“Quite a haul today,” a fellow steward commented, nodding in the direction of the Lost and Found table next to the show superintendent set-up. Following her gaze, my eyes flickered over the usual abandoned flotsam and jetsam – a pair of sunglasses, two spray bottles, a slightly soggy towel plus six brushes and two combs. “Three of those brushes are from my ring” she related. I was about to up the ante with the addition of a purple pin brush forsaken at my ring gate. Can’t help but wonder why exhibitors jettison this all-important grooming aid at ringside with such a cavalier attitude. Few folks even return to search for their wayward brushes.
Beardie owners may remember the effervescent (but regrettably deceased) Mary Billman who once confessed to buying a dozen brushes at the start of each show season, knowing she’d lose most, if not all, of them before the final standings were published. Perhaps some exhibitors, in delight at winning or depressed at losing, leave ringside with other things on their minds beside brushes. Or maybe, they just suffer from lapses in memory, something that seems to happen with age. But I forget who said that.
Perchance there are other reasons for disappearing brushes. There was a day when a group of Beardie exhibitors were gathered at ringside, waiting to enter. I had my brush in hand and was giving a few finishing swipes at my girl’s coat before leaving it on a table just outside the gate. One of the other exhibitors viewed the brush, caught my eye and asked, “May I?” and I nodded Yes. Picking it up, she proceeded to tame wind-ruffled locks on her dog before placing it back on the table. Later, when leaving the ring for the final time, I collected my brush from the table and took it back to the van with the rest of my paraphernalia. Shortly thereafter, we gathered at someone’s van for lunch and a gabfest. That’s when the lady who had briefly borrowed my brush came up to me with a smile and handed me a brush. “You left this on table.” No, I didn’t. She paled in embarrassment. “Then I guess I just stole someone’s brush.” Another resident for the Lost and Found pile.
Some years back, the cognizant Beardie afficionados tended to believe THE brush to have was the English-made Mason Pearson. It wasn’t cheap. In fact, it was darn expensive. But the company had been in existence for over a century and enjoyed a reputation for brushes that did beautiful things for both hair and scalp. So naturally a Mason Pearson brush was worthy of a Beardie. When one of the exhibitors (let’s call her Betty because I can’t remember her name) won her class at a BCCA national specialty, she decided to celebrate by splurging on a Mason Pearson brush from a vendor. Then Betty and Beardie gamboled over to the photographer’s set-up to commemorate the win with a photo. She carefully groomed her dog to pristine perfection with her new brush and then, placing it aside, she cheerfully coaxed her dog into a show pose for the camera. Sometime later, Betty realized she had forgotten to retrieve her prized possession after the photo session and returned to collect it. Was it there? What do you think? Other owners have bragged about having a Mason Pearson brush for decades. For Betty, it was measured in minutes.
One of the reasons for lost brushes is really quite simple. There’s no convenient place to carry them on your person when in the ring. Put a brush in a pocket or stick it in the back of your slacks and it’s likely to bounce out as you gait. If the teeth (or are they prongs?) stick through or out of your pocket, you look like you have a porcupine hitchhiker. Unlike a comb, you can’t tuck it in your arm band, or, as some (female) handlers are wont to do, stick it firmly in the back of your hair. Face it, they’re just inconvenient to wear. So they get left on a table or by the ring gate
Just a thought. There’s a gadget obedience exhibitors sometimes use which holds a dumbbell on a leather strip and fastens to a belt. Would that work? Probably not. Well, it’s something to think about while I groom my Beardie. Now where did I put my brush?
– alice bixler, Bearded Collie Club of America.
