Simpsonville dog breeder Pam Rubinstein’s emotions will be all over the map when her greyhound Duncan enters the ring next week at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
She’ll recall the joy of watching Emma, Duncan’s mother, bond with her neighbors’ children, the horrors of watching Emma die shortly after giving birth to 11 puppies and the pride of how those puppies have turned out. Even if Duncan (his show name is GCH Rubicon’s He’s So Fine) doesn’t earn special honors at Westminster, the tears are likely to flow just because he made it there and, in a way, so did Emma.
Emma was a show champion herself, but she also was a charmer who nuzzled her way into the family of one of Rubinstein’s neighbors in Simpsonville. “They’re all wonderful, but every once in a while, you come across one that’s really special,” Rubinstein said. “Emma was special.”
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The neighbors’ children loved cuddling with Emma, and she seemed to adore them in return. So Rubinstein gave Emma to them but retained the right to breed the dog. The breeding went well, but the birth went tragically wrong. Emma stood up after the operation at the veterinary office, took a few steps and then collapsed to the horror of Rubinstein and her neighbors. Efforts to revive her failed.
Rubinstein bottle-fed the pups with a formula mimicking mother’s milk every two hours for a week and a half, ensuring their immune system got the proper start. Amazingly, all 11 survived. One male, named Ian, helped fill the void for the neighbors and is their family pet, Rubinstein said. Six others have gone on to be top-notch show dogs, and Duncan, a 3-year-old, this week will be in one of the most prestigious shows in the country.
“He’s the dog that someday you hope you can have. He looks like a stallion,” said Rubinstein, who is originally from Philadelphia but came to the Upstate when her husband took a job managing the Bi-Lo Center and has stayed in the area.
Duncan’s category is being judged Monday at 11:15 a.m. Rubinstein, who also handles dogs in show rings, has a knee injury and has turned over the handling of Duncan to Jaki Clute.
South Carolinians looking for local dogs to root for also should keep an eye out for Winston (officially Silver GCH Belle Shoals Sir Winston C), a Chihuahua owned by Cynthia and Randy McIntosh of Hartsville and handled by Rachael Murphy of Piedmont.
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