Natural disasters, love, hope, human failings and survival. Of the thousands of heartbreaking stories to have come out of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, few were as saddening as the struggles of the thousands of pets left behind in the flood waters and devastation.  Philly Dawg introduces us to “Mine”, an Independent Lens PBS documentary, debuting this week.  “Mine” is an examination of love, despair, and the heroic efforts of rescuers and pets alike.   Check your local listings for airtimes.

We’ll pass on his cookbooks, thanks: 77-year-old chef Beppe Bigazzi was suspended Wednesday from his popular morning show on Italian TV after he offered a recipe for preparing “cat stew,” and said he had enjoyed the dish many times:

When his 27-year-old female co-host looked stunned as Bigazzi said he has eaten cat stew “many times,” the white-haired, grandfather figure defended his tastes.

“Why, people maybe don’t eat rabbit, chicken, pigeon?” Bigazzi said. He could have added horse meat, which many butchers and supermarket meat departments stock.

“Who’s not fat, kills the cat,” is how Bigazzi began his lighthearted prattle about cat stew.

Bigazzi claimed cat stew was a Tuscan specialty near the Arno river valley, but co-host Elisa Isoardi looked so embarrassed she ducked behind a cart of fresh salad greens whose healthy virtues the two were supposed to be chatting about.

Italian law protects cats from Bigazzi’s stew pot, officials noted. For those who understand Italian, the “humor” that has probably ended his career is apparently a hit on YouTube. You find that on your own, sorry.

No more doggies in the windows: West Hollywood, Calif.,  is about to enact an ordinance banning the sale of pets by retail pet stores.

Councilman Jeffrey Prang said the move would strike a blow to puppy mills and other cruel, assembly-line breeding. [...] More than 500 independent pet shops nationwide, including 38 in California, refuse to sell puppies in their stores.   Under the West Hollywood proposal, all pet stores would have to stop selling cats and dogs by September 2011.

Although it’s not the end of the industry, any law on any level that chips away at puppy mills is fine with me.

Anti-fur, meet anti-civility.  Again. All of you who follow the world of figure skating probably remember a kerfuffle over American skater Johnny Weir wearing white fox fur at at the U.S. National Championships.   In my humble opinion, Shirley at YesBiscuit nails this one perfectly (and eloquently, too) with a delicious, concise paragraph.

Gee, I wonder how receptive Weir will be in future to education on fur farming. I’m guessing slightly less than zero. It would have been a good opportunity to share an opposing view without condemnation but that’s probably lost now. And it’s a shame because I have no doubt he will be a huge fashion designer one day soon. So thanks all you death threat mailing, bucket of red paint throwing, creepy stalker types — way to help your cause.

Dickens’ collar: There are dozens of reasons why it’s great to see our friend Maria Goodavage writing for the Dogster blog, including wonderful tidbits like this.   A dog collar selling for over $11,000 at auction might sound silly, until you learn that the collar was used by Charles Dickens’ dog.  Good, sturdy leather and brass, too.  What else would you expect from one of the greatest writers in the history of English literature? (I meant Dickens … no offense, Maria.  You’re great, too.)

Pawsitively lovely protection: My mother likes animals, but what she really loves is fashion.   Hence, she was my source for this NYT photo essay on the latest in high end paw-wear, aimed specifically at city-dwelling pooches.  My only editorial comment on the highlighted items is this: Selling boots for dogs by the PAIR (instead of four) is sneaky.  Seriously, are you going to get boots for the left but not the right, or front but not the back?  I didn’t think so.

Perfect parrot with an off-switch: African Grey parrots are apparently brilliant birds  — remember Alex, who had an obituary in the New York Times and a best-selling memoir? — but they’re a lot of work to live with.  Think messy, bright and inquisitive toddler who never, ever shuts up. Fun, sometimes, but … well, not for everyone. If you’d like to enjoy a parrot pal, but only occasionally, you can check out streaming video of Bibi. So notes “Heckled By Parrots” blogger Rebecca O’Connor, who knows a thing or two about living with an African Grey herself. … and staying with the avian theme, check out the best in parrot foraging toys on the Best In Flock blog.

Human Choice? Check the ingredients: Gina mentioned the problem with the HSUS’ new dog food earlier this week, based on the sound thrashing given it on Terrierman. Raised by Wolves blogger Heather Houlahan has an even funnier take on the issue of feeding dogs like chickens.  Read the fine print, bottom line.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an email.

Photo credits: Katrina puppy, pbs.org.  Dickens’ collar, Bonhams.

The NYT — and other newspapers in areas where one’s social ranking was once very, very important — used to cover dog shows as sporting events, and for years, the NYT sent one Mr. Walter R. Fletcher to cover the most prestigious dog show in the country. Mr. Fletcher had the best seat at the media tables, a plaque with his name and affiliation making sure no one else took his seat. Long after a few of us started showing up with strange little contraptions that were the progenitors of today’s ubiquitous notebook computers — TRS-80 Model 100s known in the newsrooms as “Trash 80s” or “RatShacks,” with 8K of memory, 8 lines of black on gray display and acoustic couplers that went over the ear- and mouthpieces of old-fashioned phones to transmit our datastreams  — Mr. Fletcher pounded out his story at ringside on a manual typewriter, with copy boys assigned to relay half-sheets of updates back to his editors.

Aside from working many layers below an editor who insisted on using a manual typewriter more as an affectation than anything else (the big man’s secretary would then type his words into the newsroom computer system), Mr. Fletcher’s annual efforts were the first, last and only time in my professional journalism career that I ever saw anyone use a manual typewriter. (I’m sorry, but I can’t drop the “Mr.” when it comes to Mr. Fletcher any more than I would have dared to sit in his chair at the Garden.)

The very idea of using a manual typewriter now is every bit as quaint as covering Westminster like a real sporting event, instead of as a business with bad ROI that’s really a beauty pageant. And that’s exactly what the New York Times did this year:

The bucks. They are the not-so-secret key to success at this and other top dog shows held every year. On Monday, when Madison Square Garden in Manhattan hosts the 2010 Westminster Dog Show, the most prestigious event on the thoroughbred canine calendar, money will quietly play a role in determining the winner, just as money quietly shaped the field of contenders — and just as money shapes almost every nook and cranny of the dog show business.

Among breeders, owners and handlers, it’s understood: you can’t just turn up with the paradigm of the breed, if such an animal exists, and expect a best-in-show ribbon. To seriously vie for victory, a dog needs what is known as a campaign: an exhausting, time-consuming and very expensive gantlet of dog show wins, buttressed by ads in publications like Dog News and The Canine Chronicle.

(Actually, a Thoroughbred is a horse, not a dog, and the word the writer was looking for was “purebred.”  This same factual error in a puppy sales ad is one of those things that’s a red flag that you may well be dealing with a puppy-mill, just so you know.)

The story focused on an outgoing man named Raymond “Tray” Pittman and his partner, the quieter Paul Flores. The two men live (when they’re not on the road, which they usually are) not 10 miles north of me, but the first time I met them was at the Crufts dog show, in England. Pittman had taken a Bichon Frise owned by a nice New Jersey couple to a win in the toy group, eliciting a great deal of mumbled resentment from the locals, who had for generations owned an unparalleled home field advantage owing to a non-negotiable six-month quarantine for rabies that had recently been altered. (The PaRay crowd did not win the top honor that year, but strangely enough, another professional handler, Larry Fenner, who also lives about 10 miles from me but in the other direction, would be the human half of the first American team to win at Crufts a few years later with an Australian shepherd, which is really an American breed, despite the name.)

I bumped into Pittman in the bar at the Hilton across from the National Exhibition Centre that year he was there with his New Jersey Bichon, making a quick mental note that on his wrist  was a watch worth more than my car. He had just gotten off the phone with Flores to tell the latter to hop a jet immediately to get the grooming on the Bichon for Best in Show. (Flores is so good that, as the NYT notes, if he weren’t grooming dogs he’d be a sculptor.)

When I expressed amazement at the cost of a last-minute booking for a flight from SF to London, Pittman shrugged.

“It’s not my money,” he said.

And not mine, either, of course. Because although I do pay a wonderful couple to handle my own dogs at shows when I’ve got a dog actively showing, which isn’t often or for long, my dogs have pageant careers that end when their championship is awarded, which is the point at which the Big Dogs of the show world start their “campaigns.”

Even if I had the money, I haven’t the heart for that game. I don’t even like my dogs gone for an overnight, much less for the year or two a top “special” will be living in kennels and motor homes with one of the top professional handlers and their legions of assistants.

I haven’t quite known what to make of the PaRay partners since. When I do see them, they are unfailingly friendly and chatty, even when busy, and there’s no doubt their dogs are well-cared-for even if not particularly cared about as dogs. The men work hard and have made their way in a niche world with its own quirky reality.

There is change coming — already here, really — in the world of dogs, and heaven knows I welcome anything that breaks the genetic bottlenecks and bizarre blueprints that have made messes out of many breeds. But I don’t have a problem with dog shows, per se, and I find a fair amount of the criticism of “fat matrons” and snidely veiled asides about gay men and lesbians in the show world to say more about the writers’ own issues than their true concerns about the dogs.

I guess the bottom line is that my problem with dog shows is one of degree, not their very existence. A lot of the top show dogs really love the attention, and when you’re around them, you can see that. If I had to choose, I’d rather have their life than the lives of a million bored backyard dogs in this country. (Of course, I’d rather have the life of an active, trained and well-socialized dog who goes out everywhere with a beloved owner, but if we’re talking extremes, the show dog life ain’t that bad.)

And the pageants themselves are wonderful places to watch — the people even more than the dogs. Which is why I’ll probably end up at both of these big shows again — in New York and in England –  and enjoy the experience very much, as I always have. Although not this year for either.

Image: Raymond Pittman and Sloan, by the New York Times.

Lower your cholesterol — get a cat! An article courtesy of my friend Pete Hansen, who acquired a cat a few months back.  You’ve probably seen essays and news stories saying that owning a pet relaxes you, therefore lowering blood pressure.  Now there’s some evidence indicating it helps your cholesterol, too!

The cat who came in from the cold:  The first paragraph of this heartwarming story from the Edmonton Journal, by way of Gina, made me reach for my parka and boots, while still sitting in my living room:

Bob the cat showed up at Air Canada cargo services’ warehouse at the international airport on a morning when a Siberian front swept through Edmonton, plunging temperatures into the -30s.

I don’t care if it is celsius, thirty below is still way too cold.   Bob, who the airport workers soon learned is female, settled in over time.  Now,

there’s never any doubt she runs the place, though, and that she has the men wrapped around her little paw.

Always be prepared.  It’s not expensive, and could make all the difference. You may have a first aid kit at home for your adults and non-furry children, but do you have one for the ones with tails and paws?    You should.   I admit that I don’t, but I’ll be using this well organized, easy-to-follow post from Smartdogs to create one.   It’s a great idea, because you never know.  Don’t wait.  Please take advantage of the great hints here.  I know I will.

Tiger Ranch operator sentenced to 27 years probation for cruelty: Sorry, I didn’t promise these would all be happy stories.   A tip of the cap to Mary Mary for the final chapter of this terribly sad saga from Pittsburgh.  She and I are both convinced that the Tiger Ranch venture probably started out as a terrific idea, but quickly spun out of control.  Now, almost two years later, it stands as a tragic cautionary tale.  My personal belief is there was likely some mental illness in play as well, but in any case, the judge’s words at sentencing remain accurate:

“I came into this case thinking … you were most likely a woman who had good intentions but became overwhelmed. From that perspective until today, I have learned quite a lot,” said Rangos, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “You have chosen not to cooperate and spew vitriol in others’ direction without taking any personal responsibility for the disaster that Tiger Ranch became.”

Kudos to Amy Worden at Philly Dawg for her work on this story.  She has followed it from the beginning, and Amy is always worth reading.

Three new breeds at Westminster: Petville tells us there will be three new breeds shown at the 2010 WKC Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on February 15 & 16:  the Irish Red and White Setter (pictured: not just a color variant, but a different breed from the Irish Setter), the Norwegian Buhund, and the Pyrenean Shepherd.  If I may say so, these are three gorgeous dogs, and I’m looking forward to seeing them in the show.

Have a great morning.  I’ll be back later today with something completely different. And don’t forget: If you have something good to read, add a link to the comments, or e-mail me.

Photo credit: Codie McLachlan, edmontonjournal.com

But I couldn’t close this chapter without sharing with you all this charming video from a young girl with a bright future as a dog journalist, reporting from the benching area at the Garden, where she’s interviewing the dogs.

No, that wasn’t a typo. She’s interviewing the dogs. And Tiger, the Deerhound who won the Hound Group at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Monday night? It’s at the end, and it’s worth the wait.

Incredible for a breed as rare as the Sussex spaniel, there are even three dogs available from Petfinder’s more than 12,000 affiliated rescue groups and shelters  who may well be related to Stump, the 10-year-old charmer who won the big show last night.  Yes, Petfinder reports three Sussex spaniels in their database. Along with all kinds of poodles, akitas, setters, greyhounds, terriers of all sorts and lots and lots of dogs whose breed is all their own.

Heck, Petfinder will even help you if you want to adopt a cat!

Most recently, we briefly discussed her upcoming judging assignment for Westminster. Here’s a transcript of our interview:

Kim Thornton: When were you approached about judging Best in Show and how did you feel when you were asked?

Sari Tietjen: I was asked in March 2007. Needless to say, as someone who grew up in the sport and who has attended more Westminsters than I care to admit, I was thrilled and deeply honored.

Kim Thornton: Is there anything one can do to prepare to judge something like Westminster?

Sari Tietjen: Pray a lot! Seriously, at that level, you know you’re going to have some beautiful dogs in the ring. You have to keep your wits about you, judge each dog against its breed standard and then how it measures up against the other dogs in the ring. I expect it will be a very close, very difficult and very challenging assignment, but one that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Kim Thornton: Are there any restrictions on what/where/when you can judge once you’ve been invited to judge BIS?

Sari Tietjen: The only restrictions are that you cannot judge whatever you are assigned at Westminster anywhere in the United States four months prior to the show. Also, as BIS judge, you are completely sequestered. You cannot attend any parties, other than the official Westminster dinner, nor the show until just before you step into the main ring.

Kim Thornton: How many other times have you judged classes or groups at Westminster?

Sari Tietjen: I have been fortunate to have judged Westminster nine previous times: six were breed judging assignments and three were groups–the Toy Group in 1984, Non-Sporting in 1996 and Toy in 2008. To say that I am thrilled is an understatement. To say that I, who believe so much in tradition and everything Westminster represents, am honored does not do it justice. It means so much more than that to me, a child of everything good about the sport and the dogs we love so much.

Tietjen is approved to judge all Sporting, Toy, Hound and Non-Sporting breeds. She has been writing about dogs for more than 25 years and is working on her fifth book. No, we didn’t talk about PETA protesters or the state of dog breeding or the decline of the AKC empire, but it would be interesting someday to see if she–and the other breeder/exhibitors/judges I speak to monthly if not weekly–would address them. But that’s a topic for another day.

Of course, that enjoyment is always tinged with sadness over the state of our heritage breeds and the desire for change. Every breed — and Kim’s Cavaliers and my flatcoated retrievers are among the worst effected — has a breed-related health problem, or maybe several. Some breeds are flawed by design, their “breed standards” calling for an appearance that’s not compatible with normal canine activity (short faces causing breathing difficulties, long backs causing injuries that lead to paralysis, etc.). Other breeds look and act athletic and normal, but secret dangers lurk, such as the cancers that take wonderful dogs of many breeds in their most youthful, active years.

We know what caused these problems, and we know how to fix them.

For the dogs who are flawed by design, changes in the breed standards need to reverse the years of extreme selection for traits such as flat faces. And for all breeds, the closed gene pools systems of registrations that dictate mating within a breed only must be changed to allow for planned outcrosses to elminate health problems while continuing to preserve breed type.

The voices for these reforms are getting louder, and few are more constant in the call for change than Patrick Burns, a/k/a Terrierman. Patrick was given a copy of an independent veterinary-authored report commissioned by the RSPCA in the United Kingdom. The 76-page report explains how we got to this point, what the problems are, and possible solutions.

The report needs to be read by anyone who cares about the future of our heritage breeds. Check it out over on Terrierman.

I took over Jerry’s recliner at 6 sharp, with Bella at my side and Harper in my lap, only to discover that we had missed the Hound Group and were now on to Terriers. My least favorite Group, with apologies to Terrierman. As an art lover, I can appreciate their sculptural appearance–artificial though it may be–but our personalities just wouldn’t mesh. I think I could live with a Skye or a Sealyham, though. Maybe.

I call my friend Tamela to make fun of the Bedlington’s name: Ch. Velvety Angel Eyes. We discuss the fact that judge Peter Green has dismissed two dogs from the ring because their handlers used to work for him. Wouldn’t you know that ahead of time and send in a different handler? Maybe it’s against the rules to change handlers. Stupid rules, if that’s the case. What’s the point of winning your breed if you know your dog is going to be excused from the ring because he has the wrong handler? Maybe someone can clear this up for me.

Harper does not like the Border Terrier or the Wire Fox Terrier. She jumps off my lap each time, walks up to the TV screen and growls menacingly at them. She doesn’t care for the terrier mix-looking dog looking at himself in the PetCo ad, either. Great, my dog has the same prejudices I do. I wonder if she would growl at a Re, oh, never mind. Wrong blog.

Peter Green is a terrier man from way back–and funny. He walks down the line, quacking at all the dogs to elicit expression from them. “Well, he is a former handler,” David Frei explains. The Norwich barks at him. I think it ought to get extra points for that, and indeed it goes Group 3.

Although I miss sitting at the press table, I have to admit that I’m enjoying being at home, having Jerry bring me ice cream because there are dogs in my lap, and getting to hear the color commentary for once. The Wheaten has a breeder/owner/handler, Frei notes approvingly.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a good-looking dog. I have a soft spot for them. One of my early moves as editor of Dog Fancy was to hire former AKC Gazette features editor Marion Lane to write a column about life with her new SBT puppy. We called it Raisin’ Nell. She’s a super writer and I was always entertained by her adventures with Nell.

The Pedigree Foundation has a wonderful series of ads promoting shelter adoptions. Most of us saw the first one during the Super Bowl–the Westminster of football games, as Frei likes to say–but they’ve added a couple more. “Tonight as we celebrate the best purebred dogs in the world, let’s not forget about the ones who aren’t so lucky,” the narrator says. “Remember Echo, Otis and Frankie.” They have a nice website with information on how to adopt, volunteer or donate. Dogs rule, indeed–and so do cats.

As we watch the Non-Sporting dogs, Frei says the AKC is considering reworking the Groups, adding more and moving some breeds around. It’s about time. I’ve been saying they should do that for years, but no doubt they didn’t want to look as if they were copying the Federation Cynologique Internationale. There should be a Nordic Group, they should move the Dalmatian to the Working Group, and the Toys should be renamed the Companion Group, with many of the Non-Sporting Dogs moved under that category. That’s just for starters.

The Schipperke looks like a cross between a hyena and a warthog, Jerry says. I assume he means in silhouette because they’re not unattractive. Actually, neither are hyenas and warthogs. Warthogs were our surprise favorite animal in Africa because of the cuteness factor. But I digress.

We’re watching the Herding Group now. I decide early on that I have to root for the Australian Shepherd because his name is Copyright. The Beardie bounces up and down for the judge. Here comes the poor German Shepherd. It horrifies me every time I see that sloping rear. They did not look like that 35 years ago. It horrifies me, too, that it has been 35 years since I was a kid and we had German Shepherds. Oh well.

Harper has lost interest in my lap and the show. She is rolling on the floor, clutching a toy to her chest and gnawing on its head. Twyla has taken her place in my lap, and Bella hasn’t moved. I was going to rant about the extra weight show dogs are required to carry to be competitive in the ring, but I can’t remember now what set me off about it, and I want to go back and watch the Hound Group. I think I’ve lost my chair, though.

Update: Always a bridesmaid, never a Best in Show. I’ve been watching my friend Susan’s Bloodhounds for years at this show. She’s come so close, winning the Breed and the Group several times. Her current bitch, Rita, went Group 3 tonight. In other Hound news, will the WKC never update the announcer’s script so he will quite saying that the Ibizan Hound and the Pharaoh Hound date back 3,500 and 4,400 years? DNA evidence says not quite.

We’ve been talking a lot lately about dogs being bred for function instead of winning in the show ring. But even when you want to breed for function, the work of some dog breeds has become an anachronism. None of us can test our Scottish Deerhounds on their ancestral quarry, the Highland Stag, a deer similar in size to an elk.

But there are many different performance events at which  breeders can test their hound’s instincts and abilities, and in Scottish Deerhounds there is one dog who excelled almost incomprehensibly at them all: Rory.

Rory’s full name was BII NFC DC Chartwell Silver Run Valevue SGRC, ORC, LCM 6, VC. He was bred and owned by Ellen Bonacarti of Chartwell Scottish Deerhounds, and Norma Sellers of Vale Vue.

And all those initials? From Ellen Bonacarti’s website:

[Rory was] the first AKC National Lure Coursing Champion in 1994; the 1995 ASFA Best in International Invitational; the first NOTRA Oval Race Champion Deerhound; the first LGRA Gazehound Racing Champion Deerhound and the first ASFA Lure Courser of Merit 4, Lure Courser of Merit 5 and Lure Courser of Merit 6 Deerhound. He was the #2 ASFA Deerhound in 1994, 1995 and 1996 and the #1 ASFA Deerhound in 1997 and 1998; he is also currently the #1 lifetime ASFA Deerhound with over 600 Bowen points (dogs defeated). Rory was the #1 LGRA Deerhound in 1999 and #4 ASFA Deerhound. Rory was also the #1 NOTRA Deerhound in 1994 and 1995, making him one of the rare hounds to have been #1 in three different venues.

In 2000, Rory repeated as the #1 LGRA Deerhound and earned the Deerhound Sporting Club’s “Fairchild Perpetual Award for Excellence in Racing.” He tied for 6th in the ASFA Top Ten, his 7th straight year in the Top Ten.

I loved this dog back when he was a youngster, and wanted to breed my bitch Rosie to him. But I was young and stupid, and was worried that both sides of that pedigree had some really bad tails — a fault I now couldn’t possibly care less about. And it’s too bad, too, because not only did Rory live past the age of 11, he was literally the runningest dog ever in our breed, as well as being a show champion — yes, he really was — and Rosie, herself a show champion, had two incredible running brothers and lived to be 13 and a half years old.

Yes, I do kick myself every day for being stoopid, stoopid, stoopid. What I wouldn’t give now to have bred those two hounds together.

Fortunately, other breeders weren’t such idiots, and Rory sired a few litters.

And today, one of his sons won the breed at Westminster, in something of an upset.

Congratulations to Ch. Gayleward’s Tiger Woods — who is 7 years old — and to his breeder and owner, Gayle Bontecou. And good luck in the Hound Group!

Congratulations also to Ch Altnamara’s Trial By Fire, owned by Linda and Ned Madden, for winning Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed, and to Diane Murray’s Ch Lindisfarne Coll Of Gayleward CD RA JC NAJ for winning the only Award of Merit given today.

And here’s to the day that no one has to make a post like this again, because all our conformation winners excel in the field, too.

[UPDATE:] Tiger won the Hound Group! Only the second deerhound since Ch. Fernhill’s Phantom in 1991! And the son of a great field dog!

Here’s a video of Ellen Bonacarti with Rory and a deerhound puppy, on a TV news “meet the breed” segment. She gives a pretty good overview of the breed:

Top photo of Rory at age 11, by Ellen Bonacarti. Bottom photo by Dan Gauss of Shot On Site photography. Both used with permission of Ellen Bonacarti.

The Livingstons are unusual even in the insular dog community, where husbands and wives often meet in the ring and children end up taking over the family business. Not only did the Livingston children choose the same profession, each has attained a measure of success.

Clint, Brian and Colette together are showing 25 dogs at Westminster, ranging from a Papillon to a Mastiff. Thomas describes them as growing up in the “eccentric milieu of dog shows.” Hmm. Now I guess I can say that I grew up in the eccentric milieu of horse shows. That sounds much more interesting than it actually was. A lot of hard work and waiting around and long rides in the truck or RV are what I remember most. Read the rest here.

Once again, I’ll miss the opportunity to attend The Dog Sale, an auction of dog art by Bonhams. It’s one of those things I’ve always wanted to attend. It’s always on my to-do list and it always gets knocked off by something else. But they were kind enough to send me a catalog so I could drool over the paintings, jewelry, antique dog collars and statuary that will be on offer tomorrow. The dog collars include at least one with several bells on it, which apparently were tres chic for Pugs some 130 years ago, according to dog art connoisseur and gallery owner William Secord, to whom I spoke a while back for an article on Pug art. Lots of spaniel items that I covet, from a hooked rug to a portrait of a black and tan Cavalier to, well, lots more. If you love dogs and art and happen to be in the NYC area, you might want to check it out.

One of the regular pre-Westminster events is a fund-raiser for the nonprofit Angel on a Leash therapy dog program. Attending this year were five former Westminster winners: Uno, James, Spice, J.R. and Rufus. It was a gathering of elite old-timers as estimable, dog-wise, as the first class of baseball Hall of Famers in 1936, wrote NYT reporter Richard Sandomir.

Angel on a Leash president/CEO David Frei was there, of course. He predicted that ticket sales to the show might be down on Monday because of the economy.

Frei did a lot of traveling last year with Uno, as Christie reported in an earlier interview with him. I talked to him a few months ago for a Westminster preview article that appeared in Dog World. He and Uno had quite a few entertaining experiences on the road, especially at the airport. Uno flies in the cabin with Frei and even has his own seat.

He’s got his own ticket like any other passenger, and when he travels with me the ticket says Uno Frei on it. Every once in a while, someone in security will say ‘Hey, that dog’s going on the plane; he’s supposed to be in a container.’ I say, ‘No, he’s not; he’s got a ticket.’ Recently the computer selected his ticket for additional screening. He was patted down and wanded in the security area. The TSA folks were amused by it and had fun with it, but they treated him with dignity and took his picture and had their pictures taken with him and took a copy of his ticket so they could show that they had searched him and made the world safe from terrorist Beagles.

Phew!