Last night, I met up with a friend for bar-trivia (we didn’t do so well, but it was an excuse to get out and do something). While I was out among the many, brilliant, flashing screens that constitute a sports bar, my eyes landed on one that was broadcasting the 134th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
I don’t know if showing dogs constitutes a sport as to warrant it’s showing at a sports bar, but why not? (Although extending the label ‘sporting’ to showing dogs would raise some other issues like how it is different from other animal-based sports, i.e. dog fighting or racing, which are viewed as abusive and repulsive to some anyway.) I also don't know why anyone cares that it is the 134th (the cheapest way to legitimate something is to state how old it is).
But I like dogs, so I figured I should find out what dog won. When I got home, I checked online to find out which true-blooded canine had taken Best In Show. According to the wonderful coverage provided by the New York Times, a Scottish Deerhound named Foxcliffe Hickory Wind, or Hickory for short, is top dog (Yeah yeah. I couldn’t resist. Whatever). This, in itself, is hardly news worthy. But a quote from the NYT’s article is worth mentioning.
Hickory eventually grew tired of the paparazzi glare, pressing her head into Lloyd’s side as dozens of cameras clicked. Photographers herded closer for a better shot, until one seasoned dog photographer yelled for calm.
“Back up people!” she shouted. “This is a deerhound!”
Right? This is a deerhound! Unfortunately the article doesn’t describe what the response of the 'paparazzi' was, which perhaps would have been the most interesting thing in the article. So I imagine: did the photographers stop taking pictures, hang their head, and start thinking, ‘oh, right. Well, this is a deerhound. I should have known better.’ Did the NYTimes Journalist, who was obviously relishing the drama of the dog show, refrain from asking Hickory another probing question? Or did anyone do the only appropriate thing that one must do in response to such an obviously vapid statement and start laughing?
‘This is a deerhound!’ What could possibly be the logical subsequent? “and she might think we are deer! so beeee eeeasssy.” or “and deerhound need their privacy”? What is it that this seasoned dog photographer knows about deerhound that I am missing? Tell me, please!
As a close follower of all things celebrated, I think I know well enough that one shouldn’t seek the honor of Best In Show if one doesn’t want the celebrity, whether it is a deerhound or other dog.
In all fairness to our NYTime’s journalist, she does acknowledge my point.
Hickory will need to channel her inner celebrity to survive a news media gantlet Wednesday — her scheduled appearances begin at 6:30 a.m. and include the “Today” show, Martha Stewart’s show, Fox News and a “steak on a platter” lunch at Sardi’s.
uh huh. Yeah. These people are nuts.