Picture it!

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1970.

Things were great in The White House. Things were great at the shows. Things were great in the movies.

Life was … well … life was great!

Now, maybe some of that “greatness” was because I was thirty-seven years younger. Or, maybe people really were happier back then. Not being an expert in psychology, I can’t say for sure if things were so different than they are now when it comes to people’s feelings. (My guess is that some of us felt as if our lives were wonderful and others weren’t quite so sure). Just like today, some people had everything going for them and others were lucky to pay for the groceries and keep a roof over their heads.

But, for a bunch of us at the Harrisburg Kennel Club’s dog show that year, life was just starting out and we were as bright as anyone you ever saw.

It’s so hard to believe that the show would still be going on after all these years … so very hard, believing that some of us would still be part of the scene! There were young jewelers, young antique dealers, a notorious book dealer in trouble with everybody … Artists of every different kind — painters on porcelain dishes, in oils and watercolors — sculptors in bronze and wood and clay — flower arrangers … new dog food dealers just getting their businesses off the ground. All this — amid all the barking, and hair and smells of dogs, dogs, dogs!

If someone had bounced into our lives back then, waved a magic wand and said in the squeaky voice of Carol Kane as the kinky-haired blonde Christmas spirit in “Scrooged” … “Ah! Hahahaha! Thirty-seven years from now, you’ll still be doing dog shows!” do you think we’d have believed her?

Maybe.

On the other hand, we might have said “Be gone you crazy blonde frizz-headed fairy! This is the REAL world. This is a DOG show! What do you know of life with your wings and frilly tutu dresses?” ducking as she swung a fist at one of us.

As it turns out, she knew a lot. Today, some of those fresh young entrepreneurs are still with us. Like perennial boutiques, their shopkeepers a little more worn and weathered with each year, some of them still flutter about at our favorite shows. Others, more expansive in scope, have become internationally known.

Let’s take a look at the photographer whose friendly portraits are sought today by dog lovers from New York to New Zealand. Poodles, Borzoi, Portuguese Water Dogs, Pugs . . . Purebreds owners galore stand in line for the knowledgeable red-headed woman who makes them feel like theirs is the best dog in the world.

It wasn’t always like this for the photographer named Maxine, whose laugh and smile are almost as well known as her portraits.

Schnauzers were her breed. She got herself a pup named Ricky and she decided he was going to be a champion. Undaunted by the fact that she had never shown a dog before, the willful lady from Long Island put on her golfing attire, slipped into her white sneakers and set out to make Ricky a star.

Again and again, she showed the beautifully-groomed dog.

Point after precious point, weekend after weekend, she gathered the credentials making her dog important and special. Along the way, she made friends — the kind of friends who last a lifetime — and, along the way, her creative mind began to see the dogs and the people around her in a whole new way.

Candy was the answer, she decided. While she was showing Ricky, she would bring chocolate for her friends. Her chocolates went over well, and before you knew it, she was carrying tables to the shows and selling chocolate to the spectators. The Milton Hershey of dog shows! But, delicious as being a chocolate queen was, something was missing. A painter is what she was at heart, and a painter she would be. Yes, that was it! She would make tee-shirts and paint portraits of dogs on denim jackets!

Hundreds of tee-shirts! She would be the Tee-Shirt Lady of the dog world!

Clothing racks, plastic bins and more tables! “Come on, Ricky, let’s go!”

Now, what Ricky thought of this is anybody’s guess. Experts tell us that our dogs look at us sometimes with eyebrows slightly raised in wonder … it was along about then that Ricky decided to finish his championship and free Maxine to enjoy the adventure of her life. For a while, she specialized in the work of other artists and soon … when she was ready … she started doing what she really loved.

Ever since it first started — long before those thirty-seven years ago — the world of dog shows has been a breeding ground for creativity. Some of our favorite champions walk beside us into the show ring and others grace our homes and art collections, smiling at us across the years. Schnauzers like Ricky might be gone, but, for dog lovers around the country, it’s those bright, adventurous entrepreneurs of the dog show community who live on.

Hey … it’s 2007 . . .  Let’s go to a dog show and “Picture” it!