ALABASTER TO HOST NATIONAL DOG EVENT APRIL 4-8 The Alabaster Parks and Recreation Department will be hosting the CurlyCoated Retriever Club of America National Specialty April 4-8. The event is unique for the Parks and Recreation Department and will feature a variety of different dog competitions throughout the week. "This is a five day event with a different competition every day of the week," said Buck Buchanan, chair for the event. "For instance, on Monday we're having an upland field competition. The second day is going to be an agility trial, and that will actually be all breeds. Wednesday we're doing another retrieving competition. Thursday will be obedience and rally. Then the
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breed competition, what everyone thinks of as a dog show, will be on Friday." The competitions will take place at various Alabaster locations, including Veterans Park and Limestone Park, as well as a rural farm to the south of Alabaster. The agility competition, the obedience competition, and the breed competition will all take place at Veterans Park. "All the breeds in the American Kennel Club have to hold a national competition. Our breed, the curlycoated retriever, is divided into four divisions around North America, and each year this dog show rotates from one division to the next. We're in division two, and this is our year to have it. The reason we picked
Alabaster was because Veterans Park is a good site and we have a lot of good areas around here," said Buchanan. According to the AKC, the curlycoated retriever is an athletic breed that's distinguished by the small, tight curls in its coat. They were developed to be multi-purpose hunting dogs and are capable of retrieving game in all types of weather. "The curly-coated retriever is actually considered the oldest of the retrievers," said Buchanan.
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April, 2011
"But there aren't that many of them in the country or in the world for that matter. There are probably about 700 of them in the United States. They are more popular in Europe." Buchanan, who is a veterinarian at the Airport (CON’T ON PAGE 30)