There were stares and sidelong glances when the blond in pink led her German Shepherd into the Carolina Classic dog show. Dressed in jeans and Betsey Johnson heels, 32-year-old Kelly Gray had driven for two days all the way from the Upper East Side to enter her “baby” Dakota in her very first dog show.
And it’s all captured in the new documentary “Super Pooches, which premieres Wednesday on TLC.
As the newcomer with lines like, “I feel like a pageant mom!” and “I’m prettier than all the other owners here,” Gray herself steals the show. Even with hundreds of dogs in the room.
The Web site specialist/aerobics instructor decided to enter Dakota in a dog show at the suggestion of a co-worker.
“People always tell me how pretty Kota is,” says Gray, who had no experience whatsoever in the dog show world. She had never even taken a dog-training class. But after seeing the movie “Best in Show” and the Westminster competitions on TV once, she figured, how hard could it be?
“I usually talk my way into things and then pretend until I catch on,” she says. “I just figured that Kota’s so awesome and I’m so awesome that we would work it out.”
They did — to an extent, of course. Throughout the film, we see Gray become baffled when the judge tells her to “gait” her dog (i.e., trot it around the ring). When a junior dog handler suggests she might need some new shoes, she replies, “I can run in heels. I’m from New York!”
Despite her lack of experience, the United Kennel Club-sponsored show is a good place for a novice like Gray.
“UKC shows are friendly and not too intimidating,” says UKC president Wayne Cavanaugh. “Someone like Kelly can learn as she goes.���
“Most importantly,” he adds, “she loves her dog. That’s what we look for.”
In fact, Gray can’t imagine loving anything as much as she loves Dakota.
“I’m a single, cute girl living in New York City,” she says. “But I don’t ever think ‘I wish I had a boyfriend,’ or ‘I wish I had a hundred kids.’ [Dakota] completes me.”
She actually has a failed romance to thank for leading her to Dakota. “I had been through a horrible breakup with a worthless boy,” she recalls. “So I thought, ‘I’ll transfer my love to the dog.’”
The verdict is still out on whether they’ll try their hand at another dog show. For one thing, Gray’s not sold on the sport’s idea of fashion.
“It’s so frumpy!” she says of the conservative suits and sensible shoes most owners wear in the ring. “I don’t think wearing a cute outfit is going to totally derail the integrity of a dog competition. But apparently potato sacks and muted tones are the way to go. I don’t even own that stuff. I’m not very good at blending in.”
Thank goodness for that.
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