The Plott thickens

Back yonder in the mid-18th century, when the Plott brothers up in the North Carolina mountains began to breed a hound to assist in the hunting of boar and bear, they couldn't have imagined it would come to this. This year, seven Plott hounds were entered in the Westminster Kennel Club's highfalutin dog show in New York City. And one, Black Monday out of Pennsylvania, won the best-of-breed award but lost to a beagle in the hound competition.

We'd like a recount. Nothing against beagles, you understand, but the mighty Plott, after all, has boar and bear hunting in its pedigree. Might and fearlessness ought to count for something. And the Plott is, you know, the state dog of North Carolina, so proclaimed by the General Assembly a few years ago.

The Plott's ascension to prominence was, well, hound-dog in pace. Though the breed goes back to the 1750s, it didn't make the la-dee-da American Kennel Club's rolls until 1998. And it wasn't until last year that the hound made the grade to be fully recognized. Part of that requirement was to have 300 dogs registered with a three-generation pedigree in the United States.

Making the list, in other words, is even tougher than attaining citizenship.

While we in North Carolina certainly are proud of this, we worry. We have seen that Westminster show and we fear that the Plott hound might fall in with some of those poodles and other fancy dogs that are all dressed up and decked out and stand still while the judges look them over, as if they were statues. We want the Plott hound to remain true to its nature, and not be all gussied up. If the Westminster judges are to give it a fair look, wouldn't it make sense to run a few boars or bears through the place and see how the Plott performed?

We bet the Plott hound would stand a pretty good chance at Best in Show then.