Good Dog (People) – Part Five
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By Sarah Montague
PART 5
The Final Chapter: Diplomats and Do-Gooders
Frei-Up
It takes an innately elegant man to willingly play the fool, so I was not surprised when David Frei turned up to our Zoom meeting in a smart periwinkle shirt he says he bought for the occasion, and a Brittany-inscribed COVID mask.
David has been synonymous with dog shows since 1990, the year he became the broadcast host of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. For 26 years David’s affable, experienced voice guided viewers through two closing nights and Best in Show. In 2002, he also began to host (with John O’Hurley) the Kennel Club of Philadelphia’s National Dog Show, traditionally broadcast by NBC on Thanksgiving Day.
David has been equally visible in the realm of canine therapy, founding Angel on a Leash in 2004. The organization (in a reconstituted form is now based in Pennsylvania and managed by Steven Kramer) worked with the Ronald McDonald House and other facilities, bringing a bit of love and stimulation to children in treatment for cancer, their families, and to veterans.
I had the pleasure of watching David and his two dogs (Angel, a Cavalier, and Grace, a Brittany) in action once. There was no hint of the broadcast celebrity as he strolled cheerfully around the floor in the facility’s foyer. “I wear a lot of hats,” David said. But typically, he places all the credit elsewhere: “when a dog walks into the room, the energy changes.”
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