The County Fair: The Dog Barn

Tag is sleeping now, worn out from two days of working the crowds in the dog barn. I lost count of how many faces he licked, how many hands rubbed his ears, how many people asked "her" name. Tag loves spending time in the dog barn at the county fair. For two days, he does when he does best -- greet people, sit for petting, and wag his tail. The local county fair is the only one I've been to that has a Dog Barn. On most days of the fair, people can walk through the barns and see dogs. On some days, it's 4-H members' dogs. On others, it's the local dog club's dogs. Throughout the day, the local club offers dog sport demonstrations. Tag sees those as secondary reasons for being there. He'll run the agility course, slowly and deliberately. He'll participate in the relay race. But his job is greeting people. He welcomes them all -- from the young kids who walk by shyly, wanting to pet the dog and are too afraid to ask, to the children, blue-lipped from their snowcones, who rush up to him, to adults who make kissy sounds at him, to the man in the wheelchair who talks about the Border collie he had when growing up on farm.