Mac Cool wrote:

William Clodius:

Get them into 4H. My daughters loved it at that age, and still do.

I know she would love 4H but unfortunately we can't keep livestock where
we live.
I thought the context implied 4H dog competitions. 4H does a lot of
different things, not just livestock, as befits an organization with
over 5.9 million youth members. It claims to be the largest youth
organization in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-H
http://4-h.org/

While I was the one who saw the 4H poster at the dog obediance club and
suggested that it was a good idea to participate, I have left the
details up to my daughters. If your daughter is interested I suggest
contacting either your local 4H council or your local county extension
service to find out how to get involved with dogs in 4H. Our community,
while not large, ~20,000 people, has an active dog obediance club which
helps the youth find knowledgeable adults to supervise them. The youth
learn not only dog obedience, but also showmansh, agility, and rally-o.
However on the state get togethers: a dog school in mid spring and the
state fair in early fall, they meet with kids from the big Albuquerque
clubs, and others from farm communities learning dog training on their
own.

In addition to their involvement with dog training, my daughters have
become involved in the 4H council. They particularly enjoy the 4H
leadership get together in late winter. A chance to meet young preppies
from Albuquerque, nerds from Los Alamos, Hispanic farmers from Hatch,
cowboys from near Ruidoso, and Indian shepherds from near Grants with a
central common interest in 4H gives them a better view of what some of
the rest of the world was like.

FWIW I have recently rescued from my wife's old computer some photos
taken during the spring dog school