THUNDER BAY— North Shore Dog Club is holding its fifth annual dog show, which started on Friday at Chippewa Park.
One contestant was Gintarė Tamašauskaitė, who travelled 15 hours on a plane from Lithuania to show her Alaskan Malamute, Dante.
“It's been my dream, honestly, it's been my dream to come to Canada, to come over the Atlantic for the dog show, and well, this is like a cluster of shows,” she said.
“I just wanted to see something else and meet respected breeders and have an experience. Because back in (International Canine Federation), the shows are way different,” she said.
Travelling 15 hours in a plane with an Alaskan Malamute was not the easiest task, Tamašauskaitė said.
“That was very stressful, probably more to me than to him, because Dante he is used to travelling by car,” she said.
“We go like a couple thousand kilometres by car, but that was our very first flight, and we had some major turbulence.”
“He's basically my son. He's my special little boy and I care for him. My heart was shivering practically the whole time, but at the end I saw him and he was like very happy as if nothing ever happened, so I think that it went well.”
Dante joins many, many more local and international dogs competing over the weekend.
“Hopefully, we have great weather for the rest of the weekend, but our entry is about 150 dogs competing in the show every day,” said Yvonne Norton, social coordinator for the North Shore Dog Club.
Norton said the purebred dogs and their owners have been enjoying Thunder Bay and all of its glory in between the show times.
“It's so beautiful, the wilderness and nature, so, I'm definitely back for the nature, for the sightseeing, and for the dog shows as well, I think that's a very good learning opportunity to me as a breeder and as a handler,” Tamašauskaitė said.
The club will continue to host multiple shows throughout the weekend, including the Alaskan Malamute Club of Canada Speciality on Saturday and two additional shows on Sunday, Norton said.
“We have plenty of dogs, plenty for everybody to see,” she said.
“A lot of hard work goes into putting on a show like this.”
Norton said the dog show is also thrilled to welcome Australian judge, Peter Frost.
“We are really happy that we have a judge that's here from Australia, yesterday, he got to take in the sights and sounds of Thunder Bay as well,” Norton said.
The dog show will continue Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Chippewa Park. Results are also available online.
Catch this story again on TBT News
