Thursday, March 28, 2024

Proud dad moment

Over the weekend I had one of my favorite ‘proud dad moments.’ 

Before I go any further no I don’t have any human kids currently, instead we have a soon to be three year old dog named Finn, along with two older cats Eloise and Snowball. 

On Saturday, I had even more of a reason to be proud as Finn along with his handler Lydia, got a blue and ribbon during the Dodge County 4-H Dog Show.

I first was introduced to youth dog shows when I was covering the Dodge County 4-H awards night this fall. 

During the portion about the dog project, I learned that some kids who want to participate rely on community members to allow them to use their dogs.

I thought to myself “why not have Finn help out.” 

Sometime during the spring I got a Facebook message telling me that her daughter was interested in doing 4-H but they only had one dog in the family and asked if I would be willing to have Finn do it with her. 

Without hesitation I said yes and I am glad I did.

Ever since I had adopted Finn a couple of summers ago, I have always done my best to make sure he is well trained and socializes well with others. 

Through bringing him to dog parks, and to any meeting, or place I was allowed to Finn has become a social butterfly. Despite that I knew that he could benefit from some structured training, which happened through his 4-H training. 

As each past Finn became more and more excited to go to practice and he learned more and more things. 

When I would stay for Finn’s practices I would also see how hard the dogs and handlers would work. 

If I was any of their parents  I would be without a doubt proud of their work ethic. 

Growing up in a city in Rhode Island, 4-H and other similar organizations is something I never heard of never mind was apart of.

What I hope comes from Finn and Lydia’s story is the fact that 4-H has a place for anyone, whether their parents never knew about 4-H before or grew up on a Century Farm.

For me that is something we should all be proud of! 

 

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