For the second year in a row, a dog I actually liked won the Westminster Kennel Club show. In both cases, it wasn’t my initial favorite even among the 7 Best in Show candidates, but it won me over completely during the final judging. Last year’s winner, Josh the Newfoundland, was just irresistible, and he was close to a perfect specimen of the breed (which is a breed I love, though I wouldn’t own one unless I lived in a much, much bigger house and had access to a lake or something). This year, I was rooting for the gorgeous border collie in the Best in Show competition, though I liked four of the dogs, an unusually high number for me: I would have liked the Tibetan terrier even if it hadn’t been a particularly good example of that sweet breed, just because I was so thoroughly delighted to see something other than a poodle come out of the Non-Sporting Group (more on this in a paragraph or four); the Great Pyrenees was quite lovely, and they’re such likeable dogs (though again, a breed I wouldn’t own) ; and the German shorthair pointer’s excellence was clear even in a very tough Sporting Group class. (I love that breed too, and I might even own one given the opportunity; I’ve never known one who was anything but thoroughly good and loveable and trainable.) But I was still rooting for the border collie, because it was a beauty and because I think border collies are amazing creatures, with their hypnotic stares and their preternatural intelligence. I once saw a demonstration at a fundraiser in St. Paul where a border collie herded a bunch of chickens, and I’ve been hooked on them ever since. Yet again, I don’t think I’d own one, at least not as long as I have cats (i.e., for the rest of my life), because a) I wouldn’t want the dog herding the cats around, and b) I’m not sure I’d have the time and energy to give the dog the opportunities to do herding work that it would need. (Plus sometimes they can be bitey.) But I’m in awe of them.

I don’t like to badmouth entire breeds of dogs, but I don’t particularly care for bloodhounds—and I’ve had a lot of experience with them, because I worked briefly for some private investigators who ran bloodhounds, among other dogs. Actually, it’s not so much that I dislike them, I just don’t find very much about them to like. They’re not interested in people in terms of companionship; they just want to track. And they have a particularly unpleasant doggy smell. And of all the lovely animals in the Hound group, the bloodhound seemed like a disappointing choice for Best in Group. (If I thought this blog was widely read, I’d be worried about hate mail from bloodhound afficionados, but that’s the nice thing about having a quasi-invisible blog.) As for the other two…well, I’ll grant that there’s something kind of amusing about the bizarre rolling gait of the Pekingese; I’m just not convinced they’re actually dogs. I think they’re either mops with faces, or else—and more troublingly—tribbles. I’m by no means a Trekkie, having never seen a single episode from any of the revival series, much less any of the movies, but I’m familiar enough with the original series to know that tribbles are not good things to have masquerading as dogs. And though I’m even more loath to badmouth entire groups of dog breeds than I am to badmouth individual breeds, I can say that with very few exceptions, I don’t like terriers…and I especiallly don’t like tiny bitey ill-tempered little terrier breeds like Norfolks and Norwiches and border terriers…and I really don’t like Coco, the little Norfolk terrier who seems to make it to every single Best in Show at Westminster. I was so afraid that she was going to win this year…

But then something happened when they got into the Best in Show ring. Carlee, the German shorthair, completely blew the competition away. To use a basketball term, she put on a clinic. I don’t remember ever seeing a dog that was so close to perfection in terms of the breed standard and just in terms of her carriage and stance and overall look. She was just plain magnificent, and I think it was obvious to everyone in the crowd, as well as the broadcasters (the expert guy, David Frey, had picked another dog—the bloodhound, maybe—as his likeliest winner before the judging started, but just before the winner was announced, he changed his pick to Carlee. Her free stack was awe-inspiring, and she was so intently focused on the judge and the handler, and it was just a stunning performance. I don’t think there was any real question who was going to win.

As a strong supporter of animal rights and welfare (but not an extremist supporter; I resent having to add that, because most people I know who believe that animals have rights are not the extremist type at all, but I know that lots of people perceive anyone who even associates themselves with the phrase “animal rights” must be an extremist, and it’s just not so), I have mixed feelings about purebred dog breeding and showing. Fundamentally, I guess, I can’t fully support the breeding of purebred dogs when there are so many unwanted dogs—purebred and mutt—out there. But I’m the stepmom of a purebred German shepherd and the former-and-forever mom of a purebred Keeshond, bought from a breeder (and lost to me as a result of the breakup of my first marriage), and I understand the appeal of purebred dogs: the predictability of personality, size, etc., is important if you have kids or cats or just want to know what you’re getting yourself into, and that can’t always be a certainty with a mutt adopted from a shelter, though if you adopt one as a puppy, you have a great deal to do with how the dog turns out. (And you can’t completely guarantee how a purebred pup is going to turn out either, of course.) I’m a cat person first and foremost, and largely because of that, I know I’ll continue to own purebred dogs when Bill’s dogs are gone, because I know that a purebred Keeshond is less likely to eat or otherwise interfere with my cats than a shelter mutt, much as I believe in shelter mutts. Ideally, I’d own both a mutt and a purebred Kees, but whatever happens, I’ll get the purebred from a rescue group, because that’s another way of avoiding the whole purebred-breeding issue, or at least making up for it somehow.

As for showing, that’s a mixed feeling too. I know there are people who dismiss it as a beauty contest, but given that purebred dogs aren’t going to cease to exist just because some people don’t believe in breeding them, I don’t really have a problem with maintaining the breed standard by showing them, even if it’s for the ultimate purpose of making them desirable breeding stock. There is something to be said for maintaining the standard, if you’re going to have purebred dogs at all. And the dogs that make it past their first show or two absolutely love the show circuit; I have no concerns about the way show dogs are treated, and it’s a wonderful way for owners or handlers to bond with the dogs. Me, I prefer obedience showing to conformation showing, because it’s more relaxed and more fun, and training a dog in obedience is so rewarding for dog and owner. But I don’t have that much of an issue with conformation showing, and I never miss a Westminster show on TV.

I did a ton of research on dog breeds before my first husband and I settled on the Keeshond, including spending a lot of time at dog shows, and though there are a lot of breeds that would have worked out for us and a number that I fell in love with (Belgian tervurens, Australian shepherds, Pembroke Welsh corgis, schipperkes, shiba inus…I could go on), the Keeshond was the breed that stole my heart and has never let go. I’m resigned to the fact that a Keeshond will never win Best in Show at Westminster and may never, in my lifetime, even emerge from the Non-Sporting Group, which is almost always dominated by either the miniature poodle or the standard poodle (and I love standard poodles, don’t get me wrong, they’re wonderful, intelligent, even-tempered dogs—I just don’t think they should be in the same group as less well-known and popular dogs like Keeshonden and Boston terriers and the like, which is why I was ecstatic to see the Tibetan terrier win the group this year). And this bothers me just a little, which is more than it should, because I want everyone in the world to know what thoroughly delightful dogs Keeshonden are. Then again, if they became popular, they might be subject to the same overbreeding that so many popular breeds have endured, so maybe it’s just as well. But if you don’t mind the hair (and that’s a major caveat, though to be fair, the German shepherd I live with sheds more in a day than the average Keeshond does in a month), they are the best dogs on the planet. Sweet, funny, loyal, a little stubborn, smart, loving, loveable (they’re more enthusiastic about receiving affection and attention than they are about giving it, but that just shows they’re discerning), independent, alert, relatively low-maintenance, adorable, and—especially when they’ve been groomed just a little—extraordinarily beautiful. And they’re good watchdogs, though not good guard dogs; they’re also apparently slightly intimidating to some people, because they have a wolflike/foxlike look. (I used to love it when people asked me if my Kees was a wolf hybrid. “Yes,” I always wanted to reply, “she’s actually a midget wolf with extra fur.” Keeshonden stand about 15 inches at the shoulder if they’re on the big side, and they’re kind of solidly built; they could only look like wolves if you’d never even seen a picture of a wolf.)

If I had to find any fault with them, other than the fact that they can be a little harder than some breeds to housebreak, it’s that they tend to be one-person dogs. Not that they don’t like other people; my Kees adored me, and was fiercely protective of me, and totally bonded to me, and saw me as her alpha dog. But she was Eric (my ex)’s dog at heart; I was the boss and I was her mom, but he was her playmate, her buddy, and there was no question of who would keep her when we split up. I’m sure she misssed me (in fact, I have empirical evidence that she did, though it’s painful for me to talk about), but if I’d kept her, she’d have been miserable without Eric. Losing her, and losing access to her, was maybe the worst thing of all the horrible things about my divorce (and I should note here that my divorce was a) instigated by me and b) quite civil, though not amicable; nonetheless, it was horrible and painful and I’m still enduring the repercussions, even though I don’t have any regrets about it. The plain fact is that divorce sucks no matter what), and I miss her all the time. I don’t even know if she’s still alive, because my ex doesn’t want any contact with me; she could be, because she’d be 14 and Keesies often live to be 15 or more. But I might never know, which breaks my heart.

There are other breeds that I might like to own; I’m very taken with Pembroke Welsh corgis and especially with Australian shepherds—I’ve known quite a few of the latter and loved them all. But even if many things about my future are big question marks these days—where will I live, what type of job will I have next, etc.—one of the few certainties is that I will own Keeshonden again someday. And that’s Keeshonden, plural (the proper Dutch plural, fwiw). They’re the best dogs in the world.

But I’ve digressed pretty far from the original point of this post, which is: Way to go, Carlee! Long may you flourish, you beautiful girl.