Dr. Richard Meen fully grasps the monastic nature of his powers. On Tuesday night, just 30 minutes before the best in show competition at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show begins at Madison Square Garden, he will descend from his sequestered post in the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan to decide, alone, which of the animals is the purest of the purebreds.
He, and nobody else, will act as judge and jury to anoint one dog as the exemplar of breeding standards. For Meen, it is an honor and a great responsibility, he said recently. Naturally, he seemed as nervous as a Chihuahua crossing Seventh Avenue.