NEW YORK — Uno put his paws up on a table, took a flying nip at the nose of a Doberman pinscher, sniffed a chair and bayed at most everyone and everything in his path.
The prize beagle might’ve been romping around the 300-acre ranch in Texas where he lives. Instead, he was inside a rooftop ballroom at a Manhattan hotel.
“Just a dog being a dog,” David Frei observed last week.
The TV host and voice of the Westminster Kennel Club show for two decades, Frei can only hope this year’s event produces such a popular champion.
Uno certainly lived up to his name. He became the first Westminster winner to visit the White House, and also rode his own float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and fetched the first ball at a St. Louis Cardinals game.
The little 3-year-old traveled so much he earned his own frequent-flier number on Midwest Airlines.
“We never had one like him,” Frei said. “He’s the kind of dog that you could imagine sitting on the couch next to you.”
Uno’s romp is nearly over. Time to pick a new best in show.
A total of 2,486 dogs in 170 breeds and varieties are ready to walk the green carpet at Madison Square Garden, starting Monday morning.
Heiress Patty Hearst is set to make an appearance, with a favorite French bulldog. Other notables bringing their pooches: the creator of “The Bachelor” television show and the parents of the brothers who founded the Taser company.
In fact, the monkey-faced affenpinscher called Taser is among the favorites for the champion silver bowl. So is a smooth-coated Brussels griffon originally from England, along with a Pembroke Welsh corgi.
A giant schnauzer is ranked No. 1 during the last year, but dog insiders predict she won’t become America’s top dog. Best in show judge Sari Tietjen has spent a half-century working with Japanese chins and likes toy dogs, and both Taser and the Brussels griffon called Lincoln come from that group.
A pointer that won the big Eukanuba and National shows is out, for sure. Holly is now owned by a Westminster club member, making her ineligible.
Tietjen will make her choice Tuesday night, with fans cheering at the Garden and millions more watching on USA Network.
The nation’s economy may affect the two-day event. Entries are slightly down this year (it’s $75 per dog) and ticket sales (they range from $40 to $155 per day) are slower than last year, when it was a sellout.
While some owners spend considerably more than $100,000 a year showing their dogs, there are plenty of mom-and-pop operations. And no matter what time of year, a trip to New York is expensive.
About 1,000 or so dogs and their owners stay at the Hotel Pennsylvania, right across the street from the Garden. The most popular request this year? “Everyone is asking for room 213A,” said Steve Leonard, director of sales and marketing for the hotel. “That’s where Uno was last year, before he won.”
