Rhiannon Promotions The Universal Cavalier Special Issue 2013 | Page 26

ringside and had to fight through a
crowd that was at least six rows deep
around our ring just to get our
armband. Dr. Jacklyn E. Hungerland
was judging our breed. I had never
shown to her but it never occurred to
me to be nervous because we were
there just for the experience. We
watched all the beautiful Cavaliers
show noticing that we were the only
ruby shown. I remember standing
behind Ted Eubanks who was showing
the beautiful CH Pinecrest Kiss Me
Kate and saying quietly to him “go get
em, Ted. Show them that a bitch can
win. We won’t do anything because
we’re the wrong color.” To my
enormous surprise we made the first
cut. WOW!

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forward to one more “first” by
showing at Westminster the first year
Cavaliers were eligible to show. I,
like most other Cavalier owners that
year, had watched Westminster for
years and saying that I wish I could
be there. So with no expectations we
flew into NY and met up with many
other Cavalier owners and friends.
I look back now and shake my head.
I wanted to experience everything.
One day Meredith Johnson-Snyder,
Lamont Yoder and a number of other
friends decided to stroll 5th Avenue.
We decided to go into Tiffany’s
beautiful store. Just for fun I said I
wanted to price out a necklace I had
seen at Christmas. When the clerk
told me how much the necklace cost
all my “good friends” started egging
me on to buy it. I said that if Demi
made the cut at Westminster I would
come back for it. Now you must
understand that my expectation was
that Demi would do nothing. Yes, we
were one of only two bitches to finish
in the top ten Cavaliers that first
year, but after all, she was a ruby
bitch from California.

To this day I still laugh because my
first call was to Barbara Garnet Smith
(Wilson) who sold Demi to me. She
had already been told, then to my
husband who wasn’t home and my
parents who weren’t home either. I
never had the thrill of being the first
to tell anyone! Oh well, as I made my
way back to the bench Lamont was
the first to catch up with me. He
asked if we were going to Tiffany’s!
He also asked if I had brought
something appropriate to wear for
showing in the group. Of course not!
We weren’t going to win anything! He
was so wonderful. He arranged for a
cab and took me to Bloomingdale’s. I
was just functional enough to know
what size I wore but not much else.

When the day finally came to show at
the famed Westminster I was
benched in the handler’s section with
a friend. I was gob-smacked to see
the chaos they never show on TV. It
was so crowded and noisy. I was glad
that I had taken the time to groom
Demi in the hotel room. We arrived

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