Katherine Snyder was home in her Texas den watching the Westminster
Kennel Club Dog Show telecast when she spotted a familiar face. Snyder, a
veterinarian, recognized Scott Sommer, a handler she had met years earlier when
he brought a very ill Sussex spaniel named Stump to the animal hospital at Texas
A&M University.
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
On his victory tour Wednesday, Stump did tricks with his
handler Scott Sommer at Metrazur restaurant. Sommer said he would keep his
promise to return the 10-year-old dog to retirement in Houston.
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
Stump, Westminster’s oldest best in show winner, with his
handler Scott Sommer, left, on Wednesday.
As Snyder watched Sommer circle the ring with his dog, she assumed he was
showing another Sussex spaniel. That could not be old Stump, she reasoned. “I
just didn’t think that he would get back in the ring, especially this far
along,” she said. “Then, a couple of minutes later, I heard the announcer say
his name was Stump and I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it.”
Four years ago, Stump nearly died after a bacterial infection raced through
his body and entered his heart. After weeks in the intensive care unit, things
got so bad Sommer considered euthanizing him. “Scott was just horrified,” Snyder
recalled Wednesday. “But how Stump looked, and how depressed he was, he thought
really hard about putting him to sleep that day.”
They agreed to wait another 24 hours before deciding. The rest of Stump’s
life story now reads like a comeback tale that could rival any in the human
sports world. Stump, now 10, recovered to make history as the oldest dog ever to
win best in show at Westminster.
As Stump and Sommer took a victory tour of Manhattan on Wednesday, owners of
older dogs reveled in the triumph of a senior dog.
“It’s fantastic that an old dog was recognized,” said Jody Lomenzo, the owner
of a public relations company in Richmond, Va. Stump is one year older than
Chloe, Lomenzo’s bichon frisé. “It just shows that the feisty little guy still
had the stuff it takes to be a winner.”
Garrett Russo, 40, a professional dog trainer in the East Village, agreed. He
was sitting in Tompkins Square Park on Wednesday petting Kasha, a 10-year-old
Australian sheepdog mix. “It’s absolutely a victory for older dogs,” Russo
said.
Although most show dogs have careers that peak between the ages of 2 and 6,
several breeders and owners said they had seen an increase in the number of dogs
competing in the veterans’ class, a category reserved for dogs of more advanced
years.
The age minimum for the class varies by breed. The American Kennel Club does
not keep statistics on the average age of dogs in their events, but Stump is not
alone, according to Michael Canalizo, the director of event management for the
A.K.C.
“Over the last 10 years, more clubs are offering a competitive veterans’
class, and many dogs are winning from there,” he said.
In 2000, Canalizo retired Ch. Tryst of Grandeur, a 9-year-old Afghan hound.
The year before her retirement, she won 22 best of breed prizes. Elderly dogs
even have a few advantages, Canalizo and others said, because they were seasoned
competitors who were more likely to perform predictably.
“It’s like the same patina you get from a very elegant mature person,”
Canalizo said. “They have a certain posture and confidence that you only get
with age.”
To remain competitive in the autumn of their lives, dogs must have a shiny
coat, all their teeth and be in sound physical shape. But gray hair is O.K.,
said Charlotte McGowan, a senior A.K.C. judge who has judged show dogs for 35
years.
“I have gray hair and that’s fine,” McGowan said, adding that she always
asked a dog’s age. Not too long ago, she gave a top award to a 10-year-old
Siberian husky who, she said, looked like he was 3 years old.
“I love to see dogs that get to be older dogs and they’re still active and
happy and playful,” she said.
A dog’s aging process can vary widely depending on its breed, and owners of
Sussex spaniels said it was no coincidence that the oldest dog to win best in
show was one of their own. Mary Anderson, a California breeder who owns seven
Sussex spaniels, said the dogs did not fully mature until they were 8 or 9 years
old. Dogs from the veterans’ class regularly won best of breed at Sussex spaniel
shows, she said. “The older they get, the better they get,” Anderson said.
The coats of Sussex spaniels typically lighten as they age — as happened in
Stump’s case — but they do not turn gray. Stump also had all his teeth, Sommer
said.
Despite Stump’s tip-top condition, Sommer insisted he would keep his promise
to return the dog to retirement in Houston. “He’s just going to lounge around
and sleep in the bed with us,” he said.
Stump showed some signs of slowing Wednesday. He and Sommer rose at 5 a.m. to
tour the morning news shows, pausing for lunch at Metrazur restaurant to dine on
tuna tartar and sliced steak.
After receiving the affections of more than a dozen members of the
Metropolitan Dog Club and fixing the crowd with his signature forlorn stare, he
appeared to be relieved when Sommer tipped him over on his side to give the
photographers a new paws-up angle.
Stump fell asleep. Sommer eyed the table that was serving as a makeshift dog
bed and said, “Now, if they could just put wheels on this thing, I could wheel
him home.”
Richard Sandomir, C. J. Hughes, Lisa A. Bacon in Richmond, Va., and Steve
Friess in Las Vegas contributed reporting.
