SADIE THE SCOTTIE ...... IS TOP DOG AT WESTMINSTER THIS YEAR

NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS) -- Sadie the Scottie was fully expected to reach the purple podium at America's top dog show. The heavily favored Scottish terrier won best in show Tuesday night and seemed to be an easy choice.

Somewhere I Bet Ya, Willis Oliver Penney & "Scrapper" Are Smiling

Willis & Scrapper circa 1942

AND YOU CAN BET HIS DAUGHTER PEGGY IS TOO

Peggy Penney & Peaches circa 1936

Most Likely Taken At Clairedale In Hampton Bays. LI .....Peggy Penney of course would become known to the world of dog shows in the future as

Peggy Newcombe along with her Pennyworth Kennel.

And If Both Father & Daughter Are Smiling

Then You Got To Know That The Big Boss Lady Herself Is Really Happy Too !

PEGGY & HER MOTHER CLAIRE KNAPP PENNEY DIXON

and their respective friends circa 1940's

FEBRUARY IS KNAPP MONTH....

at spoonercentral.com, for as many different reasons as there are breeds entered at The Garden for the big show. This new year is no different. I had been planning a central page devoted to all the Knapp yachts and motor boats I have discovered over the years for this years entry and probably still will before months end.

This past week, marks 51 years since the Knapp mansion in Mastic Beach burned down ( 2-15-1959 ) and those in the know, know that fire started everything that now sits on The Knapps Lived Here website.

As Billy Joel once wrote "We Didn't Start The Fire" and he was right about that ... We sure didn't Doug, Butchie & Me didn't start it, we just reported it, then got blamed for it. But I know who did torch the place!

"Knappsters" out there on the world wide web , also know of course that it was Claire Knapp who started the whole Knapp Dog - Hot Dog thing rolling when she founded her Clairedale Farm & Kennel on Long Island in the early 19 - teens. Her daughter followed suit with her own Pennyworth Kennels in the 1940s. This mother daughter team hold the sole distinction as the only ones to ever both take BIS ( Best In Show) awards in 1936 & 1964 in the 134 year history of Westminster. Although Clairedale Kennels specialized in Airedales, then Chows, then Sealyham Terriers, the family photos show Scotties were near and dear to their hearts. In my family too, my sister and her husband have two Scotties, who just visited with us this past Sunday. Irish Setters and Labs are my dogs of choice.

BUT IF YOU ARE ANY KIND OF A DOG LOVER YOU WILL WANT TO VISIT

THE CLAIREDALE STORY HERE

CLAIRE KNAPP OF MASTIC, 1922

NOW IS EVERYBODY HAPPY ?

One more thing.... before she turned her attention to dogs "Knappsters Know" it was horses & horse shows where the spotlight first shined on Claire A. Knapp 1889 - 1959 .... That said I have to include this recently discovered photo of me own mum on a pony circa 1922 .....

AMELIA SPOONER

THE KNAPPS LIVED HERE