There are some friendly four-legged locals showing off at one of the biggest dog shows in Alberta this summer.

Romy Dupal-Demers and Alex McNeil live on an acreage just outside of Okotoks with their seven dogs.

This month, they're out in front of the Saddledome for the Calgary Stampede Dog Bowl with five of their dogs, with the other two still in training.

"It's a little shorter simply because you know the Stampede was concerned about having people gather for too long, but it's definitely no different in terms of what the dogs are doing. We're still doing agility races and trick dancing, and frisbee freestyle, and high jumping," says Dupal-Demers.

They've been doing the Stampede dog show for many years.

The one thing that is missing this year is the pool due to the size of the venue.

"I definitely love the agility segment. I do competitive agility as well, so it's super fun for us to get to show people sort of what we do in a smaller scale and make it fun for people to watch. And then I also really like the skipping rope with my little dog."

Through their business, The Bark Side, they train and board dogs as well as go to dog shows.

They've been doing dog shows for over 15 years each but started their own business together in about the last five years.

They've also travelled internationally and competed with Agility Team Canada.

Two of their dogs are trained in search and rescue.

 

(Photo provided by Romy Dupal-Demers)