Summer Classic Dog Show in Okotoks highlights best in show, agility and obedience

The Alberta Kennel Club’s Summer Classic runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Monday. (Photo: Darren Wright)

The Okotoks Agricultural Society serves as the backdrop for the Alberta Kennel Club’s Summer Classic.

The weekend event also highlights the jobs competing dogs have been bred to perform.

It’s a process that has taken hundreds of years to get right.

“The idea of this is to evaluate your stock to make sure you're creating dogs that are properly structured for the job they were meant to do," said kennel club president Wendy Hamilton Petkau. "It's basically a preservation of a lot of the breeds we've had for hundreds of years."

Some of those jobs include herding dogs that were bred to herd cattle and sheep and sporting dogs that were bred to help humans hunt.

The dogs are put through their paces for four all-breed shows, four obedience trials, five rally obedience trials, and five days of agility trials.

These events also have another important purpose: preserving rare breeds.

“There are some breeds on the rare side and when we see them we’re happy to have them come out and show their stuff because if we don't start breeding those dogs they will go extinct. We need to preserve them,” says Hamilton Petkau.

The Alberta Kennel Club’s Summer Classic runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Monday.

The dog show is at the Okotoks Agricultural Society at 306 Avenue East.

For more information about the Summer Classic, go here.