Column: Westminster dog show winner, handler share that look of love
There were a few moments during William Alexander's post-win interviews alongside Miss P the beagle, this year's best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club's dog show, in which he seemed like he might cry.
I say this as a removed observer, of course. I wasn't there. Still, all these miles away and through a laptop screen, I could detect a slight treble here and there when he talked about the dog -- which is understandable because this was it. This was the show. The win. The thing they had been working toward. It was a big night indeed for a dog handler.
I recognized something else, though.
"We've known each other almost her entire life. I met her when she was six months old," he told an interviewer after Miss P won best of breed in the hound group. "And she's been my princess ever since."
The interviewer, a woman for whom there can never be enough context, then told viewers a "little secret" about Miss P's retirement plans: "She will do what great bitches should do and that's advance her breed."
Alexander nodded before responding (one -- well, me -- might say "jealously and possessively responding"), "We haven't decided who the father is going to be."
In the words of Anastasia Steele, oh my.
That man is in love.
Miss P is too. I could see it in the way she looked at him. Just pure adoration.
I know the feeling.
Up until recently I thought dogs were just creatures to ignore but tolerate, like squirrels if squirrels had owners who let them jump all over me at the beach. But then I got one. A dog. Not a squirrel.
If this were a movie, I would insert the montage scene here: Road trips. Shared ice creams and laughter. Pooping behind the couch (him, not me).
This was our first Valentine's Day together. I almost bought him a present but then thought better of it, saving us both the awkward moment later when I presented my gift and he presented his nothing. We cuddled instead. In fact, that's all we do. My life is lived in between the cuddling.
"There is a special bond that dogs have with their humans," said Melanie Steele, the Bluffton woman who owns GrandCru Gianconda, the best of breed winner in the greyhound group at Westminster. "Once you have felt that with one dog, I don't think you can really accomplish the feeling or that sense of being loved absolutely through any other relationship."
It sounds sad, maybe. Really? No other relationship? A dog? But it's true. It is its own genre. Its own brand of love and loyalty. If you have questions about it, just look at how Miss P and William Alexander regard each other. Win or no win, they are bonded.
Steele, who had to stay home this weekend to take care of some very adorable greyhound newborns, said she gets a lot of joy from seeing her dogs compete but also from just watching them run fast, doing what comes naturally to them.
"They do not ever have a bad day," she said. "They never look at you cross-ways. It's always in love."
Follow columnist and senior editor Liz Farrell at twitter.com/elizfarrell or facebook.com/elizfarrell.
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This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Column: Westminster dog show winner, handler share that look of love."