Bruno the Scotty has a big fan club.
"Did you get a Bruno chocolate bar? Take one! Please."
Bruno is a show dog — a Scottie who didn't make it to the podium in his breed's competition at the Westminster Dog Show. But while nearby Best in Breed winners are trimmed and tweezed and doused in relative peace and quiet with more hairspray than a model at Fashion Week, Bruno is being interviewed by TV cameras and posing for Instagrams in his tartan hat. Westminster's most popular dog is a loser.
The Best In Show portion of Westminster, the World Series of dog shows, takes place at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. There, the cream of the crop will compete for the top positions. It is broadcast on TV as a glamorous ordeal, full of fancy, primped dogs. But on Monday and Tuesday, throughout the day, hundreds of dogs compete to be named the best in their breed in the preliminary levels at huge warehouse-like piers along the West Side Highway. It feels like a cross between a dizzying trade show and a smelly horse stable. Of the hundreds of dogs there, only the best dog in each breed makes it to the evening portion — the part that gets most of the media coverage.
