GOING TO THE DOGS

Obviously an old photo ... but can you see HOW old?  I was in my early twenties when this was taken at the NY Statler Hilton Afghan Hound Specialty.  My dog, Thaon's Crossfire (Rossi), had just taken a fourth in his class, beating 350 other dogs.  Not too shabby for a novice!  It was a big day, I tell you.  And not easily forgotten.  
My family has always been about dogs.  My grandfather was a famous breeder back in the 30's and 40's of both dogs and horses.  He bred a champion cocker spaniel who won Westminster's Madison Square Garden Show two years in a row - quite an achievement both then and now.  One wonders what he would have thought of the breed that his granddaughter chose - I like to think that it would have made him happy and proud to know that the love of dogs had carried down through the generations.  My cousin is one of the top handlers in the northeast of field trial dogs.  Watching him work his dogs is really a thing of beauty.


Dog shows are well behind me now.  My love of dogs will always exist and I cannot image my life without the company of a four footed companion.  Like this one.  Look what he did to the screen with his big yellow head.  Gotta love him.