Westminster Dog Handlers Know Rarity of Best-in-Show Wins Think of a successful dog handler as a great coach. Each wants to motivate his charges, whether they are four or two-legged. They hope to add new talent to keep them in the hunt for a title. Tom Coughlin might not reward his Giants players with liver treats for first downs on third-and-long, but he is their guide from training camp to postseason. Coaches deal with referees. Handlers lead their dogs around rings where judges stroke, prod and examine their dogs in midtrot or on tables, as if they were draft prospects at the N.F.L. scouting combine. All the while, the handlers keep their dogs under control (by distracting them), in proper position (by moving their legs and stroking their tails) and properly coiffed (by brushing them). Still, one can't keep pugs from snorting and affenpinschers from leaping for joy. Fortunately, judges rarely penalize dogs for excessive dogginess. Scott Sommer is one of the top handlers in the major leagues for dogs. His game plan - at his training camp and kennel in Houston or in the judging rings at shows around the country - has helped two dogs to Best in Show victories at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. In 2001, J. R., a bichon frisé who loves to wave merrily with his front paws, was the victor. Nine years later, Stump, a Sussex spaniel, took the prize. Today, they live in retirement with Sommer. "It's very hard to keep winning," he said. You have a lot of other dogs in your breeds that are the top dogs in the country. You can only pray you have an over-the-top show dog. They have to handle what's in the ring and the atmosphere here. He has taken eight dogs to Westminster this year, including a bichon frisé, a pug, a toy English spaniel and two wire-haired dachshunds who competed Monday. The odds are against any of them winning. About 2,000 dogs are in the show. Sommer's first dog of the day was a 4-year-old bichon named Drummer, one of 13 in the ring. Each looked virtually the same: a helmet of hair teased into a mini-cumulus cloud; a tail that resembled a pompom; and black button eyes. One of Drummer's competitors was handled by Bill McFadden, who won in 2003 with a Kerry blue terrier. Of the bichons Sommer has handled since 2001, Drummer is "the most like J. R. He's just as crazy as J. R." Drummer won, but Sommer could not linger. A pug named Valerie awaited him at the Theater, two escalator flights down from the main floor of Madison Square Garden. Because of renovation work on the Garden, judging in the toy and terrier groups has been shifted to the Theater. Sommer walked quickly down the left aisle of the Theater to reach Valerie. An assistant handed her to Sommer in time to enter the ring with the 19 other pugs. Pugs are the Catskills tummlers of dogs, entertainers with a penchant for emitting funny sounds as they walk or stand still. Listen closely, you hear the Borscht belt. They are not sleek like greyhounds or elegant like Afghans, but they are captivating. Dressed in a blue suit, Sommer moved Valerie around the ring much as he had Drummer. When pugs walk, they waddle in ways that bichons do not. There is no fluff, of course, just a tightly packed dog with big eyes, a pushed-in-face and a curlicue tail. Sommer said that there were nuances to handling each dog that could make it perform better. "Some need to be touched, some don't," he said. The best dogs seem to know that a ring and a crowd surrounding it mean it is time to show - and when it ends, they can roll over, bark (a little) and jump into their handlers" arms. Valerie did not win. She got on the medal stand, however, with the best of opposite sex, a lesser counterpart to best of breed, which was won by a boy pug. Now, Sommer had to rush upstairs to prepare Dash, a toy English springer spaniel. In the benching area behind the Garden floor, where dogs rested in their crates or were primped for their next performance, Sommer and his staff washed and dried Dash, who is 4 years old and black and white. Beside him, on another table in the canine salon, sat two wire-haired dachshunds, who competed (and lost) at the same time as Dash. Once in the ring, Sommer and six other handlers showed their seven little spaniels. All had their tonsorial tools, and when he had time, Sommer got on his knees to brush Dash. It must have worked. He won best of breed. Afterward, the group of fans cooing over him included Kellie Fitzgerald, who has guided two English springer spaniels to Best in Shows at Westminster. Fitzgerald said a handler could not plan on winning at Westminster. "You need the right dog, at the right place, at the right time," she said. Sommer knows how serendipitous a dog show can be. No one in 2009 predicted success for Stump, a geezer of a dog at 10, who had retired four years earlier after falling seriously ill and whose breed had never won at Westminster. Still, he did. Sommer is clearly pleased that his two best of breed winners Monday share a trait. "They're crazy," their coach said "They live on the edge."