Dog Show in Sequim - Port Townsend - more shady ladies and a time capsule

This charming town full of very desirable Victorian wooden houses has an interesting past. It was situated at the entrance to Puget sound at the end of the Juan de Fuca channel and was the point at which the winds became fickle. So steam tugs would be used at the start and end of voyages to get the sailing ships to Seattle. This meant that Port Townsend was the first Port of Call for inbound shipping. As a smaller crew could handle the ship under tow, seamen would be paid of here. This meant that Port Townsend was full of establishments with attractions designed to separate the seaman from his money as fast as possible. The local museum has a whole section dealing with saloons and the ladies that serviced the seamen.

The local businessmen after separating the seamen from their money would then kidnap them and sell them to outgoing ships which would be looking for crew after being towed out to this spot where the winds were reliable. These ships were often headed for China and the port of Shanghai. [ This was the origin of the verb to shanghai someone. ] The most surprising fact of all was that it was legal to do this in Port Townsend.

In 1890 Port Townsend was growing at a fantastic pace. Houses, docks and businesses were being thrown up all along the seafront but three years later the bubble burst. Instead of the influx of new residents about a third of the population left. What was left settled down to a period of decline which continued to the 1980s. During these years no one wanted to buy property here so things were left untouched. This has meant that the town is a time capsule. Many shop facades unchanged and some houses unmodernized. We visited the best example, the Rothschild house which had been little changed from the 1890s.




In the 1970s the hippies found Port Townsend and a slightly quirky culture developed here helped by Washington State making the local abandoned fort a state park and tourist attraction. We had a look around the fort and were reminded that the USA had only had one attack in the 100 years prior to 9/11 when a Japanese sub shelled Oregon during WW2. Fort Warden must have been a very sought after posting esp for the officers. Their quarters were beautifully situated and officers with family would have one or more servants. There was stabling, boat houses and a baseball diamond. Best of all they got to play with some BIG GUNS. [ No pink Barbie 22s rifles here ]. One newspaper from 1904 reported that Officer xxx had made 5 direct hits out of 6 at long range. Neglecting to mention the other 40+ soldiers involved in firing the gun.

Carol’s bit

We went to an AKC ( American Kennel club ) dog agility competition this afternoon.
This type of competition involves dogs going round an assault course, guided by their handlers. The object is to get a clear round as fast as possible. The dogs can pick up faults by knocking down the jump bars, missing a challenge, jumping off the “A” frame to soon, so that they miss the line at the bottom, and not stopping for a pause
at the bottom. The dogs invent a few of their own as well, such as wandering off to meet their doggy friends, making up the route as they go, and peeing up the weave poles.
The handlers are a show themselves. A respirator might have been a good idea, some of the handlers were on their last legs, or grossly overweight and were in dire need of oxygen by the last jump, and they don’t even have to go over them.
Some dogs are naturally better at this than others. Boarder collies go like the clappers, and make good time. Problem is at that speed they can overshoot the obstacle or end up with torn ligaments, they tend to go because they are taught to,without thinking to much about it. Some of the little ones are like lightening, they don’t have the weight to carry and build up a good momentum. There were several Papillons that did very well. The Cogi’s however did not, they are not built for this, their backs are too long and they are to heavy, they don’t have much speed.
The one Retreiver that was entered had other ideas all together and decided to adopt the “go slow,
there’s something more interesting over there attitude”
Most of the handlers were women, which is usually the case as their ability to use different tones of voice tend to make them better handlers than men. Having said that one of the best handlers was a man. He had several dogs of different sizes including two Afghans, he obviously didn’t mind making a fool of himself and proceeded to wind his dogs up before their turn ( gets the dog’s adrenalin going ) by playing with them and using all sorts of voices. He got the fastest time and a clear round.
The comp. goes on for the weekend, so we won’t see the winner, but I must say I’d like to see them up against a British team, I know who my money would be on.
It was a good day, and the dogs enjoyed themselves, they are less competitive than their handlers are.







I am writing this as we wait for the ferry to Whidby Island. We are planning to cross the border to Canada on Friday 6th June with a German Shepherd dog show to look forward to on Saturday.

Charro’s bit

I think they are lying to me. I mean everyone knows it is warm in the USA. I saw those bikinis a few weeks ago. I am not in the USA I am back in Britain, or somewhere else cold and wet.
We went to dog show and the boss was wrapped up in a jacket and rug. She is even putting my winter coat on me for walks and we need the rain coat.



Anyway I have found a really good way of keeping my walks nice and short so I can get back to my nice warm bed. I just limp. I limp a lot, with both back and front legs! They look all worried and turn back ASAP.

John’s bit.

I think Charro has learned to pull the old soldier trick. But to pull it off he must remember to limp on the way back as well. Silly old sod is almost trotting!