Show is about people as well as pooches

VIRGINIA BEACH

Lucy trampled through the baby powder bringing her paws to the edge of the grooming table.

“We do not want fluff,” said Rose Miller of Manassas on Sunday as she combed through Lucy’s salt-and-pepper fur. “It’s quite a science to be grooming these guys properly for the show ring.”

The second day of the Tidewater Kennel Club of Virginia’s 111th Beach Holiday Classic All-Breed Dog Show welcomed hundreds of purebred dogs, their owners and handlers. All of them were hoping to win the points needed for their dogs to become American Kennel Club champions.

Pugs and poodles, dachshunds and Dobermans, sheepdogs and Shih Tzus, whippets and Weimaraners paraded through seven rings allowing judges to evaluate their stance, gait, coat and bite.

Behind the scenes, the dogs sat atop crates and tables as detail-oriented dog lovers pulled curling irons, ribbons, flat irons and hair dryers through their manes, then doused them in mousse and hair spray.

The show was one of dozens held over the weekend. Many who live in the South and the East chose the show because of its size, said American Kennel Club judge Betsy Horn Humer . The event accepted less than 1,000 entries, well below the 3,000 to 3,500 entries competitors see at larger shows. Judges came from across the country.

That makes for a nice, small, friendly dog show that isn’t overly loud, said Humer, of Pungoteague .

Those who enter dog shows always hope to earn points or win, but it’s not why they stay in the sport, professional dog handler Sue Whaley said.

“Over the years, the best part of dog shows are the friends you make and the friends you keep,” said Whaley, who traveled from Maryland for the show.

Whaley and Liz Bianchi, one of the members of the Tidewater Kennel Club who helped coordinate the event, said the dog show community is tight-knit.

“Dog people,” Bianchi said, “are probably one of the nicest group of people on the Earth.

“Dog show people help each other out,” she said.

On the opposite side of the ring, Jamie Lamphier, 13, of Clarke County was getting the kind of help Bianchi talked about.

Jamie pulled a blue plastic comb through the silky red coat of her Irish setter, Decan, while Vickie Shuler, 16, a junior at Cox High School, kept an eye on the ring, and Taylor Ross, 13, from Peasley Middle School in Gloucester, held Decan’s leash tight.

Jamie, an eighth-grader at Johnson-Williams Middle School, jammed the comb into her bun and took Decan’s leash.

“Normally she places pretty well,” said Vickie as Jamie led Decan into the ring. After a few laps around the ring, the judge moved Jamie to the back of the line.

Jamie came out and handed Decan over to Vickie.

“ I thought that he looked good,” said Jamie, disappointed Decan was not named best of the breed.

Vickie changed the subject and asked if she could have one of the Irish setter puppies from the new litter.

Jamie smiled, and the three went in search of friends.

There were hours left in the competition and hundreds of dogs left to show.

The judges had found the best of each breed but had yet to narrow them down by the best in the class. The dogs that had won among their breed would be swept into larger categories of sporting, nonsporting, working, hound, herding, terrier or toy.

The field would be narrowed to the best seven, and one of them would be named best in show.

Miller continued to work on Lucy, evening her coat and looking to see if the powder had covered her paws. They should be white, Miller said.

Unfortunately, Lucy had decided to dig in the dirt earlier in the week.

“Hopefully you win, but not everybody does,” she said, giving Lucy a hug and getting a wet kiss in return.

There is an upshot to not winning, though, said Miller, who competes against and travels with her friends from the Potomac Valley Standard Schnauzer Club.

“If I don’t win, probably one of my friends will win,” she said, “so I can go home happy anyway.”

Amy Couteé, (757) 222-5216, amy.coutee@pilotonline.com