the heat of competition that was about to unfold.

Dogs, dogs and more dogs filled the football-sized field. With a few tents scattered throughout and only a thin line of caution tape containing the proceedings, the tension was as palpable as the afternoon heat.

Flanking the registration tent at one end was the concession stand and at the other was the photo booth. That the entire area was roped off with caution tape only made things seem more tense. But not even caution tape could contain these friends of man. With names like Dakota, Bogey, Buster and Bubba James, spectators were obviously in for a treat. Because on this day of all days, when most humans and their pets were at home in the comfort of air conditioning, these canines came to prove which was the cutest, which had the best costume and which was the most obedient.

Ledger photo by JOHN MURRAY Tommie Anthony of Gaffney came to Saturday's event with a Saint Bernard named Samson and Jack, an 8-10-month-old pit/lab mix. Jack, shown above, is up for adoption by Saving Gaffney Pets rescue, Anthony said.

And so it began, Kirby Memorial Baptist Church's first canine companion dog contest. The church's Women with Heart group, led by Tina Rogers, organized the event. PETCO, ACE Hardware, Ryan's Family Steakhouse, Wal-Mart, Pepsi, Walgreens, Fox Hollow Farms, and Eddie Coggins at Old Post General Store sponsored the event.

"This is our first year, and we just wanted to use this event to reach out to the community, to have fun and to let people know about Christ," Rogers said. "(Women with Heart) try to do one project every quarter, and this is what we came up with. We think it will be a big success, and we just hope everyone has a good time."

Rogers hoped to have almost 100 dogs at the event and to make this an annual event.

Richard Duckett emceed the event and members of Women with Heart manned the booths, which were set up for each of the competition's six events including: cutest, fetch, best costume, look-alike, best bling-bling, obedience and best trick. Contestants signed up for four of the six categories. After signing up, they went to each booth and did their best to impress the judges.

Winners in each category won a small bag of dog biscuits or a package of squeaky toys.

Grand prize winners received a prize basket with a veritable cornucopia of dog treats and toys.

Big winners throughout the two-hour competition included Robert Patterson of Blacksburg and his dog Dakota, a 3 1/2-year-old German shepherd, Frank Giles of Gaffney and his Pomeranian named Diva and Samantha Whisnant of Gaffney and Max, her fullblood dachshund.