The second time I held him in my arms there was no way I was going to let him go.

It's basically a beauty contest for dogs. And beauty is judged by the breed standard. And he is very, very much what they call in the dog show business, 'typing,' which means he's very much the type that the standard describes.

We're going to hope for the best and hope that there's a lot of applause and cheering because he likes that. And we'll see what happens.

The more I looked into the breed, the more interesting they became. They're fun-loving, they love the water and they want to be doing things with you all the time, and that's what we wanted. We just basically were interested in a dog that would be a part of the family and be with us all the time.

When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens.

A hundred years from now? All new people.