Fargo - Moorhead Kennel Club

05/27/2026

Join us Saturday & Sunday for the 2026 Fargo Moorhead Kennel Club All-Breed Dog show at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds, West Fargo!

Snitch and Chappell are excited to meet you!

05/25/2026

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, and we will be going silent for most of the day.

It's a day on which we do not thank a soldier for their service—because the men, women, and K9s whom we honor today are the ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice and are no longer here to hear it.

They left behind family, loved ones, friends, and a future. Often forgotten, however, are the four‑legged companions who also waited: the dogs who slept by the door, watched the gate, or listened for footsteps that would never return, never truly understanding why their person was gone. Anyone who has ever lost a dog knows all too well the agony of that grief—made even worse by watching the quiet suffering of the companion dog left behind, who has just lost their best mate.

In 1918, British artist Robert Morley painted “Will He Come Back?”—the depiction of a dog waiting faithfully for his soldier owner to return, but who never did.

Importantly, on the wall hangs a framed memorial scroll honoring a fallen soldier—Sapper Alexander Murray—recording that he “passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self‑sacrifice.” It tells us the “how.” The dog will never understand the “why.”

A century later, the question in Morley’s title still echoes in every dog who waits at the door for someone who will not be coming home.

Later today, we'll address the four-leggers who paid the ultimate price.

05/25/2026

05/24/2026

ATTENTION Friends!!

We need all the help we can get to put on this show! Let us know when you can help out. Please put your reply in the comments.

05/23/2026

Excited for the long weekend? If you're including your pet in Memorial Day events, make sure to watch out for toxins and hazards. Pets going boating should always wear a life jacket, and if you're shooting off fireworks, it's best for pets to stay at home. Let us know your weekend plans below! Bonus points for a pet pic!

05/23/2026

When your pet is injured or not feeling well, it can be difficult to determine whether your pet needs emergency care, urgent care, or can wait to see your family veterinarian.

To help pet parents make informed decisions, we've updated our Fast Track Triage system to clearly distinguish when to use our urgent care service vs. our emergency service.

Learn more on our blog here: https://aercmn.com/does-my-pet-need-urgent-care-or-emergency-care

05/23/2026

05/16/2026

Smokin’: The Shaggy Stallion

Old English Sheepdog Ch. Bugaboo’s Big Resolution (Smokin’), portrait by C.T. Biggers, painted to commemorate Doug and Michaelanne Johnson’s 2006 AKC Breeder of the Year Award.

“We are proud to honor the Johnsons with the 2006 AKC Breeder of the Year award,” AKC Chairman Ron Menaker said during the award presentation. “The Bugaboo prefix has adorned top quality Old English Sheepdogs in the United States and abroad. Their influence on the breed will be seen for years to come.”

Smokin’, a group winner at both Westminster and the AKC National Championship, was one of seven Old English Sheepdog Club of America national-specialty winners to bear the Bugaboo prefix. When asked what made him so special, Doug replied, “He commands ring presence. The minute he steps in front of the judges, he stacks up, throws his chest forward. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the dog because of his breed type and charisma.

“He’s a stallion of a dog.”

May AKC Gazettehttps://images.akc.org/pdf/gazette/may-2026.pdf

Back issues https://www.akc.org/products-services/magazines/akc-gazette/

Gazette Gallery slideshow: Gilbert Win Shots—The Kodachrome Years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCadx7LjDfo;

AKC Down and Back podcast https://www.akc.org/about/down-and-back-akc-podcast/

If you don’t already subscribe to the Gazette, you can do so at https://www.akc.org/subscribe/ It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s free!

Happy weekend! We’ll see you around the rings.

05/16/2026

We were asked about this the other day....as if an axe murder is an every day thing. When the topic came up in the middle of a conversation about horror movies, we remembered that we'd actually written about her some six years ago:

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

It was the murder that got considerable attention in 1892 not only for its gruesomeness (Andrew Borden's face had been hatcheted into nearly two halves, while the head of Lizzie's stepmother, Abby, was smashed to pieces), but because the prime suspect was their thirty-two-year-old daughter, a sweet-looking Sunday school teacher - and a woman.

Lizzie’s guilt or innocence drew the whole country into the case, and in her own town of Fall River, Massachusetts, cultural, religious, class, ethnic, and gender divisions shaped opinions. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union and suffragists had Lizzie's back and pointed out that she would not be judged by a jury of her peers at trial because women, as non-voters, didn't have the right to serve on juries. Legal eagles, such as the attorney general who typically prosecuted capital crimes, and the district attorney both believed in her guilt. The people who counted, however - the jury - had little trouble in determining that Lizzie could never commit such a heinous crime, and after 90 minutes of deliberation, their verdict was "not guilty."

As for motive, that is also the object of speculation. The Bordens were very wealthy, and some have suggested that Lizzie was either upset about matters of property transfer, or simply didn't want to wait for an inheritance. There was also a revenge factor. Lizzie had recently built a roost for pigeons, but Andrew Borden was said to have killed many of them with a hatchet out of concern that the birds were attracting local kids to hunt them.

The case still fascinates people today, and there is more to it than what we've presented here. The Smithsonian Magazine offered an interesting point of view that you can read here, while this piece offers all the reasons to believe that "she did it!" A third article we came across included photos of the crime scene. The Internet offers up a gold mine of results, but our interest in the matter centers around Lizzie's dogs.

The fact of the matter is that Lizzie loved them, and had a particular fondness for Boston Terriers. Before her death in 1927, she owned three of them, "Royal Nelson," "Donald Stuart," and "Laddie Miller"

In 1913, Lizzie was persuaded by Helen Leighton and Gertrude Baker to help create a shelter to care for abused draft horses. A shrewd move: Her father was worth almost $10 million in today's market, and Lizzie and her sister Emma inherited a significant portion of it. Lizzie helped fund the center called Animal Rescue League, and in 1917, it expanded its mission to cats and dogs.

Lizzie bequeathed funds to the Animal Rescue League (now named the Faxon Animal Care and Adoption Center) upon her death if they agreed to take care of her three dogs for the rest of their lives. They did, and the three dogs are now buried in the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts under one headstone with the words "Sleeping Awhile." The center continues to receive money from the estate to this day. It also receives donations from the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum - the family home and scene of the crimes.

Photo of Lizzie holding Laddie Miller around 1916 has appeared widely across Facebook and social media....

05/16/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18pSgn3WTb/