GREENFIELD — As 4-year-old Cooper stood poised on the grooming table, 30-year-old Lindsay Trask of West Springfield bustled around him with everything from scissors to a hair straightening iron.
With drawers of grooming tools at the ready, Trask snipped at his shiny reddish-brown hair, even trimming the hair between his paw pads. But the Irish Setter barely batted an eye, having competed with Trask in dog shows since he was six months old.
All the primping and preening prepared Cooper to compete in the sporting division at Saturday’s dog show, which was organized by the Pioneer Valley Kennel Club. Throughout the day, the Greenfield Community College campus featured multiple show rings and tents where handlers kept their dogs.
Darci Brown, president of the Pioneer Valley Kennel Club, said the organization has held a dog show annually in Greenfield since the 1970s, with 451 dogs entering this year to compete in both conformation and obedience classes.
The dogs competed in seven categories — sporting, working, hound, toy, non-sporting, birding and terrier — with the winners in each category then competing for “best in show,” Brown explained. Competitors ages 18 and under compete in the junior division, making it possible for multiple generations in a family to get involved.
That’s precisely what happened for Trask, who inherited showing from her parents Paul and Sandy Seymour. The family has shown Irish Setters for the past 18 years across the country, with Trask starting at age 12.
Paul Seymour, 68, remembers growing up with Irish Setters, especially bringing one home in his newspaper delivery bag when he was 11 years old after working to save up for a dog. The family loves the breed for their elegance, versatility, energy, loyalty and because they’re “great family dogs.”
Though the family enjoys traveling together, they say they also enjoy the dog show community.
“There’s people who don’t even have the same breed as me who’ll walk by and say ‘Hi,’” Trask said.
“We’re all bonded from our love of dogs,” explained Anne Bowes, 72, of Duxbury, who started showing when she was 24 years old.
Bowes sat under another tent, surrounded by crates containing four of her Corgis: Cinders, Nicki, Hampton and Boden. She even wore a gold Corgi pendant around her neck.
For Bowes, showing came into her life by chance.
“I walked into my first dog show by mistake,” she explained, recounting riding her horse at a hunt club in Connecticut that was putting on a dog show. “I didn’t even know they showed dogs … I walked out of the grounds of that show and into the rest of my life.”
Bowes said she fell in love with Corgis — who she feels have big personalities for being small in stature — by watching dog shows.
“They looked like polished jewels to me,” she said.
Today, she breeds Corgis and often judges shows, which has taken her around the globe. She said sharing the joy she gets from Corgis with others, who purchase her dogs, is one of the best rewards.
“If you do it right, you can sell love,” she said. “How many people can say they sell love?”
Despite having multiple dogs and dealing with them in groups at home, dog shows are a time for Bowes to bond with her Corgis.
“I have a real relationship, showing one dog at a time,” she explained.
And then, there’s the relationships with people.
“A lot of us have been around together for many, many years,” Bowes said. “But I also meet new people.”
In hopes of encouraging young dog lovers to get interested in showing, the show also featured a stuffed animal dog show for children ages 3 to 8, judged by Ashfield Police Chief Beth Bezio.
“It was nice to see them smile, to have them come over and tell me their name and their dog’s name,” Bezio said after judging the three contestants, who were all deemed winners. “They were smiling when they left, and that was the best part.”
Reach Shelby Ashline at: sashline@recorder.com
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