Houston Dog Shows Up All Them New York Bitches (And Dudes)

The winner of the big prize at Madison Square Garden's prestigious Westminster Dog Show is a spniel from Houston who should be retired and who goes by the true Texas name of Stump.

His formal name is Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee, but then again no one calls Racehorse Haynes by his given name either.

Newsday reports:

A nearly full crowd at Madison Square Garden cheered loudly when judge Sari Tietjen pointed to the new champion. "I didn't know how old he was," [a judge] said later. "He didn't show like an old dog. He was fabulous."

Stump, who's almost 70 in human years, became ill from an unknown ailment and nearly died in 2004. He spent 19 days in the Texas A&M veterinary hospital and hadn't been shown in five years, [co-owner Scott] Sommer said. "This was his outing, and it turned out to be a good one," he said.

The trainer told another reporter that Stump is "going to kind oftravel back to Houston and stay there" because "he doesn't travel that much."
Spaniels are apparently considered not fancy enough to win the Westminster. We were also surprised to learn that a) there was no swimsuit competition; b) Entering pit bulls is pointless because somehow there's no dogfighting involved; c) None of the dogs rambled on about the lack of maps in U.S. schools "and such."

-- Richard Connelly