Uno...Could he Be #1?

NEW YORK — Befitting his new status as top hound dog, Uno the underdog beagle ate steak in the ring in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Monday instead of his usual pork loin.

Even though it was leftover filet mignon from a New York steakhouse, Uno ate like a champ, in part because trainer Aaron Wilkerson forgot his George Foreman grill at home. "So he got steak instead. And it was good. I had some myself," Wilkerson said.

Uno became the first beagle since 1939 to win the hound group at Westminster and is perhaps poised to make history. A beagle has never won Best in Show, which will be awarded Tuesday night.

As is his custom, Uno, officially named Champion K-Run's Park Me in First, bayed in the show ring as if to say, "Look at me," and was rewarded with a few pieces of filet. "He was his usual self," said Wilkerson, who lives with Uno in Columbia, S.C. "He never let me down. I'm lucky to be at the end of his leash."

With soft, pleading brown eyes and a dog-next-door reputation, this beloved breed of Snoopy and Underdog fame was clearly a crowd favorite at Madison Square Garden. However, he's not just a pretty face. He's also an accomplished champion.
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Uno, in the 15-inch beagle category, was the No. 6-ranked dog in the country and ended last year as the No. 1 beagle and No. 1 hound. He won the hound group in the AKC/Eukanuba national championship in December.

Since 1915, beagles have been the only breed consistently ranked in the top 10 among the American Kennel Club's list of the most popular dogs. So why hasn't a beagle won big at Westminster?

"We haven't had a beagle of this quality in a lot of years," says Eddie Dziuk, one of Uno's four co-owners, who also in the early 1990s owned Judy, Uno's great-grandmother, the top-winning beagle of all time.

"What's cool about this is Uno makes this sport accessible to the average person," Dziuk says. Not only does the breed appeal to the average dog lover, but Uno has risen to the top without a heavily financed promotional campaign.

While some other breeds take hours of grooming before they enter the ring, Uno is more the wash-and-go type. On Monday night, after a quick spritz, a brief brushing and a whisker trim with an electric shaver, Uno entered the ring ready to shine.

Little angels:

When dog lovers think of show dogs, they think of pampered poofballs who drink Evian and live in the lap of luxury. Some of this is true, of course, but there's plenty of other types of champions. For example, last year's Best in Show winner, James, an English springer spaniel, was also a therapy dog.

A few therapy dogs were on hand Monday to promote Westminster's Angels On A Leash program.

As David Frei, the longtime TV voice of Westminster and president of Angels On A Leash, described the program, 6-year-old Noah Stutts of Corinth, Miss., snuggled with two of his therapy friends. One was Kicker, a golden retriever so named because he lives with the Fusco family, whose son Ryan is a former placekicker for the Tennessee Vols.

The other was Walker, a German shepherd.

Noah has leukemia and is visited every Tuesday by his friends at St. Jude's Children Research Hospital in Memphis. Says Noah's dad, Jimmy: "You don't know how important it is for a 6-year-old waiting to get chemotherapy to walk down the hall and forget about chemo because of these dogs. They are real therapy."

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2008-02-12-uno-hounds_N.htm

Uno, a beagle, jogs on a treadmill inside the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York, February 8. Experts say the 2 year old has a chance to be the first Beagle to ever win best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The 132nd competiton opens which opens today at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Shannon Stapleton/ Reuters )

Rufus leaned in for a better look at the other dogs. Suddenly, the colored bull terrier with the football-sized noggin pitched forward, falling off his tabletop and tumbling to the ground.

The popular Westminster winner was OK, with only a scuffed-up paw to show from his 3½-foot slip over the weekend. Barking, he was soon sipping water from a champagne glass across the street from Madison Square Garden, promoting America's No. 1 dog show

"He's got a great life," said owner Barbara Bishop, in whose bed Rufus sleeps. "He wakes up around 11, gets a couple of cookies and goes with me to the grocery store. Everywhere we go, people want to pet him." Nearly 8 now, the 2006 champ is long retired from the show ring. Starting Monday morning, another 2,627 dogs will try to follow Rufus' path to the prize silver bowl.

Among the leading candidates - for once - is a beagle. The best in show award has been presented 100 times at Westminster and a beagle has never won. Part of the problem is the breed's playful, friendly nature. "Great show dogs often have an air about them. It's like this is their world and we're just living in it," Westminster TV host David Frei said. "But beagles want to be in our world."

They also have another disadvantage: They're far from the fancy-cut, froufrou dogs that often win. "To some, a beagle may not look as spectacular as the Afghan hound, flying around the ring with all that hair," Frei said.

Uno, almost 3 with pleading eyes and plenty of tail-wagging personality, could break out of the Westminster doghouse. He might follow the lead of Underdog, the Disney movie last year based on the old cartoon - no beagle has even reached the seven-dog best in show ring since 1939. "To have the general public see an average dog going and competing and actually winning would send a signal that everyone can do it," said Eddie Dziuk, one of Uno's co-owners.

Either way, Uno will make some noise. "He has the bark. You will hear him baying at Westminster," handler Aaron Wilkerson promised.

Uno will come with his favorite stuffed frog toy and the fluffy pillow he sleeps on, the one with a Hollywood star. His official name is Park Me in First, and he'll get an early chance to make his mark, as judging in the 15-inch beagle category begins Monday morning.

Beagles also come in the 13-inch variety, though both types can come from the same litter. In show parlance, Uno is a "big beagle."

Judge J. Donald Jones, former a dean at Emory University, will point to his choice as the champion right before 11 p.m. Tuesday. Uno already has earned 32 best in show titles, and finished 2007 as the sixth-ranked show dog in the country. He took the hound group at the AKC/Eukanuba show in December.

A Sealyham terrier with a gray splotch over his left eye won that big competition in Long Beach, Calif., and will be on the green carpet of the Garden. Called Charmin, he wound up as the No. 4 dog last year.

Also in contention will be a perfectly primped white toy poodle born in Japan. Vikki has won 83 best in show ribbons and enters as the nation's top dog.

An Akita that reached the best in show ring last year in New York will return. Missing will be James, an English springer spaniel who retired after winning last February. There will be 169 breeds and varieties of dogs at the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club event. Among them will be four newly sanctioned entries - the Tibetan mastiff, Beauceron, Swedish vallhund and Plott.

USA Network and CNBC will split the coverage the first night, with USA doing the second night alone. Frei was hesitant to pick a favorite, though he did offer a prediction. "What better choice could there be to win America's dog show than an all-American dog?" he said. "A beagle winning would bring down the house."
By BEN WALKER, AP NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

Westminster Kennel Club Unleashes Hounds

On certain nights at the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, says Westminster director of communications David Frei, one contestant can pad out to the center of the floor at Madison Square Garden and just own the joint.

You don't have to be a dog breeder or a dog fanatic to sense this happening, which is one reason Westminster has become such a popular attraction on the USA Network.

Live coverage of this year's show begins at 8 p.m. Monday on USA. The Monday-night program takes a detour over to CNBC, from 9-11 - to accommodate USA's even more popular wrestling show - before returning to USA on Tuesday night, 8-11, for the finale.

The lineup looks to be solid, as usual.

"This is the one show in the country where the best dogs face each other," says Frei, with some 96 of the country's top 100 still-active dogs entered.

That includes the No. 1 dog in the country over the past year, a toy poodle that made the Best in Show finals at Westminster last year, and the No. 2 dog, an Akita that was also a finalist here a year ago.

Still, Frei notes that no dog is a lock, since the last time the country's No. 1 dog won Best in Show at Westminster was 2001. Last year's favorite, a Dandie Dinmont terrier,lost to an English springer spaniel.

"Every dog has two minutes in front of the judges," says Frei. "That's what the decision is based on. And like any athlete, a dog has good and bad days. A great dog may not be on the top of its game in the ring that day. That's what makes the sport so interesting."

It made things interesting for everyone who saw the 2004 Best in Show judging, when a Newfound-land named Josh had one of those takeover moments.

"Josh had been at Westminster the year before, and when he came into the ring and heard 20,000 people cheering, you couldsee it affected him,"says Frei."It didn't throw him off, but he was wondering what all that commotion was about."

So, when he got back to that ring in 2004, he had it all figured out. He assumed all those people were there to watch him and cheer for him. He crossed that ring like he owned it."

This year's candidates for that kind of Westminster moment include dogs from four breeds newly recognized by the American Kennel Club: the Tibetan mastiff, the Swedish Vallhund, the Plott and the Beauceron.

For those wondering exactly what those dogs are, the Tibetan mastiff is large and somewhat shaggy, the Swedish Vallhund is reminiscent of the Welsh corgi, the Plott is a short-haired, medium-size, dark-coated hunting dog and the Beauceron is a good-sized French herding dog.

None is likely to win Westminster this year. But the sheer breadth of dogs in this show, Frei notes, is another of its continuing attractions - and on any given night, anyone's favorite could own that ring.

Coverage of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show begins Monday night at 8 on USA.
NY Daily News
By DAVID HINCKLEY