'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
The flavor of the year at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show: Wasabi.
A Pekingese named Wasabi won best in show Sunday night, notching a fifth-ever win for the unmistakable toy breed. A whippet named Bourbon repeated as runner-up.
Waddling through a small-but-mighty turn in the ring, Wasabi nabbed U.S. dogdom's most prestigious prize after winning the big American Kennel Club National Championship in 2019.
"He has showmanship. He fits the breed standard. He has that little extra something, that sparkle, that sets a dog apart," said Wasabi's handler, breeder and co-owner, David Fitzpatrick. Show judge Patricia Trotter said simply: "What's not to like about this dog? ... He stood there as though he was a lion."
Fitzpatrick, of East Berlin, Pennsylvania, guided the Peke's grandfather Malachy to the Westminster title in 2012. Still, he said, "I just don't always think lightning is going to strike twice."
How will Wasabi celebrate?
"He can have a filet mignon. And I'll have Champagne," Fitzpatrick said with a laugh.
The 3-year-old Pekingese, meanwhile, was "pretty nonchalant about the whole thing," his handler said. Indeed, Wasabi laid down on the dais, occasionally looking up as if to see what the fuss was all about, as Fitzpatrick spoke before a cluster of reporters and cameras.
It was a poignant win that came after one of his co-owners, archaeologist Iris Love, died last year of COVID-19. Besides Fitzpatrick, the dog is also co-owned by Sandra Middlebrooks and Peggy Steinman.
Wasabi -- the name derives from his mother, Sushi -- came out on top of a finalist pack that also included Mathew the French bulldog, Connor the old English sheepdog, Jade the German shorthaired pointer, Striker the Samoyed, and a West Highland white terrier named Boy. Altogether, 2,500 champion dogs entered the show.
It underwent big changes this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, moving out of New York City for the first time since the show's 1877 founding. This year's show was held outdoors at an estate in suburban Tarrytown, about 25 miles north of where the top ribbon is usually presented at Madison Square Garden, and it happened in June instead of February.
In a sign of the pandemic times, some handlers wore masks -- though vaccinated people were allowed to go without -- and the show was closed to the public.
"It's a miracle that they even had this show," Fitzpatrick said.
Striker went into the show as the top-ranked U.S. dog, with more than 40 best in show wins since January 2020. And Bourbon had also won the AKC National Championship.
The show was bittersweet for Jade's handler and co-owner, Valerie Nunes-Atkinson. She guided Jade's father, CJ, to a 2016 Westminster best in show win -- and lost him last September, when the 7-year-old died unexpectedly of a fungal infection.
"The good part about it is: He's left an incredible legacy," said Nunes-Atkinson, of Temecula, California. She said Jade "had my heart" from birth.
Boy had come a long way to Westminster -- all the way from Thailand, where one of his owners was watching from Bangkok, according to handler Rebecca Cross.
"He always makes us laugh," said Cross, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
For many dog owners, just making it to Westminster is a thrill -- even for baseball's all-time home run leader, Barry Bonds, who was cheering on a miniature schnauzer he owns with sister Cheryl Dugan.
The dog, Rocky, didn't win his breed, but the slugger said he was proud of Rocky simply for qualifying for the champions-only show.
"We won because we got here. That's all that matters," Bonds told Fox Sports. "I've been to a lot of playoffs, and I've been to the World Series, and I've never won. But for 22 years, I kept trying."
The 56-year-old Bonds holds baseball's career home run record with 762, though his feat was clouded by allegations of steroid use -- he denied knowingly taking them.
While semifinal and final rounds were held in a climate-controlled tent, earlier parts of the competition unfolded on the grass at an estate called Lyndhurst.
Douglas Tighe, who handled a Brittany named Pennie second place in the sporting group, says he just goes with it if his dogs get distracted by birds and other attractions in the great outdoors.
"Let them have fun," said Tighe, of Hope, New Jersey. "That's what it's all about."
That's what it's about to Kole Brown, too. At age 9, he showed a bull terrier named Riley on Sunday alongside his parents, Kurtis Brown and U.S. Air Force Capt. Samantha Brown, and some of the family's other bull terriers.
"I have a lot of fun with this sport," said Kole, of San Antonio, Texas. "Every single time I go into the ring, I have a smile on my face."
------
Associated Press writer Ben Walker contributed to this report from New York.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.