If every dog must have its day, one champion canine is about to have its year. By the end of Tuesday night, one of the more than 2,500 hounds, terriers, spaniels, setters and others that entered this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show will be crowned best in show.
Quick Read
- Canine Showcase at Westminster: Over 2,500 dogs, including hounds, terriers, and spaniels, compete for the top prize at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club dog show held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
- Diverse Finalists: Notable contenders include Comet the shih tzu, Sage the miniature poodle, Mercedes the German shepherd, and Louis the Afghan hound, each with unique traits and experienced handlers.
- Standout Competitors: Freddie the English springer spaniel, Monty the giant schnauzer, and Stache the Sealyham terrier, each bring distinctive qualities and histories to the semifinals, showcasing the diversity of breeds and characteristics.
- Breed and Group Competitions: Dogs first compete within their breed, then against others in their group category, such as ‘sporting’ for bird-hunters, with group winners advancing to the final round.
- No Monetary Prize: The best in show winner receives a trophy and a historical acknowledgment, but no cash reward.
- Contrasting Canines: The show features a striking contrast of breeds and sizes, from tiny Chihuahuas to massive Neapolitan mastiffs, emphasizing the variety and uniqueness of each breed.
- Handling Challenges: Handlers share insights on the complexities and joys of managing different breeds, from the spirited nature of giant schnauzers to the affectionate and comedic disposition of Sealyham terriers.
- Historic Agility Winner: For the first time, a mixed-breed dog, a border collie-papillon mix named Nimble, wins the agility competition, highlighting the show’s inclusivity and expansion beyond purebreds.
The Associated Press has the story:
Westminster dog show is a study in canine contrasts as top prize awaits
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP) —
If every dog must have its day, one champion canine is about to have its year. By the end of Tuesday night, one of the more than 2,500 hounds, terriers, spaniels, setters and others that entered this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show will be crowned best in show.
Will Comet the shih tzu streak to new heights after winning the big American Kennel Club National Championship last year? Or would a wise bet be Sage the miniature poodle or Mercedes the German shepherd, both guided by handlers who have won the big prize before?
What about Louis, the Afghan hound whose handler and co-owner says he lives up to his breed’s nickname as “the king of dogs”?
And that’s not all: Three more finalists are still to be chosen Tuesday evening before all seven face off in the final round of the United States’ most illustrious dog show. It’s being held in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
In an event where all competitors are champions in the sport’s point system, winning can depend on subtleties and a standout turn in the ring.
“You just have to hope that they put it all together” in front of the judge, said handler and co-breeder Robin Novack as her English springer spaniel, Freddie, headed for Tuesday’s semifinals after a first-round win.
Named for the late Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, the spaniel is currently the second-highest-ranked dog nationwide in The Canine Chronicle magazine’s statistics, and Novack was hopeful about his Westminster chances.
“He’s as good a dog as I can get my hands on, he’s in beautiful condition, and he loves to show,” Novack, of Milan, Illinois, reasoned as a sanguine-seeming Freddie awaited fresh grooming before it was game on again.
Dogs first compete against others of their breed. Then the winner of each breed goes up against others in its “group” — in Freddie’s case, “sporting” dogs, generally bird-hunters bred to work closely with people. The seven group winners meet in the final round.
The best in show winner gets a trophy and a place in dog-world history, but no cash prize.
Besides Freddie, other dogs in Tuesday’s semifinal group competitions include Monty, a giant schnauzer who is the nation’s top-ranked dog and was a Westminster finalist last year, and Stache, a Sealyham terrier. He won the National Dog Show that was televised on Thanksgiving and took top prize at a big terrier show in Pennsylvania last fall.
Monty is “a stallion” of a giant schnauzer, solid, powerful and “very spirited,” handler and co-owner Katie Bernardin of Chaplin, Connecticut, said after he won his breed Tuesday afternoon.
So “spirited” that while Bernardin was pregnant, she did obedience and other dog sports with Monty because he needed the stimulation.
While she loves giant schnauzers, “they’re not an easy breed,” she cautions would-be owners. But she adds that the driven dogs can be great to have “if you can put the time into it.”
A fraction of Monty’s size, Stache the Sealyham terrier showcases a rare breed that’s considered vulnerable to extinction even in its native Britain.
“They’re a little-known treasure,” said Stache’s co-owner, co-breeder and handler, Margery Good, who has bred “Sealys” for half a century. Originally developed in Wales to hunt badgers and other burrowing game, the terriers with a “fall” of hair over their eyes are courageous but comedic — Good dubs them “silly hams.”
“They’re very generous with their affection and their interest in pleasing you, rather than you being the one to please them,” said Good, of Cochranville, Pennsylvania.
Westminster can feel like a study in canine contrasts. Just walking around, a visitor could see a Chihuahua peering out of a carrying bag at a stocky Neapolitan mastiff, a ring full of honey-colored golden retrievers beside a lineup of stark-black giant schnauzers, and handlers with dogs far larger than themselves.
Shane Jichetti was one of them. Ralphie, the 175-pound (34-kg) great Dane she co-owns, outweighs her by a lot. It takes considerable experience to show so big an animal, but “if you have a bond with your dog, and you just go with it, it works out,” she said.
Plus Ralphie, for all his size, is “so chill,” said Jichetti. Playful at home on New York’s Staten Island, he’s spot-on — just like his harlequin-pattern coat — when it’s time to go in the ring.
“He’s just an honest dog,” Jichetti said.
The Westminster show, which dates to 1877, centers on the traditional purebred judging that leads to the best in show prize. But over the last decade, the club has added agility and obedience events open to mixed-breed dogs.
And this year, the agility competition counted its first non-purebred winner, a border collie-papillon mix named Nimble.
