At the K9 Trials

First of all, it is disconcerting to this old hippy to sit in an audience composed of at least 40% off-duty cops. Sure, they were wearing cargo shorts (small guns,) t-shirts and flip-flop sandals, But I Knew. They appear to be fine breeders, most had at least two little kids with them and their wife/honey.

Alone in a vast sea of flesh came ... an anorexic woman of a certain age (probably mid-50s.) She had long blonde hair and a nice trim figure, but I think the scoop neck, sleeveless top may have been a mistake unless she was making an anatomy study mandatory.

Manhatta Beach -- who couldn't fund their Fire Department's Open House -- had two entries in the field.

A lot of the officers were working with new partners -- six, eight or 10 months duration - and the dogs were eager (avidly so) and for that reason extremely funny. One jumped all the way over the police car door mounted on a stand, not through the window as planned.

The whole audience loved the bite work. A bite suit is a pair of heavily padded pants with an equally padded top. Once encased in one, a man's head looks the size of a pea. A bite sleeve extends below the fingers and above the shoulder.

To kick off the bite work, we had a little entertainment. A "woman" (played by RB Oficer Ken) waddled across the football field, pushing a baby carriage. The announcer asked her to leave the field; she gave him the finger (we howled) and a bad guy! in a b/w striped prison suit ran up and grabbed her purse! Where upon, she tipped the carriage forward and out bounded a little dog wearing a red cape who attacked the robber.

In the first exercise, the dog wears a muzzle. A man and woman are arguing; he's got her by the arm, the police car comes by, the officer gets out and orders the man to stop. He doesn't so the officer uses his key chain to activate the police car's back door. It flies open and the dog comes hurtling out of it, chases and knocks the bad guy down (back of the knee seemed popular.) If you are considering dipping a toe into the dark side, be aware that once the the dogs have the bad guy on the ground (nanoseconds) they go right straight for the head and neck. Picture all of this without the dog being muzzled and I think you'll decide that white crime is much less stressful.

On the same note, not all of the dogs will rspond to the "Back off!" command. The poor guy wearing the bite suit behind the portable toilet should have gotten battle pay.

The sun was out, the breeze cool; the hot dogs were delicious and I can't wait for it all to happen again next year. I want to be a bite suit guy.