Mr. Eckstein, who will be training the winner, said he would most probably choose a terrier or a terrier mix.

Owners like Erin Hayes, an art history graduate student, played fetch with her terrier mix, Dashiell.

She had tied rags around her shoulders to keep out the spring chill and was picking through the trash while her dog, a black-and-white terrier mix, played at her feet.

"Sweetheart," a 13-year-old terrier mix named Critter, appeared delighted to see her sitter.

Valentine's wary ears picked up a faint thump from beneath the cot and a little terrier mix appeared, wiggling as it scooted out.

She doesn't have to explain, for instance, why she got her dog, a 1-year-old terrier mix named Teddy, at Cosmetics Plus.

Estimated by the shelter's staff members to be a "Manchester terrier mix," it looked like a pointy-faced Chihuahua on stilts, a creature of indeterminate origin and yet-to-be-determined disposition.

A twice-abandoned "border terrier mix."

Millie P. Foster, who lives at 141st and Riverside and owns a terrier mix who she says is afraid of big dogs, said the fence there is too low.

The dog, a beige terrier mix, lived in Haddam, Conn., with his owner and trainer, William Berloni.