Fred has quite a head on his shoulders. It's as big and blocky as a toaster oven, with a wrinkled, velvety brow, brown and droopy Abe Vigoda eyes and a broad, jowly smile —all breed standards for an English mastiff. Only when Fred's owner, Brian Carten, opens the rear door of his Subaru Forester to let the dog stretch his legs do I fully appreciate what a champion mastiff looks like. Apricot in color, this 2-year-old canine is 210 pounds of muscular majesty prancing around us in a wide circle with the graceful, athletic gait of a lion. When the gentle giant sidles up to me, his shoulders come up to my waist. Carten expects Fred to top out eventually at 255 pounds. "Fred doesn't have the mass [of older mastiffs], which may be a disadvantage, but he has the elegance," Carten says proudly. "He's just a stunning dog." Carten is one of 21 Vermonters who are bringing their dogs to the 141st Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, to be held on February 13 and 14 in New York City. This year, nearly 2,800 dogs from 49 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia will compete. Representing Vermont is a diverse array of dog owners, including many whose canines do much more than just prance around looking pretty. From the moment Carten pulls into the parking lot of the Waterbury Park & Ride, where we meet for our interview, any preconceived notions I harbor about dog-show enthusiasts fly right out the window. The 55-year-old Warren resident, who's worked as a UPS driver in Berlin for 33 years, doesn't fit any of the usual stereotypes of uptight or finicky show-dog owners. Many of those are lampooned in the 2000 mockumentary Best in Show — a film that Carten confesses, incredibly, he's never seen. He arrives for our interview wearing Carhartts, a brown hoodie, sneakers and a black wool cap emblazoned with a cartoon mastiff and the words "Team Fred." A former U.S. Marine, Carten admits he never set out to show dogs and "got into this completely by accident." Twenty years ago, Carten adopted his first mastiff, Siobhan, a rescue that had been terribly abused. He quickly fell in love with the breed of benevolent behemoths and got a second one, Roscoe. After Roscoe died — alas, mastiffs aren't known for their longevity — Carten purchased Judson,…
Fred has quite a head on his shoulders. It's as big and blocky as a toaster oven, with a wrinkled, velvety brow, brown and droopy Abe Vigoda eyes and a broad, jowly smile —all breed standards for an English mastiff. Only when Fred's owner, Brian Carten, opens the rear door of his Subaru Forester to let the dog stretch his legs do I fully appreciate what a champion mastiff looks like. Apricot in color, this 2-year-old canine is 210 pounds of muscular majesty prancing around us in a wide circle with the graceful, athletic gait of a lion. When the gentle giant sidles up to me, his shoulders come up to my waist. Carten expects Fred to top out eventually at 255 pounds. "Fred doesn't have the mass [of older mastiffs], which may be a disadvantage, but he has the elegance," Carten says proudly. "He's just a stunning dog." Carten is one of 21 Vermonters who are bringing their dogs to the 141st Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, to be held on February 13 and 14 in New York City. This year, nearly 2,800 dogs from 49 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia will compete. Representing Vermont is a diverse array of dog owners, including many whose canines do much more than just prance around looking pretty. From the moment Carten pulls into the parking lot of the Waterbury Park & Ride, where we meet for our interview, any preconceived notions I harbor about dog-show enthusiasts fly right out the window. The 55-year-old Warren resident, who's worked as a UPS driver in Berlin for 33 years, doesn't fit any of the usual stereotypes of uptight or finicky show-dog owners. Many of those are lampooned in the 2000 mockumentary Best in Show — a film that Carten confesses, incredibly, he's never seen. He arrives for our interview wearing Carhartts, a brown hoodie, sneakers and a black wool cap emblazoned with a cartoon mastiff and the words "Team Fred." A former U.S. Marine, Carten admits he never set out to show dogs and "got into this completely by accident." Twenty years ago, Carten adopted his first mastiff, Siobhan, a rescue that had been terribly abused. He quickly fell in love with the breed of benevolent behemoths and got a second one, Roscoe. After Roscoe died — alas, mastiffs aren't known for their longevity — Carten purchased Judson,…