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Competition at the Salon Internationale de
l'Agriculture is not restricted to farm animals, and the
canine arena was today devoted to that favoured British
breed—the terrier.
French dog
breeder Ruth O'Connor's five white 'westies' (Western
terriers) were winners in the 'best breeding lot' competition.
Terriers are described by the commentator as « working
dogs with character », but today the only criterion of
judgment is beauty.
Three
judges assess each competitor as their owners parade them
around the spectator ring. These specialists of zoology and
canine evaluation are assessing 100 different qualities in the
dogs; looking at their eyes, fur, nose, ears, tail...
everything. In the 'best breeding lot' category, they also
look for homogeny - whether the dogs look alike.
The preparation area resembles a miniature beauty salon;
half a dozen bored-looking dogs are perched patiently on
pedestals as they are moussed, waxed, combed, brushed,
trimmed, and styled until every single hair is in place. The
dogs don't seem to mind the pampering or the enthusiastic
visitors taking close-range flash photos.
Parading
round the ring and posing for judges is the easy part, and the
westies clearly impressed the judges.
Ruth must
wait until later today to find out whether her black Scottish
terrier will fare as well in the 'Best champion' category. The
entrants are pre-selected at the annual Nationale d'Elevage
(Best Breed Show) so competition is tough. A win would mean
the 20th addition to his record collection of European
titles.
Months of
advance preparation are needed to stand a good chance in these
competitions, and many hours on the day. Ruth says « today
we haven't done much preparation but normally I'd spend about
2 hours putting chalk, gel and all kinds of crap on them
». | 
