Video: Dogs steal the show at Muscat Festival

Energy Sunday 13/January/2019 18:35 PM
By: Times News Service

MUSCAT: Animal lovers in Oman are in for a treat as Muscat Festival is hosting a highly entertaining dog show at Naseem Park in Seeb. A group of five Maltese dogs are all set to melt the hearts of the audience with their extremely cute and amusing performance at the festival, such as jumping, walking on hind legs, barrel rolling, among many others.
“The act is comedy-based where the dogs perform natural extensions. My husband trains the dogs and I present them. One dog walks on his hind legs. When he was young, we noticed he enjoyed walking on his hind legs so we encouraged it,” said Nikki Ogle, who has been working with these dogs for four years.
Speaking to the Times of Oman about how she trains and rewards them to perform certain tricks, Ogle said that she treats them with hot dogs.
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“I give them hot dogs as a treat and they don’t receive them at any other time except when they do their tricks. We give them hot dogs to reward the activity and eventually it is good enough to make it to the show,” Ogle added.
The presenter, who came to Oman last year with the circus, is taking part in the festival for the first time and is very excited about it.
“I came with the circus last year and this is my second time in Oman but my first time at the Muscat Festival. I am very excited and it looks great. I walked through the venue when everything was being set up. I look forward to working here and hope that the officials invite us back next year,” Ogle said.
A family of six who couldn’t control their excitement while watching the act said that they would come every week just to enjoy the show.
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“We have been living in Oman for about two years and this is the first time I am attending the festival with my kids. We have two dogs at home so this performance caught our attention and we loved every bit of it. In fact, we are planning on coming every week just to catch this act,” said Lara Raymond, a mother of three boys and a girl. The adorable group will be performing four shows a day on all seven days from 5pm-10.30pm.
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