Consider the Westchester County Center in White Plains, one cold Sunday morning last month, where hundreds of dogs and their humans milled about before the start of the Saw Mill River Kennel Club%26#8217;s dog show, one of more than 20,000 that the American Kennel Club sanctions each year.
Dogs were being fluffed and pouffed, brushed and coached, often by people whose own hair had been dyed and teased into styles eerily similar to those of their furry familiars. And amid the canine crush %26#151; 719 dogs were being shown %26#151; were booths like the Wholistic Pet, which sold bee pollen and salmon oil: for dogs only.
But strangely, this throng dedicated to %26#151; O.K., obsessed with %26#151; grooming, pampering and showing their pets each weekend gave off a surprisingly familiar vibe, one reminiscent of the bewitched, road-tripping fans who used to follow the Grateful Dead from stadium to stadium. Instead of Deadheads, call them Dogheads; and rather than being fans, they and their dogs are the show.
The pooch-doting Dogheads preparing their poodles and Pomeranians in Westchester, though, were a bit less laid-back than your typical Dead fan.
At one point, a small boy stroked a huge Tibetan mastiff. The dog%26#8217;s owner frowned and said: %26#8220;You can pet him all you want when his trial is over, but don%26#8217;t touch him right now. You%26#8217;ll spoil his patterns. He took three hours to groom!%26#8221;
Janet Barrett smiled somewhat forgivingly at the mastiff%26#8217;s owner. Commanding her booth, Designed4Paws, she had seen her share of obsessive-compulsive owners. After all, her trade is handmade coats, sweaters and rainwear for dogs.
%26#8220;Dog people really are terrific,%26#8221; said Ms. Barrett, who had traveled from Chester, Conn., and who has been making custom dog clothing for six years. %26#8220;But they can be a bit, let%26#8217;s say, particular about how they want things. Recently, I%26#8217;ve made a fur-lined coat for a Rottweiler and a faux mink for a Great Dane. These are not items you can possibly buy from a catalog, which is why people come to me. I measure the dogs in eight different places on their bodies, so the garments will really fit well.%26#8221;
NOT too far from Ms. Barrett, haberdasher to the dog stars, stood Anthony F. Bernard, who might, if such titles existed, be crowned king of the Dogheads. He and his prize-winning papillon, Slick, are barometers of the kind of wild dedication that show folk display. With Slick and his five other dogs (not all of them papillons), Mr. Bernard said, he competes in eight shows a month, taking them on the road nearly every weekend of the year. This, of course, involves %26#8220;thousands of miles and thousands of dollars every year.%26#8221; Few dog shows give cash awards.
Mr. Bernard wore tassel loafers, a sport jacket and a silk tie fluttering with butterflies %26#151; the insect for whom Slick%26#8217;s breed was named. He said that being on the road with his %26#8220;babies%26#8221; was part of the fun. As he sat with his champion, whose %26#8220;call name%26#8221; is Slick, and whose %26#8220;paper name%26#8221; is Champion Arkeno Rodeo Fast Talking, Mr. Bernard, who lives in Lafayette, N.J., had such juicy anecdotes from the road, he could also be known as the Kerouac of the Dog-heads. He was a first-class raconteur about life on the canine turnpike, and knew that there was no shortage of long, strange trips involving four-legged American beauties.
%26#8220;Well, I suppose my favorite one revolves around the time I was staying at the Plaza Inn, in Palm Beach, with Slick, for a show,%26#8221; said the wry Mr. Bernard, whose day job is selling antiques. %26#8220;I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner and had made a reservation, by way of the concierge, at a very nice restaurant. Well, at the last minute, my friend canceled on me, so I called the concierge to tell him about it. The concierge said, %26#8216;Your friend? I assumed you were having dinner with your dog. That%26#8217;s who I made the reservations for at the restaurant. You and your dog.%26#8217;
%26#8220;As it turns out, Palm Beach is, to put it mildly, a very dog-friendly town. So, I ended up taking Slick to this wonderful place, where he sat with me at the table and ate grilled chicken.%26#8221;
With the travel and the expense %26#151; not to mention the smell of dog never leaving your vehicle %26#151; you can%26#8217;t help but wonder why armies of dog lovers crisscross the country each weekend, hitting all those shows that the A.K.C. sanctions. (And other organizations run shows, too.) Lisa Peterson, an A.K.C. spokeswoman, explains that getting closer to your dog has rewards that far outweigh the craziness, the cost and the exhaustion.
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