Gather 100 dogs in a conga line and you have a Dog Parade. So it was Friday morning at the Minneapolis Convention Center, as that many pooches and more, including 39 sporting breeds, pranced and preened in lockstep with their similarly prancing and preening attendants. The pageantry christened Pheasants Forever's National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic, which concludes Sunday.
Among participants were the upland-bird-crazed canines pictured below — and their equally upland-bird-crazed companions. Read the biographical sketches that accompany each photo and see if you can match each human with his or her best friend.
VIDEO: Go behind the scenes of the photo shoot (spoiler alert!)
THE DOGS
Tucker 8-year-old Brittany spaniel
When I was a pup, say seven or eight weeks old, the human I picked out came to see me and my littermates. She watched us a long time, while we put on our usual show. Some of us held back; others — this was me — ran toward her. The trick worked: The human I chose figured I was smarter than my littermates and took me home. I've got a good life. I hunt a lot, and both of my human roommates shoot well. Don't get me wrong, they miss occasionally. But generally, they're on target. When I'm not hunting, I play the role of "family'' dog. Meaning I sleep a lot. I've got a brother, too. Looks like me, but older. We're chill.
Tonka 4-year-old standard poodle
My goodness! You'd think the old coots my human hunts with were struck by conniptions when I enter a pheasant field. Don't they know I was bred to hunt in my native Germany? Look at my legs! You think I can't cover ground, scouring the hinterlands for ringnecks? Absolutely I can! Also, I retrieve like a bandit, more so even than some Labradors I compete against in AKC licensed hunt tests. Also, I swim like a duck! And I'm pretty. And well behaved — though sometimes while my human watches TV, I constantly beg for retrieving action. Not a hunting breed? Yeah, right.
Ozzie 2-year-old Large Munsterlander
The first thing I'll say is that, no matter what you think of my breed — a Large Munsterlander — an even more far-out canine strain lives with me and my human companions, a Bracco Italiano. We're both great dogs, but for my money, I'm better. Anything that moves, fur or feather, I hunt. My human companion, being of a similar mind-set, likes it that way. We're both equally at home chasing pheasants or grouse, or ducks and geese. Wound a deer and I can find it, too. Vices? Sometimes for kicks I'll steal stuff and hide it. But no biggie!
Otter 12-year-old English cocker spaniel
I live with my human in the country and have for a long time, just the two of us. Then, nine months ago, a new dog showed up, same breed as me. I didn't like this at first. Now we're friends, and we sleep with our human at night. At the Bird Dog Parade at the Minneapolis Convention Center on Friday, a lot of dogs were so-called pointers. Not me! I'm a flusher — and a quick one at that. With me, pheasants don't have a chance! I put them to wing and my human pulls the trigger. I can sniff out other critters, too, and have. My nose is full-choke, baby, and I've got the ribbons to prove it!