First Dog on the Moon's day out at the show with dogs adorably doing high jump

On Saturday morning we parked the ute in the paddock behind the Anglican church in Ranelagh and took the shuttle bus about a kilometre down the road to the 2019 Huonville Agricultural Show. We had a lovely time wandering through the mud and looking at the tiny horses and the chainsaw sculptures.

It is a show tradition but I didn’t eat a dagwood dog because well… if you’ve ever eaten a dagwood dog you wouldn’t eat another one would you. Although many people did.

Dagwood Dog, First Dog on the Moon — Photograph: Andrew Marlton/First Dog on the Moon

It’s not a real show without dagwood dogs or sideshow alley where every player wins a prize and showbags well they were different when I was a child, when it was Bertie Beetle wrapped in foil, not like these days etc etc.

First Dog on the Moon show bags — Photograph: Andrew Marlton/First Dog on the Moon

We were really here to see the Dog High Jump competition but it’s always worth a trip through the Hall of Industry beforehand to marvel at the artistry on display, the beautiful quilts and lace doilies and the animals made out of vegetables. Finally someone has found a decent use for eggplant.

An eggplant made into a bug at the show — Photograph: First Dog on the Moon

There are jams and cakes and slices and the hotly contested “Chocolate cake made by a male” category. Everything looked delicious and baking was the winner on the day.

We saw prize winning water fowl and guinea pigs (cavies) and roosters. I always wonder if the chickens are happy, but we live in the country now and everyone involved looked well fed and glossy so here we are.

But the highlight of the show is the Dog High Jump – run by the good people from Huon Valley Rural Youth – it costs $5 to enter either category (small dogs, large dogs) and every dog gets three goes at clearing the jump which goes up by 10cm every round. A crowd of about 200 people cheered and awwwwed as the various gigantic, tiny and every size in between dogs took their shot at high jump glory.

Normally I don’t have any time for animals as entertainment but these animals are being entertained themselves. These dogs are having a lovely time doing dog things with their people and if they change their mind or go around the other way or pee on the jump (thanks Digger) instead of jumping it nobody cares.

Danny the blind dog — Photograph: First Dog on the Moon

Danny is blind and while he only cleared the lowest jump he was the real hero on the day. Nobody knows who started all those fights in the line up and just because Danny somehow happened to be in the middle of all of them no one is suggesting he started any or all of them. A true champion.