Cinders, the wire-haired dachshund, wins Best in Group for the hounds at Westminster? Are you kidding me? And the two beagles don’t even finish in the money? Did the judge have her eyes open? How could she possibly resist that proud, fluffy flag of a tail on Buddy,
the 13-inch beagle from Vista, CA? Or the jaunty, ear-flopping stride of Corbin, the
15-inch beagle from Albuquerque? As Carol and I watched the two beagle finalists being shunted off to the also-rans area, we felt indignant and devastated — as if one of our sons had just been rejected by his top-choice college. Ricky, thank God, was spared the pain. He slept through last night’s entire broadcast.
And let’s not forget about Allie, another member of the beagle
contingent who didn’t make it out of the breed judging. Allie is half sister to Uno, that legendary Best in Show champ of
Westminster 2008. Ah, now that was a banner night for beagles! That was justice being served. That was an evening we won’t soon forget.
My whole family was glued to the TV in the den as the climactic moment approached. And when the judge, Dr. J. Donald Jones, did his last once-over of the seven finalists, and said, “May I have the beagle?”, we all jumped off the couch in unison, applauding wildly.
But where was Ricky? Wouldn’t he have wanted to see a member of his own tribe being coronated?
We called him – but of course he didn’t come. We looked in all his regular hideouts. No Ricky.
Finally my wife found him, upstairs in the master bedroom. The painters, who’d been working on that room earlier in the day, had left behind a styrofoam container from their lunch. While his beagle brother was being crowned Best in Show at the most prestigious canine event in America, Ricky was feverishly inhaling every last whiff of turkey with Russian. Wearing, of course, a fresh new coat of white paint he’d picked up from the wet trim on the closet door.
Hank: I was also disappointed the Beagle didn’t win. That Peke that won is so high maintenance! At least we Beagle owners don’t have to carry around a brush with us so the fur looks good.
Mary
Ricky: I feel your pain, man: Goldens were snubbed too. I think I’ll go look for some wet paint (or worse) to roll around in… Winston
Hi Hank- As usual,I love reading your blog. I have a friend who is a Navy Seal and he drove his Jeep(which he still drives ten years later,)from Florida to San Diego.He loved it.You do that long drive to Long Island,so we already know you’re tough.
I did a “teen tour” when I was 15.We were on a bus all the way from San Diego to New York.Boys Town was one of our stops,which I don’t recommend.My brother says that Crater Lake National Park in Oregon is incredible.We stopped at Bryce and Zion National Parks on the teen tour.They were awesome.If I think of anyplace else I write!