Westminster again

I try not to watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, I really do, but it's structured to be addicting: pretty dogs, shown quickly. Time just flies by.

I also watch it because it makes me feel smug. I have no idea what the judge is experiencing, but I do tend to pick the winners. Yesterday, the Scottish deerhound (who, I'll say here, I'll pick for Best in Show), and today the Sussex spaniel in the sporting dog group. I picked the English setter to come in first, actually, but it came in third. (I'm a sucker for the dogs with the shiny, flowing coats -- like last year's flatcoat retriever -- and for the short, lumbering dogs, like the clumber and Sussex spaniels.)

I picked the deerhound because of the spring in its step. A huge dog, it seemed to be floating as it paraded. I picked the Sussex because when they showed a closeup of its face you could see presence and intelligence, not an empty gaze. And then it looked at the judge, and the judge looked at it, and they held each other's gaze. The announcers didn't comment on it, but it seemed like they did for a long time. I knew then that the judge was going to give this dog high marks.

I've picked Best in Show a couple of times. Not last year, though.

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(2 minutes later:) "Son of a bitch!" I just shouted, appropriately, to myself. We are three hours behind New York. Forgetting that, I just went to the front page of the New York Times to look up the plenary indulgences article so I could write about that, and the center photo and article is of the Sussex having already won the dog show. Good for my feeling of smugness at picking winners, but now there's no need to watch the rest. I'm a little sad about the deerhound.