By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Sheldon should have been a shoe-in at the 65th annual BG Pet Show in City Park Wednesday evening.
As a three-toed box turtle, native to the southern U.S., Sheldon had already snapped up the first place ribbon for “most unusual” pet.
The turtle was rescued after being dumped in Oak Openings Preserve, and has been the pet of 9-year-old Nova Sprow for three years. He was aptly named Sheldon, “cause he’s a turtle and he has a shell,” Nova said, with a look that said the name should be self-explanatory.
He dines on fruits and vegetables, with bananas being his favorite feast. On Wednesday evening Nova carried her turtle in a cardboard box, not wanting to take any chances. “He’s actually a very fast turtle,” she said.
Sheldon was on his way back to the stage at Needle Hall to compete in the “best behaved” category – the only pet signed up for that challenging category – when he latched onto the elbow of Nova’s mother, LaRae Sprow.
This was highly unusual behavior for the turtle, chalked up to the stress of competition.
“He’s not being well behaved right now,” Sprow reported to the emcees waiting on stage for Sheldon. “He won’t let go of my elbow.”
Turns out the spotlight can be a lot for a shell dweller.
The turnout was rather light at the annual pet show, possibly due to the hot and humid weather. But nothing gets in the way of the pet show, which has been held for 65 consecutive years – even being uninterrupted by the Covid pandemic.
Ivan Kovacevic, the BG Parks and Recreation program coordinator, has run the pet show for the past 11 years – including during Covid, when it was held on Facebook, and winners were selected by community voters.
“We had to get creative that year,” Kovacevic said.
Some of the more unusual pets competing in the past included a roly poly bug (perfect for the best behaved category), an alpaca, and a miniature donkey.
The judges for this year’s pet show included Wendy Manning, president of BG Dog Parks; Susy Sadoff Obee, a big fan of pets; and Lindy Hoodlebrink, a fitness specialist at the community center. Aiding Hoodlebrink was her 5-year-old son, Grey, who had just brushed up on his animal skills while attending “Zoo Camp” this week. He was also in charge of quality control – “he’s petting all the animals,” his mom said.
The categories for judging included shaggiest, best dressed, biggest rodent (there were no complaints about this category going unfilled), funniest name, longest ears, slimiest reptile, and pet that looks most like the owner.
The most hotly contested categories were best trick performed and cutest boy dog. The emcees, parks and rec staff Amelia Fletcher and Isabella Zachary did their best to reveal the personalities of the pets.
The crowd learned that Albie Dumbledore, a yorkiepoo who won for best trick of rolling over, was a big fan of cheese. Sarafina, a dachshund, who spun in circles, loves to cuddle.
“The judges had a really hard time deliberating that one,” Zachary said of the trick category.
Ringo’s favorite pastime is playing fetch, and the golden retriever Cooper (who was named cutest boy dog) is crazy about swimming and eating beefsticks.
Competing in the best trick and biggest dog categories was Shelby, “like the Shelby Mustang,” a German shepherd who was supposed to be the runt of the litter, but weighed in at 82 pounds.
Shelby’s owner got the dog when she adopted her 9-year-old granddaughter, who has autism and uses hand signs to communicate. “They grew up together,” and the grandma taught Shelby to obey hand signs.
Though Shelby was a little stage shy when it came to performing, she had no problem sweeping the largest dog category.
“Everybody saw Shelby coming and they didn’t even want to compete,” Zachary said.
By the looks of it, Shelby could have also lapped up the longest tongue category, had there been one.
