Parade of Veterans and Memorial Videos (Past and Present)

Thanks to our Veterans Parade/Memorial Video wrangler Penny Larson for this writeup of the history of these videos!

In early 2004, Penny Larson brought to the TRACS board a proposal for an event to honor our senior citizen dogs. She called it the Parade of Veterans, and it would be held at the May Memorial Day agility trials. Each owner would submit an entry form which included the registered name of the dog, the call name of the dog and all its titles as well as a brief bio. That information would be put on a medallion rosette which would be presented to the dog, and a rosette which would hang around the dog’s neck. There would be a $14 charge to pay for the rosette. At the event, the dog would come out with the owner and could go through a little course which would consist of jump, jump, tunnel, six weavepoles, jump while the bio information was read to the audience. They would then come up and have the rosette placed around his/her neck. Dogs still competing could not do the equipment but could come out and be recognized. After much discussion, the proposal was finally approved with the following conditions. 1 -dogs must be 9 years or older, 2- event would be held every other year. 3- event must be held after the trial classes were finished (Kathie Leggett said AKC would not allow it to interrupt the trial). And 4-Event must pay for itself- thus the charge for the rosette. Holding the event after the trial classes were finished meant we would be holding the event in the heat of the late afternoon, but we decided to hold it and see how it went.

The event was first held in May 2004 and was such a success that it was decided to continue every other year. It was then held in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

In 2017, Penny attended an agility trial in Dallas, TX on her way to the AKC Agility Nationals in Tulsa. At that trial, the club also put on a Parade honoring senior dogs. Penny entered her dog and took part in the event which took place in the middle of the trial on Saturday. All rings were halted in the middle of the morning so everyone could watch the event. Penny returned and told Kathie who contacted Carrie DeYoung, the head of AKC agility, who said that it was possible to hold the event during the trial. In 2018, the TRACS Parade was held first thing on the Saturday of the trial.

In 2020 the trial was canceled due to Covid, but Kathie suggested that we hold a virtual Parade on the TRACS website. People were asked to submit entry forms along with five pictures of their senior dog. Penny collected the forms and pictures and passed the pictures to Kathie who created the video. Penny did the voice over the video pictures with the story that the handler had submitted. On Memorial Day the video was uploaded to the TRACS website (thanks Jim Aitken), the rosettes were mailed to the participants, and as an added bonus, Kathie created a flash drive for each participant which was mailed to them with the Rosette. At that point, Kathie suggested that we do this every year. So the Parade was held in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2025. (For reasons too complicated to explain here, It was not held in 2024.). Dogs were brought out while their ‘story’ was read, and they were presented with their rosettes. Sue Larson also took pictures which were forwarded to the participants. In addition the video of the 5 pictures was uploaded to the TRACS Website.

That brings us to 2026, and the Parade will be held on Saturday, May 23rd. If you have a senior dog, please join us.