Trouble at the Kennel (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery #9)(15)
She walked to the ring where the pit bulls were just starting to be shown. Although there were a number of dogs in the ring, there weren’t many people watching. Kelly sat down and looked at the dogs. Unlike the other breeds being shown where all the dogs looked like one another except for coloring, these dogs were all over the board. No two seemed to look alike.
“Excuse me,” Kelly said to the man sitting in front of her. “Why are there so many variations in the way these dogs look?”
“I really don’t know that much about the breed. See that man sitting over there wearing a blue shirt? He’s very knowledgeable about the breed. Matter of fact he’s the head of the Pit Bull Sanctuary. He’s the one you ought to talk to.”
“Thanks, I’ll see if he can help me.” She remembered what Noelle had said to her yesterday about the man that ran the Pit Bull Sanctuary and couldn’t believe how lucky she was that she might have an opportunity to talk to him.
She walked over to the man wearing the blue shirt, sat down beside him and said, “Hi, I’m Kelly Reynolds. I’m curious about the pit bull breed and the man over there suggested that I talk to you. He said you were really knowledgeable about them.”
“Sure, happy to talk about my favorite subject. This breed is a little different from most of the other breeds. As a matter of fact, I own three pit bulls, and they’re all as different as night and day. There are four different organizations that set standards for the breed and they vary. There’s the United Kennel Club, the American Dog Breeders Association, the All American Dog Registry, and the last one is the American Kennel Club. They all have slightly different standards. AKC uses the standard for the American Staffordshire terrier. Then it gets really interesting because the terrier can also be registered with the UKC as an American Pit Bull Terrier.”
“I would think that would be very confusing to people who are buying their first one and would like to show it.”
“It is. There are standards, even within each of those clubs, but the problem occurs when a dog is registered with one of them, and the owner decides to breed the dog to increase its size or whatever. Although the dog is not quite up to the particular standard for that group, he still can be registered with one of the other groups. It really makes it difficult for the judges. They have to be very aware of the standard for the particular club that is hosting the show.”
“Are new owners told about these differences?” Kelly asked.
“I can’t answer for all of them, but I can tell you that the people I bought my three dogs from never gave me that information. I doubt if they even knew about it. I found out the hard way. The first show I ever entered was an AKC show. My dog had the standard for the American Dog Registry, so I got nowhere. I never made that mistake again.”
“So you have three pit bulls? No wonder the man over there said you were very knowledgeable about the breed.”
“I’ve had pit bulls all my life, and I still like to come to dog shows to see them. Once mine get enough points to make champion, I stop showing them. As a matter of fact, I took the afternoon off from work today, so I could come to this show. I could easily breed them and get quite a bit of money for their puppies or stud fees, but I think what’s happened to their reputation the last few years is horrible. I actually started and presently run the Pit Bull Sanctuary. I try to find homes for dogs whose owners no longer want them.”
“I’ve heard of your group. My husband and I board our dogs at Doggie Love Kennel, and I remember in one of the newsletters the owner mentioned that your group was renting space from her, but separate from the boarded dogs. We just got home from a trip yesterday, and I was at the kennel to pick up our dogs, but I didn’t see any pit bulls.”
“I’m sure you didn’t. Evidently there was a problem about a week ago. It seems like one of the rescue dogs got out of the area where they were kept and attacked the manager’s dog causing some severe injuries to the dog. Knowing the breed, I’m sure the pit bull was provoked. Usually they’re very gentle. Anyway, the owner of the kennel called me and told me to get all the pit bull rescue dogs off of her premises by the end of the following day. Fortunately, I have a few people I can call on who are always willing to take a rescue dog.”
“When we went to pick up our dogs,” Kelly said, “we learned that someone had let all of the dogs in the kennel loose a few hours before we got there and the owner of the kennel had been murdered. Fortunately, they were able to find all of the dogs, including both of our dogs. We couldn’t believe it. It was so sad.”
“Yeah, I heard on the news last night that the owner, Mary Barnes, had been murdered, and the dogs that were boarding there had all been released by someone, probably the killer. Don’t know anything about it, but if she treated others the same way she treated me, I’m not surprised someone killed her. Matter of fact, I kind of felt like it was karmic justice. She sure turned her back on the dogs that were in need at the Pit Bull Sanctuary, so if someone decided to do something bad to her, I can’t say I’m sorry.”
Kelly sat back and turned her attention to the dogs in the ring, thinking about what the man had just said.
He certainly could qualify as a suspect. Sounds like his whole world is dogs and his love for the pit bull breed. Being forced to remove the dogs from the kennel property on almost no notice might have made him mad enough to want to commit murder. Since Mary had a policy of not accepting pit bulls for boarding, he might have felt she was discriminating against him and his beloved breed and needed to be taught a lesson, twisted as it seems. Probably better tell Mike about this guy, and Noelle did say her mother was concerned about him. What a coincidence – that the man I talked to suggested I speak to the head of the Pit Bull Sanctuary who just happened to take time off from work and come to the dog show today. Small world. Seems like a nice enough man, but you never know about people, particularly when they’re obsessed with something, and there is no doubt in my mind this guy is obsessed with pit bulls.