It’s a thing of beauty, Roxanne Showalter said of Elsie, the six-pound, round-headed, googly-eyed Chihuahua she held to her side.

&uot;You’re mama’s girl. You’re a good girl,&uot; she said in an adoring voice to her dog, who moments before yipped at trio of Rhodesian ridgebacks who glared back regally, and trotted away.

Those were some of more than 900 dogs at the Albert Lea Kennel Club Dog Show this weekend, which also included Afghan hounds, golden retrievers, bulldogs, Chihuahuas, Newfoundlands and Bouvierdes Flanders, to name a few. RVs filled the City Arena parking lot as hundreds of people from around the region brought their canines to compete in the annual event.

Like many, it’s an expensive hobby, and to professional breeders, the price they can fetch for a dog depends on winning. But there’s also an emotional connection to the animals that is often akin to a child-parent relationship.

Sitting next to collapsible metal pens holding seven Chihuahuas, Showalter had another explanation for the interest in dog shows &045; insanity.

&uot;We’re all crazy,&uot; she joked about the dedication some have to their dogs and the sport.

Chihuahuas happen to be Showalter’s favorite dogs. It’s their facial expression.

&uot;It just makes your heart melt,&uot; she said to Elsie, who stared intently into the distance. Elsie is a grand champion, meaning she’s won a specified number of competitions.

But Showalter, of Woodville, Minn., said she won’t breed her. She said she loves Elsie too much to risk her death while giving birth.

Showalter said the competitive nature of the show is not unlike the movie &uot;Best in Show.&uot; And while sometimes people backstab, and try to spook and distract competing dogs in the ring with loud coughs or tossed dog-treats, the atmosphere is friendly.

&uot;We all have prejudices about our dogs, like they’re our own children. We think they’re better than other dogs,&uot; said Jean Jasinsky, of Britt, Minn.,

sitting by her trailers with her friend, Lilly Winn.

Winn beamed with pride at her dachshund, Willy, who won reserve of winners. &uot;I told him to be a good dog and he was, and he strutted his little stuff,&uot; she said, shaking her shoulders and speaking to her dog.

Jasinsky has been breeding dachshunds since 1956, and said she doesn’t get too upset when she doesn’t win.

Some people complain and dispute the judges. &uot;If you asked their opinion in the first place, you might as well be content,&uot; she said.

That’s an attitude that Mary Kramer of Albert Lea has. She breeds Irish setters as a hobby, and has only been showing dogs for a year. She said many judges favor full-time breeders, not the hobby breeders like her.

But she said she’s having fun, learning how to show dogs and traveling. She doesn’t take the opinions of judges to heart, and her husband, Dick Poole, explained that no one would admit how personally they take a judge’s opinion.

But Kramer seemed earnest when she said it didn’t bother her. And while breeding is her hobby and not her profession, her five dogs are like her children. So far she’s enjoying herself.

(Contact Tim Sturrock at tim.sturrock@albertleatribune.com or 379-3438.)