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National dog show featured at Friendship Park in Smithfield


{p}A national dog show competition is coming to Friendship Park in Smithfield.{/p}

A national dog show competition is coming to Friendship Park in Smithfield.

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A national dog show competition is coming to Friendship Park in Smithfield.

The Friendship Cluster All Breed Dog Show is a large, country-wide event bringing breeders and owners together to see whose dog will win best in show.

"It’s a year’s full of work. It just gets a whole lot more intense the closer you get to the show,” said Jane Hendricks, president of the St. Clairsville Kennel Club.

This year, the show will feature three specific national competitions -- one of them being otterhounds.

“With otterhounds being a rare breed, it’s not common that we get all of us together and we actually have over 50 entered this year, so that’s exciting," said Katie Wright, dog owner/breeder.

It’s an all-breed show, but it’s the national show for the otter hounds. And it is the largest congregation for otterhounds in the nation.

Shows like this one teach dogs socialization. It allows them to learn how to behave around large groups of people and also get to play with their own kind.

"Believe it or not, they love it,” Hendricks said. “In fact, actually I have an old girl at home, she's 9, and she knows when I'm going to a dog show and she cries because she loves it."

A schedule of events outlines when and where participants need to be.

More than 1,000 dogs will be shown over the course of the weekend.

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