 There is just no topping Westminster—the crowds, the glamour, the excitement, the anxieties, the problems, the thrills, and the ambiance! All in a world class of their own for us dog people. The reality of the situation, however, is that the days preceding Westminster can be as encompassing as the BIG W itself what with the various Specialty Shows, parties, and the award dinners, to say nothing of the renewing of old friendships and the making of new ones. The early arrivals begin on Wednesday revving up for the Thursday night parties and getting ready for Friday Specialties—both of the Toy breeds and the Specialties in New Jersey. The Meadowlands shows really get in gear on Friday, but the big emphasis is Saturday and Sunday, where Don Snyder and Tracey Monahan put together a truly great set of shows. Friday brings more parties and award dinners and opera goings (Sam Draper's annual report will appear in next week's issue), with the highlight being the Dog Museum Benefit. This year the featured show was “La Cage Aux Folles,” which was great fun, followed by the dinner at the 21 with various cast members in attendance. Saturday is setting up booths in the Garden, going to more Specialty Shows, visiting Doyle, more dinners and parties—exhaustion time sets in! The dinner at the American Museum of Natural History, which is said to be a finale to the Pedigree participation in the Top Breed Award presentations from their standpoint but which will continue in another format, was simply spectacular. Hopefully Pedigree will change its mind, as they claim to be refocusing on the shelter dog rather than the show factor, but time will tell on that one. Sunday is the open house at AKC, where a record 1,200-plus people streamed through the doors, more Specialties and more parties, with Purina's big Chinese pre-show dinner fast becoming a favorite.
And now the reason for the weekend with which to begin—the BIG W! The crowds the first day were so overwhelming that tickets stopped being sold at 11 a.m. Quite frankly, the grooming area was hazardous to the point of bordering on being uncontrollable. Something must be done wherein the show and/or the Garden better controls what is going on. Any place else, quite frankly, AKC would have to move in on but the relationships there being what they are, there is little doubt reasons would be questioned. What can't be done is to ignore a possible inflammatory and dangerous situation for the public and our dogs as well. That being said, let's start from the most exciting moment and work backwards.
By now you all know that the German Shorthaired Pointer owned by Linda and Richard Stark of Castle Rock, Colorado and handled by the talented and lovely Michelle Ostermiller received accolade as the winner of the Best in Show exhibit. The co-owners of Ch. Kan-Point's VJK Autumn Roses, whose call name is Carlee, are Carol Cronk and Valerie Nunes-Atkinson, who at one time was Carlee's handler as well. She was the number five Sporting Dog all-breed in 2004 and of the seven exhibits in the Finals, only the Non-Sporting representative ranked lower in the Top  Ten Group Ratings. Two of the finalists were ranked Number One in their Groups, the Hound and the Terrier. The Working representative was number 3; the Toy number 2 and number 2 all-breed, and the Herding Dog number 3. So I suppose one could say the GSP win was a surprise, except for the fact that the beauty of dog shows is that dogs are judged on the day and rankings are secondary except as to statistics! And what a show this GSP put on Tuesday night as she wowed both the close to 18,000 spectators and, more importantly, Judge Mrs. Lynette Saltzman. The team of Michelle and Carlee was picture-perfect from the get go, and while the competition was fierce, particularly as far as showmanship factors were concerned, there was no denying that on the stack, Carlee was pure perfection. And that took nothing away from the other dogs capable of being judged in this fashion either! I mean really, Coco virtually matched Carlee in performance all the way. It's more difficult for other breeds such as the Bloodhound and the Peke to compete on this level but both of them did admirably for their breed, whilst both the Border Collie and the Tibetan Terrier outdid themselves as well.
As for Michelle, what is there to add to this young lady's second consecutive all-breed Best in Show—at Westminster, no less! Showing Josh the Newfoundland  as she did to the letter of Newfoundland exhibition comes her presentation of a sporting dog in an entirely different manner. Her multi-faceted talent in presenting dogs in accordance with the breeds' standards and needs is an accomplishment achieved by only the most talented of professional handlers. Keeping in mind the exuberance of the pointing exhibit as though in the field as compared to the steadfastness and unique movement of the Newf, there is little doubt in my mind that this young lady is one of the brightest stars on the horizon who will make an indelible and positive impact on the handling world for years to come.
Starting from the first night and working to Tuesday, the first Group of the evening was Working, which was dominated by the Great Pyrenees Ch. Dieudonne Impyrial Acclaim. This fine example of his breed is shown and handled by co-owner Karen Bruneau for husband Paul and Kyle Simons and PJ Midgordon. I have said this before, and I'll say it again. I think Karen is a very talented handler who reminds me of Gayle Bontecou showing a Scottish Deerhound. She has just that sort of rapport with this breed that Gayle has with her Deerhounds.
 The next group was the Terrier Group and who looked lovelier than Cindy Vogels in her understated cocktail dress? From the moment one saw Coco Ch. Cracknor Cause Celebre, owned by Pam Beale, Stephanie Ingram and Elisabeth Matell, she stole your heart away. Never looking better, except perhaps in Best in Show, I made her an easy winner, as obviously did Cindy. Handled by Beth Sweigart, I have never been more impressed by the number one exhibit of 2003, who has recently returned from a maternity leave. Next Group was the ever-difficult Toy Group. Year after year, the Toy Group impresses to no end but this year, I must say, I thought it was hard pressed by both the Terriers and Hound Groups. The eventual winner was Ch. Yakee If Only, owned by Kit Woodruff. One of the breeders, Burt Easdon, was in from Scotland to help celebrate this win (to say nothing of the great Specialty wins of the weekend). Shown to perfection and put down to equal perfection by Peke master David Fitzpatrick, this was a most heady and difficult win. As for the last Group of the evening, the Tibetan Terrier—bred and co-owned by Mikki Demers with S. Schultis and shown by Mikki’s very talented sister, Lois—took the honors to the thrill of the crowd under the very  beautifully gowned Sandra Goose Allen. Monday night, Take The Lead held its big après-show party, which was extremely well attended.
Dawns Tuesday bright and early for most—too early for me, that's for sure, and fortunately the crowds are not as gigantic during the day as on Monday. You know I am a strong believer in classes being held at Westminster again. Personally, I dislike these Invitational-type events tremendously, but Westminster is severely limited, both in entries and diversity due to the Champions-only requirement. At least at Eukanuba-AKC, it's the Top 25 in each breed, which somewhat opens the door, to say nothing of all the bred-by classes. The problem at Westminster is most upsets have to come in the Groups—95 of the breeds are predictable based on what judges have done in the past with the dogs entered under them. In any event, first Group of the night was Sporting, where the aforementioned GSP won hands down. Next came a particularly difficult Hound Group in which the Bloodhound was adjudicated  the victor. “Knotty,” as he is called, is registered as Ch. Heathers Knock On Wood and is Canadian-bred, which meant with the Peke to be named in the Toy Group and the Norfolk in the running, three of the seven finalists would be foreign-bred. Knotty is handled by Ken Griffith and owned by Lyn Sherman. Lest one forget, he and Coco were winners at the AKC/Eukanuba shows in consecutive years. The final group was awarded to the Border Collie Ch. Border Fame Spellbound, who is owned and bred by Caroline Woods and Frank Baylis. This stunning dog is handled by Jim Moses and frequently in the group by Jimmy's most capable and talented assistant, Lenny Brown. This must have been a most exciting and thrilling victory for this nicest of young men, to say nothing of a deserving dog. So that's it, folks. I'll have more to say about the Garden next week. I have a deadline to meet, as this is being written Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. the day after the Garden! •
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