It’s a fact: Rumor comes back to win
NEW YORK — A German shepherd called Rumor who just missed winning at the Westminster Kennel Club last year came back to score a big victory Monday night, beating out favoured Preston the puli in the herding group.
To the cheers of the crowd at Madison Square Garden, Rumor joined a miniature poodle, a Pekingese and a Norwegian elkhound in the best-of-seven final ring. She’ll face three more group winners still to be picked Tuesday night, right before the champ is chosen.
Rumour was the nation’s No. 1 show dog last year when she came to the Garden. But she fell short when a German shorthaired pointer named CJ won in a surprise, and it was thought that Rumor would retire.
Asked about the chances of five-year-old Rumor adding to her 103 career championship ribbons, handler and co-owner Kent Boyles said, “I have no idea . ... You never know.”
“Really good competition,” Boyles said, adding that he was “pretty nervous.”
Nearly 2,800 dogs across 202 breeds and varieties were entered. Plenty of them were early crowd favourites at the mostly filled Garden, if not winners.
A toy fox terrier just wanted to stand still. A papillon lived up to its name — “butterfly,” in French — by fluttering around. And a sloughi, one of three new breeds at this year’s show, kept yawning.
Preston came in with 95 total wins, known for a black, corded coat so thick that it’s often hard to see any of his features. It’s also hard to handle — his hair takes up to five hours to dry, helped by a couple of industrial carpet blowers that create a “swirly, tornado effect,” handler and co-owner Linda Pitts said.
In an upset, Duffy the Norwegian elkhound took the hound group. She topped Lucy the borzoi, second overall at Westminster last year, and Gia the greyhound, champ of the National Dog Show televised last Thanksgiving Day.