Dogs Have Their Day

If you don’t believe dog shows are more about people than dogs, consider some of the products on display outside the judging arena at the All Breed Dog Show & Obedience Trial at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Sunday.

There were salt and pepper shakers that looked like bulldogs and bookends that looked like collies. There were dog posters, T-shirts, calendars, key chains, bracelets and even quilts. And, proving that what’s good for humans is even better for dogs, there were more all-natural hair-care products than Beverly Hills salons carry.

“This is the wave of the future,” said Jackie McClaran, standing behind a table stacked with shampoos and conditioners, all blended to strike the delicate pH balance sensitive dogs demand.

The coconut breeze shampoo makes sure their coats don’t get fuzzy, the peach mist smells like peaches and cream and the aloe shampoo is designed for gentle cleaning.

For dogs with fleas, there’s a shampoo made with the flea-fighting ingredients of cedar, eucalyptus and citronella in a healing aloe base. The prices are $10.95 for a pint, $38.95 a gallon.

“A lot of people use these on their own hair,” said McClaran, a Modesto businesswoman who also stocked all-natural remedies for dogs suffering from coughs, urinary incontinence, arthritis or even anxiety.

“I think people should take care of their animals as well as they take care of themselves,” she said.

There were about 3,000 dog lovers at the show, and nearly 1,500 dogs, making the event--sponsored by the Shoreline Dog Fanciers Assn. of Orange County--one of the biggest shows in Southern California.

Only one dog wins best of show, only seven win best of group, and several dozen win best of breed. That kind of pressure doesn’t seem to make the dogs too nervous, but it can really get to the owners.

“My worst moment is two or three minutes before I go in the ring,” said Leanne Tousey, 52, of Brea. “I’m really nervous, but I’m trying to be calm because the dog can sense it.”

Tousey spends hours each week grooming her miniature schnauzer, Robson, who won best of breed in morning competition, and thus qualified to compete for best of the terrier group in the early afternoon.

As Tousey stroked her dog’s coat, rubbing chalk into his furry white legs and dousing him with hair spray, she explained that judges like Robson partly for his appearance, but mostly for his personality.

“This dog wins on attitude,” Tousey said, swishing her hips back and forth to demonstrate how Robson swaggers for the judges. “When he goes into the ring he is up. He’s showing off how buffed he is, how he is the macho dog. [Judges] can’t stop looking at him.”

Dog shows award ribbons, not money, and Tousey admits that the events are “an ego trip” for her. What does Robson get out of it? “A piece of liver, no matter what he does,” she said. “And lots of hugs and kisses.”

With that, she and Robson marched back into the ring, hoping to catch the attention of Roger R. Hartinger, a veteran judge who was flown in from Cincinnati to preside over the terrier competition.

With his gray hair combed neatly off his forehead, Hartinger, 61, has the air of a real courtroom judge. He has been attending dog shows for more than 40 years now. When he was courting his wife, Paula, who was also a judge at Sunday’s event, he took her to dog shows instead of movies.

“She’s about as good at judging dogs as she is taking care of grandkids--that’s where she really excels,” said Hartinger, as tufts of white dog hair piled up against his black shoes like drifts of snow.

To become a judge, he had to show that he’d been active in the sport for more than 10 years, and that he had raised champion dogs. He also had to study guidebooks on dozens of breeds so that he could pass a written judge’s exam.

Dogs are judged on a wide range of criteria, including balance, proportion, health of coat and bite, but Hartinger acknowledges that decisions are made subjectively.

Some owners try to compliment him before a competition to curry favor--even though they’re not supposed to--and losers occasionally get angry.

Fifteen years ago, at a show in Michigan, one sore loser even called him out for a fight. “You won’t be in that ring all day, and I’ll get you when you come out,” Hartinger recalls the man saying. But there was no showdown there, and most contests are very civil, he said.

Nevertheless, Hartinger said he has learned to focus on the contestants, and forget about their owners. “You have to judge dogs, not people,” he said.