News

Amid all the wagging cuteness and elegance on display at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last week, a local pup turned some heads.

More Than Ready, an Irish setter owned by Fortuna’s Tom and Anita Gage that came into the competition ranked 18th in the nation for owner handler dogs, took home a prestigious Award of Merit in the Irish setter best of breed competition. The award is a big win for the Gages and caught the notice of The New Yorker reporter Jia Tolentino. Anyone who took a class from Tom Gage, a retired Humboldt State Univeristy English professor, should recognize him in Tolentino’s depiction:

"Applause rang out; a breed competition had just concluded. A woman in a pink suit ran to greet her husband with brimming, joyful eyes. Her name was Anita Gage, and her Irish setter, Ready—official name: More Than Ready—had just won an Award of Merit. She and her husband, Tom, had travelled for fifteen hours to get to New York from California. Tom, an English professor, told me later, “The beauty of the Irish setter has caught the eye of painters for centuries.” Somehow, we got on the subject of Turkish politics, and for the rest of the dog show, as handlers napped in camping chairs and the animals lined up, Noah’s Ark style, to exit through the loading dock, the two of us talked about Fethullah Gülen."

Check out Tolentino’s full article here, and watch Anita Gage and Ready in action below. (Anita is the handler in pink wearing the No. 10 arm band.)