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after Swinger claimed the Pekingese club title, the New York Times ran a photo of the little dog peering out of the cup of a huge silver trophy.
    Kay Jeffords was equally passionate about dogs. Jeffords was a wealthy New Yorker. Her husband, Walter, was president of the Brooklyn Union Gas Company and a familiar figure in horse-racing circles. Walter Jeffords owned a number of race horses. He later acquired the first Thoroughbred foal sired by Secretariat, the magnificent Thoroughbred who captured the Triple Crown in 1973.
    Walter Jeffords could have his horses; Kay Jeffords was head over heels about dogs. And, like Wolf, she had a habit of snapping up any contender who caught her eye. Buying up the competition was a surefire way to eliminate it. In 1972, Jeffords tried her best to acquire Wolf’s latest obsession, Champion Dagbury of Calartha, a red Pekingese he’d imported from Britain the year before. Dagbury had been in the United States only a month, and had already won the Toy Group at the Bronx County Kennel Club Show, the Kennel Club of Northern New Jersey, and the Queensboro Kennel Club Show.
    Wolf had no intention of selling Dagbury, to a rival fancier. To avoid a stalemate, Wolf and Jeffords decided to form a partnership. They would co-own Dagbury, and Wolf would handle him in the ring.
    Jeffords was wealthier by far, but Wolf brought his own cachet to the table. He was known for his excellent manners: The man with the muttonchop sideburns, brightly patterned plaid sports jackets, and thick, gold chain around his neck always stood for the ladies. More important, he knew dogs. He had a gift for spotting dogs who represented the best of their breed—specimens with just the right shape of nose, sweep of hindquarters, and ability to stand like a champion.
    Wolf’s partnership with Jeffords lasted eight years. They collaborated so closely that, for a time, Wolf even moved into Jeffords’s home. By any measure, their joint venture was a glittering success. A year after Wolf and Jeffords joined forces, Dagbury won his fourth Best in Show at the Longshore-Southport Kennel Club Show—his thirty-sixth first-place showing. The little dog captured the title the same year Secretariat took the horse-racing world by storm. “He’s my Secretariat,” Jeffords crowed about Dagbury the night she hosted the Belmont Ball, the annual black-tie fund-raiser sponsored by the New York Racing Association.
    Other Pekingese owned by Wolf and Jeffords swept their fields. Champion Dragon Hai Fanfare won three Bests in Show and nine Toy Groups. Champion Quilkin the Stringman racked up eleven Bests in Show, fifty-four Toy Groups, and three top prizes at the Pekingese Club of America specialty shows. Champion Masterpiece Zodiac of Dud Lee’s captured eight Bests in Show and fifty-three Groups.
    Wolf had catapulted to the top of the dog show world. Together with Jeffords, he traveled annually to the prestigious Crufts dog show in England to search for up-and-coming Pekingese. On one trip alone they bought ten dogs who looked to be future show winners.
    In the mid-1970s, Wolf immersed himself even further into the world of purebreds. He moved to Christiana, Pennsylvania, a rural village in the heart of Amish country, where two-lane roads connected one far-flung farm to another. His choice of location was no accident; the Jeffordses had a country retreat near Christiana. From his rural outpost, Wolf continued to import dogs. He also began to breed some of his own.
    The dog show circuit took notice. “Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords Jr. of New York and Michael Wolf of Christiana, Pa., have owned some very good Pekingese over the last few years,” the New York Times reported on March 21, 1976. “Now they have another one. He is a 4-year-old Scottish import, Ch. Yang Kee Bernard.” Bernard had just won top prize out of 1,639 dogs at the Bronx County Kennel Club’s fifty-fourth show, where he was deemed “an exceptional specimen of the breed.” He