When Andy Cross’ daughter Sarah and her friends were six and seven years old, they wanted their dogs to compete in a show. Cross told them that traditional shows were mostly for purebred dogs.
They thought that was stupid. “We should be able to put our dogs in a show,” Cross recalls them saying. From there, the solution was simple enough: “Let’s have our own dog show.”
The girls designed a poster, with competition categories including “Biggest Nose” and “Longest Tail.” Cross thought that turnout would be good if 20 dogs from around their Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood came to compete. He was shocked when 70 showed up—and, each year, that those dogs and others came back…