Uno the Beagle Wins the Westminster Dog Show

Until now, the most famous beagle in the world was Snoopy from the Charles Shultz comic strip “Peanuts.” That may change after a 15-inch beagle named Uno won best in show at the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden last night. He was the first beagle to win the Hound Group since 1939 and the first ever to win best in show at Westminster. And he’s a charmer.

However, what one sees on TV has nothing on actually attending the show. The best advice one can give is to forget the endless judging of 27 different Pekinese in Ring 5, and go backstage to the benching area. It’s sort of the green room where the dogs lounge in their crates surrounded by owners and gawkers.

The people are almost as interesting as the dogs. The owners get exactly nothing for winning a dog show apart from some bragging rights and maybe a breeding fee or two. They almost all come from outside New York City, and most can’t wait to leave. It’s hardly surprising; if one’s great love is bull mastiffs, Manhattan is not a terribly comfortable place even for a week-end. Get an owner talking about his or her dog, though, and a life story follows.

As for the gawkers, it is a dog-lover’s paradise. In the benching area, one can see the extensive variety of canis familiaris, from the small Yorkshire terrier to the monstrous Great Dane, from the beautiful Labrador Retriever to the malgenics experiment known as the Chinese Crested. And when a small child gets to pet a naturally friendly animal, a life-time love affair is born.

Uno is a magnificent little fellow, and the akita, weimaraner and Australian shepherd in the last round could just as easily become the first of their breed to win it all. What they all had was the heart of the finest breed of all – the loyal mutt.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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