Hair of the Dog by Laurien Berenson

favorite at each show, and his choices have included everything from Old English Sheepdogs to Border Collies. The two things they all seem to have in common are large size and lots of hair. Luckily, Standard Poodles fill the bill on both counts.
    â€œI thought Faith was your favorite,” I mentioned.
    â€œShe is. I meant my favorite here.”
    That was my son’s idea of a subtle dig, as he’d voted to bring Faith with us. Aside from the fact that it was going to be hot, however, Aunt Peg had made it perfectly clear that no Standard Poodle of hers needed to be seen in public at the gawky age of fourteen months. Deferring to her better judgment, I’d left Faith snoozing happily at home with a cool bowl of water and a new marrow bone.
    We passed the Great Pyrenees, then paused by the next ring, where sporting dogs were being judged. According to the schedule in the front of my catalogue, Golden Retrievers were about to start. Austin Beamish’s dog, Midas, was entered in the Best of Breed class, and I decided to stick around and have a look.
    The main purpose of the competition at dog shows is to acquire enough points to make a dog a champion. Points are won within each breed, and the classes are divided by sex. The classes that a nonchampion dog can be entered in are: Puppy, Novice, Bred-by-Exhibitor, American-Bred, and Open, with some shows adding a class for entrants between the ages of twelve and eighteen months. Most dogs are eligible for several classes, and owners may take their choice. Males are judged first, followed by the females.
    After the individual classes within each sex have been judged, the class winners are brought back into the ring to contend for Winners Dog and Winners Bitch. Only these two winners are awarded points. The number of points given out at a show varies from breed to breed, and is dependent upon the number of competing dogs that have been defeated.
    The fewest number of points awarded is one, the maximum, five. It takes fifteen points to make a champion, and included in those fifteen must be two “major” wins, that is, wins large enough to produce at least three points.
    Even with a good dog, the process can be long and arduous. I’d shown Faith nearly a dozen times as a puppy. Pretty as she was, we hadn’t acquired any points yet, although she had managed to win Reserve Winners Bitch twice.
    Davey liked the looks of the Goldens and watched the class competition happily. He’s not known for his patience, so I imagined I’d be paying for this goodwill sooner or later. The Open class winner was awarded Winners Dog, and the Open Bitch won her points as well. As the judge marked the results in his book, the steward stepped to the gate and called the champions into the ring.
    There were only three, and in that competition, Austin’s dog stood out immediately. The listing in the catalogue said Champion Glengarron Midas Touch, and the name suited him well. In the sunlight, Midas’s coat shimmered like golden silk. His body was beautifully conditioned and he carried himself with pride. I don’t know much about Golden Retrievers as a breed, but even I could see that this was a really good one.
    The dog was handled in the ring by a pro named Tom Rossi, who clearly had the situation well under control. In no time at all, Midas was awarded the purple and gold ribbon for Best of Breed. I heard a smattering of applause from the other side of the ring and followed it to its source just in time to catch a glimpse of Austin before he turned and walked away.
    Most winners like to hang around and bask in their dogs’ reflected glory, but apparently not Austin. Maybe he had another dog being judged at the same time; or maybe a Best of Breed win, terrific as it seemed to me, wasn’t that big a deal for him. From what Aunt Peg had said at the party, I gathered he set his sights on Best in Show and very often hit the mark.
    All the breeds recognized