No raining on cats and dogs in the 6th annual 4H Pet Club Pet Show

The rains cleared and the sun shone a spotlight on a field of cats and dogs gathered for the 6th Annual Greene County 4H Pet Club Pet Show. 
Humans from around the county brought their four-legged best friends to compete for bragging rights as the Best Kisser, Best Vocals, Biggest Baby, Biggest Feet, Face Only a Mom Could Love and many more superlatives.  While the pets were the ones in costume, the true contest was between the pet lovers who vied for the right to call their pet Best Loved.
Loving and caring for pets is not without its serious side.  Wednesday Luria, of D. C., brought her Australian Sheepdogs Frankie and Johnnie to talk about her Aussie Rescue efforts. 
Dog breeds like Dalmatian and Australian Shepherd have a recessive gene for deafness.  If bred carelessly, the pups can be deaf and many are abandoned by owners who don’t want to be bothered with a “special needs” pet.  Dogs hearing or vision problems must always be on a leash or in a fenced area for their protection.
Luria works to find homes for these animals and to help train owners in how to work with dogs that have some degree of hearing loss and may also have some congenital vision loss.  Dogs are taught commands with hand signals.
A graduate recruiter for Gallaudet University, Luria uses sign language to converse with students and staff on a daily basis.  (Gallaudet specializes in education for the hearing impaired.) Luria uses some sign language with her dogs. 
After showing the skills of her pets, Luria joined judges Mick Carrier and Theresa Gilbert to make their decisions and hand out buttons and awards.
The crowd choose their own favorite as well giving a Best in Show to the littlest cat Nimi.  Everyone voted on the final decision of the day declaring that cats are indeed smarter than dogs.