TOP DOG: Uno, step aside. A Bradford beagle may make you
Dos.

An excited Bob Slike of Bradford, publisher of Hounds and
Hunting magazine, tells us that long before Uno was named Best of
Show at Westminster earlier this month, a Bradford beagle had
claimed three separate championships.

Dr. Homer Wilson owned a beagle known as Penzbest Penman which
was a triple champion – an AKC bench (show) and trial champion, and
a Canadian Kennel Club field champion back in the 1920s. Although
he didn’t claim the Westminster title, he was the only breeder up
until that time who had had a triple champ.

For those of you who hadn’t heard, Uno recently became the first
beagle ever to be named Best of Show at Westminster.

“It great news for the beagling world,” Bob said.

Bob sent an e-mail to Uno’s owners, offering to feature him on
the cover of the next issue of Hounds and Hunting for free! (No
word yet on this offer.) Hounds and Hunting is a magazine for
beagle breeders and many of its pages showcase the genetic
advantages of one dog or another.

But back to Dr. Wilson who, Bob tells us, delivered a record
8,000 babies in Bradford – including Bob!

In Dr. Wilson’s obituary, published in the magazine in early
1970, it was reported that his kennel known as Penzbest Beagles,
had produced several bench champions as well as several field
champions and one International Futurity Champion. However, Penman
was the only one to became a champion in both field and show.

Dr. Wilson was one of the early members of the Lake Erie Beagle
Club, a charter member of the Old Town Beagle Club and a charter
member and one of the organizer of the McKean County Beagle
Club.

After Doc retired, he moved to Roanoke, Va., but enjoyed running
his hounds until about five years before his death just shy of his
90th birthday.

Meanwhile, Bob tells us there was another great beagle man who
brought Hounds and Hunting to Bradford. I.W. Carroll came to
Bradford in 1954 as editor of the magazine. He had been a judge at
large dog shows and attended the Westminster event every year.

“Some day,” he would say, “the beagle will make it.”

That’s what Bob tells us. And so, only a few decades later, Uno
proved him right.