FROM NEW YORK — I smell like dog, like everyone and everything else here, so I'm not expecting anyone to snap at me.
It's true I might be the only one in Madison Square Garden -- and I'm including Times videographer Myung Chun -- who hasn't kissed a dog like they've been dating for some time, but I'm the guy shaking hands with the judge who has just finished feeling the male equipment on seven different Dogues de Bordeaux.
So I'm taken aback when things don't go well with the top dog here, Thomas H. Bradley 3d, who turns out to be one of those purebred humorless sorts.
He's the chairman of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, la-di-dah, and the first 3d I have interviewed. I figure he's the guy to ask about the four ugly critters chosen Monday night to be included in Best in Show, but eventually he freaks.
He grabs a young woman's forearm, apparently misplacing his leash, and storms out of the room. In dog terms, he shows a marvelous gate.
It's a legitimate question, maybe not asked the same way as the endearing writer from the Canine Chronicle, but for the past year Westminster has been using Uno, the 2008 Best in Show, as bait to keep the public's interest.
But what sick kid in a hospital is going to get excited about a visit from an ugly dog?
On Monday night, the Westminster got one good hour of TV before the network switched to professional wrestling, sending the dogs further down the cable.
Interesting, though, what Westminster elected to show in its prime TV hour, going with only one of four dog groups while using the rest of the time to show Uno again, this time hanging out with a sick kid and a soldier who has lost his legs.
Try and pander to the public with an eyesore.
The AKC bluebloods like to say it's all about the dogs, which is ridiculous, like any of the dogs care or know whether they have won or lost.
It's all about owners, breeders, written standards for each breed, politics and ego, but it's the cute dog that got Westminster into the White House last year.
This year is when it really counts, though, and President Obama has already talked about getting a labradoodle or Portuguese Water Dog.
A labradoodle is not AKC approved, so what a bummer that would be for the blue bloods. If a Portuguese Water Dog advances to Best in Show tonight, however, I wouldn't be surprised to learn A-Rod has something to do with it.
