Posts tagged "BruceSussman"

Rob Shuter, the co-owner of show dog and Paw Nation canine columnist Curry, shares his experience competing with the first-time entrant at the 134th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

It's Feb. 16 and the morning started at 6 a.m. with the alarm blaring. Not that I needed it. I didn't sleep a wink. In a few hours, our Glen of Imaal terrier, Curry, would be showing at the Westminster Dog Show for the first time.

I live in New York City, just 10 blocks away from Madison Square Garden where the Westminster show is held. I'd converted the living room into Curry's personal beauty parlor. While other Glen owners were at the Garden at 5 a.m., bathing their dogs in rubber tubs, I was drying and grooming Curry comfortably at home as the snow fell outside our window.

Still, there was no time to waste, and I soon was down on the corner of 23rd Street and 10th Avenue, hailing a cab along with Curry's co-owner Bruce Sussman, the Grammy-award winning songwriter of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana." Ten blocks and seven minutes later, we found ourselves at the backstage access door.

Westminster is a benched show, which means every dog is lined up backstage in an area where the public can stroll by and ask questions. I'm sure the New York Rangers don't allow fans that kind of access to the athletes right before they play. In fact, I was told that the only time the Garden ever removes the ice beneath the main floor where the concerts and other sporting events take place is for the dog show, because the dogs sense the ice under the flooring and refuse to walk on it.

Since October, we've been following a lovable three year-old Glen of Imaal terrier named Curry, who hopes to make it to her first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in February 2010. Curry, who has a penchant for admiring herself in the mirror and kissing judges, lives in New York City with songwriter Bruce Sussman and his two older Glens, India and Kafka.

By October 31, Curry would have needed to place in the top five among all champion Glen of Imaal terriers in the country to be guaranteed an early invitation to Westminster. So where did Curry finish?

"Curry placed solidly at number six," Sussman tells Paw Nation. Though she didn't make the top five, it's not yet curtains for Curry.

Earlier this month, we introduced you to Curry, a strawberry blonde Glen of Imaal Terrier who is hoping to strut her stuff at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in February 2010. To qualify and be guaranteed a spot at Westminster, Curry must -- by October 31st -- earn enough points to make the list of Top 5 Glen of Imaal Terriers in the country.

The last time we checked in with the three year-old pup and her owner, Bruce Sussman, they were preparing to travel from New York City to Pennsylvania to compete at a four-day competition called "Montgomery Weekend," otherwise known as the "Terrier World Series." The event was Curry's opportunity to acquire more points and solidify her chances at qualifying for Westminster.

So how did Curry fare at Montgomery weekend?

In the world of purebred dog shows, there is no competition as prestigious, or title more coveted, than "Best in Show" at the Westminster Kennel Club All Breed Dog Show.

Founded in 1877, the Westminster Kennel Club (WKC) is the country's oldest organization dedicated to the sport of purebred dogs and the second longest continuously held sporting event in the nation -- second only to the Kentucky Derby.

Just getting your dog accepted to compete at the WKC Dog Show is quite an accomplishment. Only the world's best champion dogs -- who place in the Top 5 in their breed category -- are invited to pre-enter the show, with other champion canines vying for a spot through an application process.

With the October 31st cut-off date to earn a spot at the WKC's 2010 Dog Show fast approaching, Paw Nation is following one canine hopeful in her quest to make it to Westminster.