Wanted: Tricky pets to perform at the 2008 Mower County Fair. No experience necessary. Apply at fair office.

Barry Rush is coordinating the first-ever Pet Tricks contest at the Mower County Fair.

It will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8, on the Fair Square stage.

“We don’t want a dog that rolls over. We want unique pets that perform unique tricks,” said Rush. “It’s an animal talent contest.”

In other words, tricky pets that can perform tricks.

The open show is, of course, open to all kinds of pets. Parrot, ferret, gold fish, chicken, goat, dog, cat — name it and if it has a talent, it could win prize money for its owner.

“This is the first year we have offered a contest like this at the Mower County Fair,” said Rush, an Mower County Humane Society volunteer. “Cash money prizes will be awarded for the first-, second- and third-place acts.”

The judges will be representatives of the contest sponsors: Double K Specialty, MCHS and the Mower County Fair Board.

According to Rush, the sponsors want only the best acts.

“We want to see pets that are unique and funny and can perform before a crowd,” he said. “They have to be something different.”

And because it is an open show, that means anyone — adult, teen or child — can enter their pet.

“We want to see pets that can perform like those on television’s animal talent contests,” he said.

The deadline for registering is July 30.

That’s only two weeks to the deadline and another week until it’s showtime for the pets and their owners.

Registration forms and information about fees are available at Double K Specialty in Austin, the Mower County Humane Society’s Friends in Need animal shelter along 10th Drive Southeast or the fair office on the fairgrounds in southwest Austin.

For more information call the sponsors: Double K Specialty at 437-1747 or the MCHS at 437-9262.