One of my favorite weekends of the entire show season is the "Somerset Westchester" affair. This year, due to the quirks of the calendar, the shows were basically held a week earlier than usual. One way to measure this, of course, is that traditionally Sunday is the men's tennis final at the Open, which is, of course, the 12th and not the 5th. And on the
subject of the Open, shouldn't we dog people be taking a look at their rules, which limit the number of times a person under the age of 18 can compete in major tournaments? Perhaps these kinds of limitations should apply both to our Junior competitors and our young dogs as well. True, the Juniors are not under the same stress factors as are the younger tennis players but certainly one can equate a young dog being shown on the same basis of a seasoned veteran and expect some kind of limitation in those cases. I would think anyways.
As to the weekend, it was expanded this year to include three group shows at the Somerset location on Thursday, with the Tuxedo Show held in Tarrytown on Friday and a return on Saturday to the
Somerset show site and another turnaround on Sunday back to Tarrytown and thence on Monday to Schooley's Mountain in Chester New Jersey (for this year only, I am told). Well, someone had better smell those 
roses, what with the new mini Tarheel of four days in the same Raleigh location being approved, to say nothing of the shows in New Hampshire too! Unless these shows find a way to accommodate the exhibitors, I fear their entries are going to suffer downward even more than they have in the past. And if entries are not the primary concern, certainly cost and convenience factors should enter the picture for the exhibitors themselves. Whether it is true or not that the costs at Lyndhurst have increased tremendously, jeopardizing the continued use of this site remains to be seen. Presuming for the time that the clubs can afford the venue, why not make Tuxedo a Monday show? Schooley's entries on Monday were close to Tuxedo's on Friday. I know most people don't like Monday dates, but in the long run I think the entire weekend would benefit from some kind of date compromise. Why not try it out and see how it works, if it is affordable.
Now for the shows. The first day was won by the Otterhound, which is at long last getting the recognition it so richly deserves. The second day by that incredible toy poodle, which is currently ranked number two all-breed. The third and fourth days by comparative unknowns but certainly quality dogs for sure. 
An Afghan Hound shown by one of its owners, and on the last day the Showbiz fun and lovely bulldog. Owners of the Afghan were Joy Behr, Ken Hughes, Tony Saia and Floyd Gale; the Otterhound by A. and M. Hawley, E. Conway and D. Emery; toy poodle by Toni and Martin Sosnoff, and the Bulldog by Joan Fisher and Robert Speiser. As for the shows, I attended both Tuxedo and Westchester. Tuxedo was laid back, as usual. Westchester, for the first time in memory, did not have Jud Streicher in attendance. Jud was in Europe. This is
somewhat comparable in a sense to when Santa Barbara first lost the Stevensons. It takes a show time to replace its mainstays—if it is at all possible to do so. The personality is usually determined by the main player. What was lacking is that je ne sais quoi perpetuated by Judson Streicher. This was felt by many of the longtime show goers here. Nonetheless, the definite attempts to establish the shows new personality was very effective in many areas. The new layout was good for a really large entry, but for 1,700 dogs, perhaps it was overwhelming. Similarly, the conditions of the rings themselves left much to be desired. The crowds were smaller than usual, perhaps because of the date differential being on Labor Day itself. Furthermore, missing from the picture altogether were the “gatherings” of so called concerned dog people discussing the problems of the day. This always spiced up the atmosphere and except for 
Charlie Garvin and Nina Shaefer, I saw no Board members whatsoever. For a first attempt at running this show independent of its major backer and benefactor, I'd give it a high mark, say in the low eights. My advice for futures is to develop your own personalities, which certainly the people running the show have. More of a reliance on WESTCHESTER and its virtues and less of a reliance on Westminster is how I see it. But, of course, that's only my reaction. •
