Westminster recalls Katrina's lost dogs
NEW YORK — When he was a boy, Hiram Stewart took a bus to Virginia, put a puppy in a paper bag and cradled it all the way home to New Orleans.
For more than three decades, he has cared for dogs in the Big Easy — usually champion dogs, the kind that will reach the Best in Show ring today at Westminster.
Still, nothing prepared him for what he saw happening to pets after Hurricane Katrina hit. Like that pair of little beagles with the pleading eyes, chained inside a garage.
"Every time a car would drive by, they'd come out, hoping it was their owner," Stewart said. "I knew the situation better than those two poor dogs did. It wasn't going to be just a few days."
America's most prestigious dog show remembered the dogs of Katrina — and those who helped them — with a tribute Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
Hours earlier, the Westminster Kennel Club show started a day after the biggest snowstorm in New York City's history.
A total of 2,622 dogs in 165 breeds and varieties were entered. Some didn't make it because of the bad weather, though there was no exact count.
A colored bull terrier named Rufus, the top-winning pug ever, a Rottweiler led by a former Florida State linebacker and a Dalmatian called Boomer were the big winners Monday night.
In a show featuring lots of underdogs, Rufus beat a favored Norfolk terrier named Coco and a Dandie Dinmont terrier co-owned by Bill Cosby to win the terrier group.
Shaka became the first Rottweiler to win the working group at Westminster.
Boomer took the nonsporting group and will try to become the first of his kind to win Best in Show in 130 years of Westminster. Dermot the pug won the toy group and will aim for his 66th overall Best in Show title.
The hound, herding and sporting groups were to be judged tonight, with Best in Show picked shortly before 11.
While some paint this as the Miss America of dog shows — in fact, Miss America 1990, Debbye Turner, is hosting the USA Network telecast this year — Westminster is known for reaching out into the canine community.
There was hardly a dry eye in the building in 2002 when 20 German shepherds and retrievers came onto the Garden's green carpet to honor search-and-rescue dogs for their work at the World Trade Center and Pentagon after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Katrina tribute, featuring dogs and those who saved them, brought a standing ovation.
A video montage on the scoreboard showed images of injured and abandoned dogs, accompanied by a song from Jackson Browne. Moments later, a half-dozen dogs with Gulf Coast connections were introduced, including one that recovered from burns and an amputated toe.
Sandra Bethea brought her Bedlington terrier from Gulfport, Miss. With Mardi Gras beads on her grooming stand, she primped Talyn to a best of breed victory.
Bethea then passed on watching the tribute.
"I can't; it would be too emotional," she said backstage. "All in my own time. My husband will tape it."
Stewart, one of the most highly regarded handlers in the business, was set to attend Westminster, but his mother died last week, and he stayed home in Kenner, La.
He planned to watch the show on TV, and the tribute to those he knew so well.
"Once people could get in, the rescue effort with the dogs and cats and birds was quite something, sheltering the abandoned animals. You're talking about massive numbers of animals," he said.
"Every time I would go out, I'd take cans of food and fresh water," he said. "Just to try to help them make it through one more day."