LR pooch off the sofa, into the ring

LINDA CAILLOUET

TOP DOG:

When Melissa McMath Hatfield of Little Rock brought her Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy, Truman McMath, home from a Missouri breeder in the fall of 2001, she expected him to merely be a lap dog. And the pup - named for Hatfield’s late father, former Gov. Sid McMath and McMath’s friend President Harry S. Truman - was happy to comply.

“He spent the first four years on the couch at the farm watching Animal Planet,” says Hatfield. But after so many friends urging she show him, Hatfield relented and began “playing around” with shows.

When she discovered in May 2006 he was nationally ranked among the American Kennel Club/Eukanuba’s Top 100 Cavaliers in the nation, the hobby became serious.

“I was on the Internet one day and came across the list, and I got chills and screamed.”

She began campaigning him, and his ranking rose from 50 to 35. He’s now 14th and will compete Feb. 12 in the Westminster Kennel Club’s show at Madison Square Garden in New York.

This article was published on page 11 of the Wednesday, January 17, 2007 edition in the Arkansas section.