Unlike those two fellows on the television who review movies, God (in his infinite wisdom) did not see fit to provide us puppy dogs with thumbs. For this reason my review of the past week’s wonderful events that took place at Devon will be scored on a “paws up” scale with “four paws up” being the highest rating and “barely a Corgi’s tail up” being the lowest (where is my tail, anyway?)

That having been said, I may tell you in advance that everything I can remember from my BRILLIANT day out at Devon will be given a score of “four paws up.” This is not, I will further warn you, an act of hyperbole. I will give you two quick reasons for these evaluations and will, then move on the charms of Dressage at Devon for the year 2006.

The first rationale for telling only of those people, stalls, and events that were top notch may be traced to the boy person who shares our home. As you may already know, Larry (yes, that is his given name, although precious few people call him by it) does not do anything by halves. In his world there is true doctrine and there is heresy. There are great horses and there are nags half way down the road to the glue factory. There are people and objects about which he raves . . . everyone and everything else may as well fall off the face of the Earth right now. I will grant you that this is not the greatest role model in the world, but it is what I have to work with.

My second raison d'être comes from my Mommy and Daddy. They taught me early on, “Little girl dog, if you can’t say something nice . . . don’t say nothing at all.” Thus, if you are looking for the dirt on Devon you will have to root around in that pile of manure over there. I have nothing but nice things to tell you.

First and foremost, four paws up for the nice folks who keep this a dog friendly event. When Larry and Ruth came back from the World Equestrian Games and told me that no dogs were allowed anywhere on the show grounds in Aachen (even Mrs. Debbie McDonald’s doggie had to stay with Mrs. Balkenhol during the show, Brentina and she must have been very perturbed) I was incredulous (did Larry spell that correctly?). Thank you, thank you, and thank you to the good and pleasant people who welcome us doggies to Devon year after year. [Trooper and Gizmo give this four paws up as well. It’s unanimous.]