NEW YORK (AP) — Whatever got a piece of gentle Titus in the North Carolina brush, it was trouble.
Co-owner Cassandra Carpenter reckons it was a pygmy rattlesnake. Veterinarian Jess Hunter figures it could’ve been a copperhead.
No matter, when Titus’ back left leg turned red, purple and black and suddenly blew up like a tennis ball last March, nobody was dwelling on whether this 3-year-old bullmastiff would someday walk in the Westminster Kennel Club dog ring.
“I thought he was going to lose a leg, or maybe even worse,” Carpenter said. “His show career didn’t mean anything at that point.”
Thanks to some fast, fine care on and off the vet’s table, the future for Titus wasn’t totally snakebit.
Nearly each of the 2,630 entries at America’s most prestigious pooch pageant is in flawless condition. There’s self-assured Thor the bulldog and fluffy Bono the Havanese, plus a bevy of fancy-cut poodles, perfectly primped Pekingese and elegant borzoi.
They’ll come from 204 breeds and varieties, aiming to succeed King the wire fox terrier as the nation’s top dog when the winner is picked Tuesday night at packed Madison Square Garden.
Competition begins Saturday with the agility event that’s open to mutts and everyone else. Breed judging for beagles, whippets and the newly welcomed Azawakh in the purebred portion of the show starts Sunday.
Among the rows and rings will be Titus — he’s the one with the large, dark scar on his ankle.
Just making it this far, considering his episode less than a year ago, was quite a step.
“It could’ve been really bad,” said Carpenter, a longtime vet tech.
She is Titus’ co-owner, breeder and handler from Stuart, Florida, and was visiting one of her mentors in the canine world when something went terribly wrong. Only a few months after he’d started his show career, too.
Titus had gone out toward some trees for a bit and came back fine, or so it appeared. But over the next couple of days, there were problems with the 120-pound, fawn-colored steed with the wrinkly face and happy disposition.
“He had a high fever, he wasn’t his usual bright, cheery, happy-go-lucky self. And his thigh started swelling up,” Carpenter said.
As the symptoms quickly got worse, and away from her regular vet, she scrambled to find help. That’s when she connected with “a country vet who I liked and trusted.”
