Dog show salutes Katrina's canines
Westminster kicks off with tribute to rescued, rescuers
NEW YORK (AP) -- When he was a boy, Hiram Stewart took a bus to Virginia, put a puppy in a paper bag and cradled it all the way home to New Orleans.
For more than three decades, he's cared for dogs in the Big Easy. Usually champion dogs, the kind that will reach the Best in Show ring this week at Westminster.
Still, nothing prepared him for what he saw happening to pets around town after Hurricane Katrina hit. Like that pair of little beagles with the pleading eyes, chained inside a garage.
"Every time a car would drive by, they'd come out, hoping it was their owner," Stewart said. "I knew the situation better than those two poor dogs did. It wasn't going to be just a few days."
Stewart believes those beagles came out OK. But thousands of their companions didn't, and America's most prestigious dog show remembered them -- and those who helped -- with a moving tribute Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Katrina tribute, featuring dogs and those that saved them, brought a standing ovation. A video montage on the scoreboard showed images of injured and abandoned dogs, accompanied by a song from Jackson Browne.
Sandra Bethea brought her Bedlington terrier from Gulfport, Mississippi. With Mardi Gras beads on her grooming stand, she primped her Talyn to a best of breed victory. She then passed on watching the tribute.
"I can't, it would be too emotional," she said backstage. "All in my own time. My husband will tape it."
The Westminster Kennel Club show started earlier Monday, a day after the biggest snowstorm in city history blanketed New York. A total of 2,622 dogs in 165 breeds and varieties were entered -- some didn't make it because of the bad weather, though there was no exact count.
A colored bull terrier named Rufus, a rottweiler led by a former Florida State linebacker and a Dalmatian called Boomer were the big winners Monday night.
In a show featuring lots of underdogs, Rufus beat a favored Norfolk terrier named Coco and a Dandie Dinmont terrier co-owned by Bill Cosby to win the terrier group.
"I guess we're going shopping," winning handler Kathy Kirk said.
Shaka became the first rottweiler to win the working group at Westminster. Owner-breeder-handler Keith Carter pumped his fist when his dog was picked.
"I don't know if I can articulate what this win means," he said.
Boomer took the nonsporting group and will try to become the first of his kind to win Best in Show in 130 years of Westminster. Dermot the pug won the toy group and will aim for his 66th overall Best in Show title.
The hound, herding and sporting groups were to be judged Tuesday night, with Best in Show chosen shortly before 11 p.m.
While some paint this as the Miss America of dog shows -- in fact, Miss America 1990, Debbye Turner, is hosting the USA Network telecast this year -- Westminster is known for reaching out into the canine community.
There was hardly a dry eye in the building in 2002 when 20 German shepherds and retrievers came onto the Garden's green carpet to honor search and rescue dogs for their tireless work at the World Trade Center and Pentagon after the September 11 attacks.
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are not prime areas for purebred champions, producing a total of only 30 entries at Westminster this year. Yet veterinarians and volunteers poured into the Gulf Coast after the storm blew in, joining those already in place to offer time, services and donations.
As Katrina approached in late August, Lisa Myers packed 13 dogs -- and a gun, just in case -- into her mobile trailer and left Covington, Louisiana. Her husband stayed behind with a horse and two Basenjis; one of the dogs ran away when the winds blew and was killed.
"I saw some terrible things along the drive. People just letting their pets out on the side of the road. I don't see how anyone could do that," she said. "The things people did to their animals during Katrina are inexcusable."
Lashes, a champion Chinese Shar-Pei, is now with Myers at Westminster.
"I thought about not coming this year, but this continuity, it's a rite of passage," she said. "If I didn't do this, I've given in to the adversity."
Stewart, one of the most highly regarded handlers in the business, was set to attend Westminster again. His mother died last week, and he stayed home in Kenner, Louisiana.
He planned to watch the show on TV, and the tribute to those he knew so well.
"Once people could get in, the rescue effort with the dogs and cats and birds was quite something, sheltering the abandoned animals. You're talking about massive numbers of animals," he said.
"Every time I would go out, I'd take cans of food and fresh water," he said. "Just to try to help them make it through one more day."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/13/dog.show.ap/index.html