A girl poses with her pet at the dog show in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Jan. 15: Ben is barely a-year-old, but his energy gave many a run for their money today. His woofs betr-ayed the fact that this was his first show to compete with ov-er 200 peers at the 17th All Br-eed Championship Dog Show.

The stars of the day, around 205 of them, came from varied breeds — German Shepherd, pug, St Bernard, Labrador Retriever, Lhasa Apso and Cocker Spaniel, Chihuahua, Rottweiler, Bull Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff and English Mastiff. Their agenda was to compete for the breed and obedience shows organised by Canine Club of Bihar on the premises of Bihar Veterinary College.

An official in the state finance department, Nabashis Mitra, brought Ben, a Labrador Retriever, to his first-ever show. Mitra has another labrador and a St Bernard back home, but this year was for Ben.

“He is not even one-year-old, but is participating in a dog show. I am excited about his first appearance,” said Mitra, who came with his family to encourage the young pet. His 21-year-old daughter Paroma said the competition brought out Ben’s hidden qualities. “It was difficult to control Ben. He is barking loudly to attract attention. It’s great that he got this chance to mix with dogs of other species today,” said Paroma.

She added: “Ben is a part of our family and so all of us have come to support him. None of us were ready to miss the show.”

Ben tried his luck at the breed show, where the canines are evaluated on their anatomy— teeth structure, tail, fur and grip. One of the contenders was Alfresia, a Lhasa Apso, who has participated in several dog shows around the country. Young engineer and Alfresia’s owner, Ashmik Prateek, said: “He has already won many prizes. While at a show in Sikkim he was the runners-up, he finished third in a Guwahati show. I am confident about Alfresia bagging a position today as well.”

Canine Club of Bihar secretary Ajeet Kumar said: “Pradeep Ghose, vice-president, German Shepherd Club, Calcutta, and Deepak Kumar, a medical expert at Veterinary College, Tata (Jamshedpur), judged the events.”

Banker Praveen Kumar brought his Labrador Retriever Rocky for the obedience round where contenders were judged on how well the dogs followed instructions. “I will make my dog fetch a packet of biscuits from my car and also the slippers from one of the spectators here.”

While Rajeev Chatterjee’s German Shepherd ‘Adic’ won the breed show, ‘Rocky’ was not only named the most obedient dog in the junior category (7-9 months) but also the most obedient dog overall.