Traveling the country, being greeted in major arenas by thousands of applauding fans and getting recognized for a pretty face and warm smile might sound like the every day life of any celebrity or model.
In James' case, however, that warm smile is attached to a cold nose, long ears and a short stub of tail.
The 5-year-old English springer spaniel has become a well-known presence in the show dog circuit, recently winning best of show in the sporting category at the Purina National Dog Show in Philadelphia, said proud owner Teresa Patton of Fairfax Station.
"James has been with me since the day he was born," said Patton, who has been training show dogs for over 30 years.
For the past few years, James has been living in Delaware with his trainer and handler, Kellie Fitzgerald, in order to make sure he has the proper mental and physical conditioning to remain a top-performing dog.
"I started training James with agility and obedience," Patton said. To ensure that he had a "well-rounded life," she enrolled him in a pet therapy group that would visit sick or elderly people. "Show dogs have to be more than just a pretty face," she said.
"When you have a show dog, or a dog you want to compete with, you have to make it a natural environment for them and it's definitely not," she said. "The dogs have to love the work, love being there and love being in front of a crowd. He had to be 200 percent all of the time he's in front of people and he just loves it."
During competitions, James will look at his surroundings instead of just the obstacles, hoping to "see his fans," Patton said.
Watching her dog during a show is "almost surreal," she said. "I still remember holding him the day he was born. There was just something about him that told me he was special."
Susan Smith, another dog show veteran and a longtime friend of Patton's, agrees.
"I first saw him when he was six or seven weeks old. I was working with a chocolate lab when Terry brought him over and I got goose bumps," Smith said. "He was just stunning. There was a real presence about him when she brought him into the room ... he was just so smart from the get-go."
WHEN JAMES competes, "he knows when he's doing something right. When he hears people clap for him, he just turns on and stands there to take it all in," Smith said.
James is so well trained, she said, that he is taken off his leash at the end of the competition for the judges to inspect. Typically, dogs stay on their leashes so they won't run away from their handler or interfere with other dogs.
"Kellie takes the leash off and lets the judge handle James and he just stands there," she said. "He knows how to do all of this without being forced to, which is almost unheard of among show dogs."
Comparing James to a "five-time Olympic gold medalist," Smith said James will run a few steps ahead of Fitzgerald but look back for her during a competition, while most other dogs stay directly by their handler's side.
"He goes to shows with 900 to 1,500 other dogs and beats them all," she said. "He's just awesome."
Fitzgerald has only been taking James to competitions since March and continues to be impressed with his showmanship.
"He's winning competitions that would normally take a dog with a solid year of training to win, and he's only been doing this for nine months," she said. "The way he handles himself is due to his presence of mind and his attitude. He can handle just about any situation."
Most dogs become skittish or nervous their first time in show ring, but Fitzgerald said James feeds off the applause and bright lights of being a canine celebrity.
"He works to please. Whenever he hears any kind of applause, he looks around at the crowd and doesn't miss a beat," she said. "He's a handler's dream."
James lives with Fitzgerald when he's not touring the dog show circuit, Patton said, in order to make sure he stays in top form.
"He lives in Delaware with Kellie, but we get to see him all the time," she said. "When he retires, he'll come back here to our five acres and I'll probably keep him in the obedience ring."
In January, Patton will fly to watch James compete in an American Kennel Club competition in Tampa, along with the American Spaniel Club show before heading to the granddaddy of them all, the Westminster Dog Show later in 2006.
"It's much harder being in the stands, because all you can do is sit there and bite your fingernails while watching your dog," Patton said.