A SIDEWAYS GLANCE : POWDERPUFF OR POOCH?

Poised, glossy and glamorous, giant schnauzers paraded on the left while a ring of wrinkled shar-peis trotted before another judge on the right Monday as the 121st annual Westminster Kennel Club show began.

Outside the rings, the fur was flying.

Westminster is a benched show, which means the audience is free to go back to see the dogs as they are groomed and prepared for competition. The result is a backstage area that would leave all but the most phlegmatic dog howling.

Fortunately, the more than 2,500 dogs competing at Westminster are required to have won the title of champion at other AKC-recognized shows. So they're used to it - the one sound largely missing in the backstage cacophony is, of all things, barking.

Paco, a bichon frise, stood unruffled in the din of passing wheeled crates and cooing humans as his handler, Joe Waterman, gave him his final trim. Tiny white tufts fluttered to the ground like snowflakes while Paco stared blandly, looking around only when Waterman took his hands away.

The goal is to make Paco - formally known as Ch.Dreams Came True Triumph - look as much like a powder puff as possible, ``hardly any sharp edges, all rounded and puffy-looking,'' Waterman said.