Dogs!

Here I am with Johnny, the German shepherd near the bottom left, Robert (the yellow Lab) next to me and Lilly (the golden retriever), getting lots of doggie love!

It's no secret that I love dogs. My friend Troy can't believe it when I stop to say hello to every dog I see on the street when we're walking down Broadway.

So imagine my delight every year when members of the Columbus Kennel Club come with their dogs to talk about their annual dog show.

This year, it's 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on the grounds of North Highland Assembly of God Church, 7300 Whittlesey Road. Organizers say there's more room there than at Lakebottom Park and lots more parking than at the park.

I'm bummed out because I've got to be at Steeplechase all day and I'm going to miss the show.

But at least I got to see some of the dogs Wednesday.

For the first time, I got to see in person, a Bouvier de Flandres, the cattle dog of Flanders, and the Kerry Blue terrier, who used to be known as the Irish terrier.

And then there was the beautiful standard poodle, Pru, whom I met last year when she was about 10-months-old. She'll be 2 in February.

The triplets were the hit, though. They're actually not triplets, but siblings from the same litter. They are Xindi, Kudzu and Voxx, the Vizslas (Hungarian bird dogs) owned by Trish and Wayne James.

They told me years ago that he wanted a dog he could hunt with and she wanted a dog she could show. So they're trained in field trials and prance around a ring.

These three dogs are just stunning! I was afraid one of my colleagues would kidnap Kudzu. But Trish got all three home safely.

You know how you go into Publix and you'll see everyone you know?

It was the same last night.

One of the people I ran into was Mike Blackwell, someone I've known for a long, long time. He's a local music promoter and I had no idea he had any dogs until I saw a huge bag of dog food in his cart. I asked what kind of dogs he had that he'd have to get that big a bag of food.

He said to come out to his truck and see.

Mike has Weimaraners! And they're gorgeous. One is female and the other a male. Heidi wanted to say hello and lick me. The boy sat on the floor on the passenger side.

Then he said he has 11 babies at the farm. His Great Pyrenees mated with his male and she had 11 babies! Actually, she had 12 but one died.

I'd love to have one of those puppies, but they when full grown, they can weigh as much as 100 lbs. I don't need a dog that big.

When I was in Japan in 1998, one of my Aunt Keiko's neighbors had one and he was gorgeous. His coat was so thick that in the summer, the owner made sure that his dog house had air conditioning. Yes, the dog house was air-conditioned!

I'm going to go out to Mike's farm soon to visit the puppies. I can't wait!