Person of the Week: Burt Yamada

Feb. 6, 2004 -- You know what they say about television — you can never get too much of kids and dogs.

Perhaps that's what accounted for the brief distraction from the more troubling news in the world by the 128th annual Westminster Dog Show held this week at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

There were 2,500 dogs at the show, whose owners live and breathe the possibility of being best in show. With 162 breeds on display, it was like the Olympics. For dog lovers, the show is the top of the heap.

This year, best in show was judged by Burton J. Yamada of Blue Jay, Calif.

"When I first came out there and looked at the crowd and everything, I was nervous," he said. "You kind of get awestruck. I understand that this was the largest crowd that they have ever had at the show."

It is a very big deal to be asked to judge the best in show. Yamada remembers getting the call from the show's director.

"He said, there will be one sporting dog and there will be a hound, and I'm thinking, 'I don't judge each one of those.' And he said, 'Come on Burt, one sporting, one hound, one working, one terrier.' And I said, 'Oh my God, I'm being asked to do best in show.' "

Yamada was asked to choose the best from the last remaining seven dogs, the best in their breed. He wasn't even allowed to know which dogs they were until he walked into the ring.

There were reputations at stake — the dogs', the trainers', the handlers', and Yamada's.

Yamada recalls the selection process well.

"It was the longest 21 minutes," he said. "The crowd was getting into it at the end, so maybe I delayed a little long. I had pretty much made up my mind about three quarters of the way through."

Road to Success

Yamada has traveled an interesting road to get to this point.

In 1967, he and his wife, Ellen, bought a German Schnauzer and named her Heidi. She was not very well-behaved.

"One day, when I looked in the backyard, I saw this rose bush moving across the backyard. She had dug it up and was pulling it across the yard, and that kind of did it," he said.

So Burt took Heidi to obedience school. Heidi did so well that Burt took her to a dog show — and she won.

"I guess the best way to put it is that we got bitten by the bug for shows," said Yamada.

Dog shows are a whole different world. Dog owners sometimes spend vast sums of money to be in the game. And it's a lot about just loving dogs.

"It's like your child," said Yamada. "Why do you like seeing your children play in sports or whatever? This is your pet winning, and I think that's probably a large part of it."

Speech Stifled on Campus?

Burt Yamada is second generation Japanese-American.

During World War II, with his parents and thousands of other Japanese-American citizens, he was forced by the government to live in the infamous internment camps. History judges it a tragedy in a democratic society.

Today he is a director at Northrop Grumman's missile defense division in California, with top secret clearance. Three hundred engineers report to him.

He says that judging dogs and working on missiles have something in common.

"There are specifications that are written for each dog, and as an engineer you have specifications, you deal with requirements all the time. It's just a matter of taking those requirements and translating it to an image of a dog."

Tense Moments Before Decision

At Westminster, before the announcing best in show, the tension could have been cut with a knife.

The winner was a Newfoundland, a true working dog, named Josh. At 155 pounds, Josh tied for the biggest dog ever to win at Westminster.

"When he did that 'woo woo' when I was looking at him near the end, the crowd went wild, and he just responded," Yamada said.

They say that's Josh's breed displays beauty without vanity and courage without ferocity.

As Josh's family cheered his best in show honor, Burt Yamada had his cheering section, too.

"Way to go, Uncle Burt," said Yamada's nephew.

And at New York's famous Sardi's restaurant the next day, Burt and Josh were reunited for a photo op.

Said Yamada: "One of the comments someone made to me afterwards was, 'Wow, this time we have a dog that can drink out of the bowl instead of sit in it."