Westminster: Age Stumps Youth

What a story: a 10-year-old show dog trounces youth in an unprecedented Best in Show win this week at Madison Square Garden.  People with older dogs were just thrilled that judges recognized the skill, condition, and refined abilities of a contestant outside the considered prime-time career age of 2 to 6 years–especially given that various breeds age differently, some like fine wines.

But it’s not simply that this is a first for an older dog, illustrating that age is not always a predictor of diminished physical ability.  Rather it’s that this dog nearly died four years ago. 

A bacterial infection had invaded Stump’s heart, but his handler, Scott Sommer, decided to give him another day to see if his condition would improve before putting him out of his misery.  Life turns on such small considerations, and the rest is history!  Katie Thomas at the New York Times, and other related articles are interesting and worth a read.

News Bite

As reported in the New York Times, The Peanut Corporation of America today filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, claiming assets and debts between $1 to 10 Million.  Just the other day, PCA’s Texas facility in Plainview was also closed for Salmonella  contamination.  Texas authorities ordered a recall of every product ever sent from that site (opened in 2005). 

The corporation’s board cited the costs involved with the scope of these recalls as the reason for not trying to save the company through Chapter 11.