The Long Journey To Be Top Dog

Iris Love holding a dachshund in 1971

Image: Condé Nast Archive/CORBIS

1 of 2 NEXT

Toward the end of World War II, dachshunds in Germany were butchered and rationed to the public as “blockade mutton.”

Of all the canine breeds, this long, low-slung pooch—developed to track and hunt game—was considered the most succulent. “I won’t show my dachshies in China or Korea or any other country that features dogs on the menu,” says Iris Love. “I don’t mind chow chows, but I draw the line when they get turned into chow.”

The 74-year-old archaeologist owns dozens of dachshunds, six of which are slated to compete next week in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show championships, held at Madison Square Garden. Love’s top dog is the somewhat fancifully named Champion Dachsmith Love’s Psyche NT II. At the end of Psyche’s rookie campaign, she is currently ranked the No. 1 smooth bitch and the No. 2 smooth dachshund all-breed. All of Love’s entries are champs, and nearly all are named for heroes of Greek mythology.
    
Love has bred or co-bred numerous dachshunds that have won the national specialty, which encompasses all three coats: smooth, wire-haired, and long-haired. Tyche Tyche, whom Love named for the goddess of good fortune, is a three-time American Kennel Club dachshund bitch of the year. Tyche’s nephew Diomedes was once the highest-ranking dachshund, but he was supplanted by Adamis, who has lived her entire life in the lap of lapdog luxury.

Love limits her champions to two tours. "A dog's life is very short, and much of a show dog's is spent in crates," she reasons. "I retire my champions while they're still young so that they'll have time to play and run and be dogs."

But no dachshund has won best in show at Westminster in the 131 years that the event has taken place. Dachshunds are “nude,” Love says, “without a coat to hide faults.” Many all-breed judges, she adds, will not even look at them.

Psyche is one of the rare rich bitches that doesn’t demand to be primped like a debutante. Still, she gets her whiskers and nails trimmed regularly, her teeth brushed every morning, and a bath before every show. If you’re keeping count, that’s 125 baths a year, sometimes seven a week but never more than one a day. In 2007, Love’s dachshunds covered more than 70,000 miles on the show circuit, journeying as far as California to amass breed points for the A.K.C. standings.

In their relentless pursuit of blue ribbons, some owners spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on entry fees, travel expenses, and overall canine care. On top of that are the salaries of handlers, who flit from airport to airport and from fairground to hotel ballroom. Love’s handler, Erin Roberts, showed at 35 events in the most recent campaign. At Westminster, placement charges, bonuses, and tips could fetch Roberts up to $40,000 per contender. Prize money is an entirely different animal: Love splits hers between Roberts and the Dachshund Club of America.

Love plows money into dozens of full-page advertisements in Dog Fancy magazine and trade newspapers The ads, which trumpet her dachshunds’ achievements, are targeted at judges. “It’s all about exposure,” Love says. “You want the judges to get used to your dog.”

The owner of one of this year’s favorites is rumored to have invested millions promoting his purebred. “It’s a shame,” says Love. “Many people who can’t afford to advertise have wonderful dogs. Are we judging dogs or ads?”

1 of 2 NEXT