BEST OF THE BEST IN SHOW
Can Ontario-born winningest showdog Matisse finally paint a Westminster masterpiece?
There’s just something about Matisse.
It’s a certain je ne sais quoi that makes the Arthur, Ont.-born Portuguese water dog the winningest male show dog in the history of the United States, where he now competes.
But nobody — fans, judges, even his owners — can put a finger on what exactly makes the three-year-old winner of 237 all-breed Best in Show titles a cut above the rest.
“No one in the dog world could ever anticipate that any dog would do what he has done,” said Donna Gottdenker, Matisse’s breeder and coowner. “He is one of a kind, one in a million.”
But Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club’s Dog Show, the biggest competition of the year, still eludes Matisse. He’ll have another chance at the title on Feb. 16 and 17, when he competes at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the third time.
“When you go to Westminster, you’re hoping to do the best you can. You never know what’s going to happen,” Gottdenker said.
Matisse, professionally known as GCH Claircreek Impression De Matisse, was born in Arthur in 2011. He’s a Canadian-American hybrid; Gottdenker approached longtime Portuguese water dog breeders Milan Lint and Peggy Helming from the States about breeding one of her females, Femme Fatale, with one of their males, Caribe, about four years ago.
He’s not the only famous Portie to come out of Lint and Helming’s Pouch Cove; the breeders are also responsible for the Obama family’s second puppy — Matisse’s cousin — Sunny.
Gottdenker, a breeder for 17 years, said she knew Matisse was a special dog from the time he was a week old.
“With him, I could see that this was a pretty nice boy, and then you just keep your fingers crossed that everything works out by the time they’re adults,” she said.
Gottdenker showed Matisse from the time he was six-months old, the youngest age a dog can compete. He began in Canadian competitions before moving to the United States. At a year and a half, professional handler Michael Scott took over for Gottdenker in the ring.
Scott and Matisse have participated in about 360 shows since pairing up in late 2012. Matisse ended 2014 as the No. 1 Dog All Breeds, an award based on the number of dogs defeated throughout the course of the year. Matisse bested around150,000 other pooches.
For each dog breed recognized by the American Kennel Club, there is a breed standard that show dogs are judged against. The standard by thePortuguese Water Dog Club of America outlines characteristics such as a dog’s general appearance, size, head, neck, topline, body, forequarters, hindquarters, coat, clip and colour. It also takes into account the animal’s gait and temperament. Judges can consider any deviation from the “ideal” standard a fault or a major fault.
Matisse co-owner Milan Lint said although the standard is open for interpretation, his Portuguese water dog is just about the epitome of the breed standard.
“I think a lot of folk would say that he’s as close to the standard as any Portuguese water dog they’ve ever seen,” Lint said.
But a perfect-looking dog does not a winner make.
It’s the combination of his physique plus a hard-to-describe, ingrained sense of self that Lint says makes Matisse unique.
“There is some number of very handsome, very high-quality dogs, including Portuguese water dogs, but the unique combination of that and knowing it, and acting the part, is what really makes Matisse special.”
Between shows, Matisse is a downto-earth dog, not the goof or the diva show dog as seen on the big screen. Recently, he’s been enjoying long bicycle rides with his “best friend” Scott. And just like any other Portie, Matisse snoozes on his grooming table or upside down in his cage between showings, snacking on favourite treats like Red Barn Lungs, Benny Bully’s Liver and rated chicken.
Westminster will be one of his last all-breed competitions. Matisse will be entering semi-retirement, Lint said, only occasionally participating in specialty shows rather than the week in, week out competition schedule he’s been keeping up for the past two years.
“He will spend more time on the sofa; let me put it that way.”
Matisse’s retirement means he won’t surpass the record for most all-breed Best in Shows by a single dog, which currently stands at 275 wins.
“From our perspective, he’s done more than we ever would have anticipated. He’s been a real thrill and I have a real strong perspective that you leave a party before a party leaves you; that’s what we’re going to do,” Lint said.
Matisse’s semi-retirement makes his showing at Westminster all the more poignant. He goes into the show being one of a small number of dogs that those in-the-know will be keeping a particularly close eye on, but that’s not a unique situation. Lint counts Swagger the old English sheepdog, Charlie the Skye terrier and Flame the standard poodle — another Canadian export — as Matisse’s toughest competition.
Showing Matisse on a weekly basis for the past two years was “not inexpensive,” Lint said, but the breeder’s crown jewel merited the cost.
Gottdenker, Matisse’s Canadian owner, isn’t able to attend every one of her prized pup’s shows, but is always amazed by their reunions. Porties, she said, don’t forget.
“When I go to watch him at a show, he will rush to see me as if he was at home all the time.”