by NEW YORK (AP) – The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is back for a 149th year – and back for the first time since the beginning of 2020 in Madison Square Garden in New York.
It is a happy returning home for the most prestigious dog event in the United States, which has moved to locations outside Manhattan in recent years because of the Coronavirus Pandemie and then other considerations. But organizers longed to return to the most famous arena in the world.
“If you love dogs and you want to see that the very best dogs from all over the world compete for the main prize of Best in Show in Westminster, just be there,” said Club President Donald Sturz. For fans who cannot be there, FOX Sports shows the various components of the event on FS1 and FS2 and he streams some on the website and app of the network; Westminster streams some others. The competition includes Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, with Best in Show awarded around 11 p.m. Tuesday on the Oostkust.
Would Mercedes, the German shepherd who were in second place in Westminster last year, will be top dog this time? Or could this be the year for Monty de Gigantic Schnauzer, who has been a finalist of Westminster for the past two years, won the big show of the American Kennel Club in December and is the top of the sport of sport? Does the price go to another high-ranking dog or a dark horse?
Here are the basic principles about Westminster and The Dog Show World that embodies it.
When is Westminster?
It starts on Saturday morning in the Javits Center Convention Hall with Agility and Obedience Championships and some demonstration events, including the first experiment in Westminster with Flyball. That is essentially a race with dog relay in which a course jumps is run and pick up a ball.
The traditional assessment of race per race-what folk “conformation” calls itself on Monday and Tuesday. The first round competition, where dogs are rated against others of their race, happens during the day in the Javits Center. Then, in what is essentially semi -finals, every race winner is assessed against others within his “group” of dozens of races in Madison Square Garden in the evening. In the final round, the seven group winners compete on Tuesday evening to Best in Show.
At every level, judges decide which dog in the ring best matches the ideal or ‘standard’ for its own breed.
How many dogs?
About 2500 dogs of 201 breeds and varieties (subsets of breeds) have been registered for competing.
Coming from every American state and 12 other countries, participants include famous varieties as golden retrievers and such rarity as Sloughis. But no doodles. For the time being, those poodle mixes are not recognized at least as rasjong by the American Kennel Club, the administrative body for Westminster and many other American dog shows.
Deckshunds are the best represented breed, introduced with 52.
The agility and obedience competitions include a few hundred dogs, including mixed breed. Last year a Border Collie-Papillion combination called Nimble was the first winner of mixed breed in the ten-year history of the Agility Trial.
How do dogs get to the show?
Firstly, breeders determine which puppies are physically and temperamental to show. Those puppies are brought up, trained and cared for to bring their best leg to the show ring. “Beginner Puppies” can start competing in AKC shows after 4 months.
Some owners show their own dogs wherever and when they can. Others have professional handlers who cross the country to compete most weekends, sometimes with several dogs.
Trying for a national ranking is known as a “campaign” a dog and no wonder. Just like in politics, here, here, here, can collect their owners and handler intele about the plans of rivals and find or avoid a face-off. They can weigh the record of a certain court. Some even walk advertisements on full pages in dog magazines to congratulate, greet and promote their animals.
Are there favorites?
All Westminster dogs are champions, as measured by the complicated point system of their sport. But yes, there are statistics, stored by the Canine Chronicle Magazine.
In addition to Monty and Mercedes, participants in Vito, a PUG who won the National Dog Show on Television -Tankgiving Day, together with 2024 Westminster Semifinalists Comet The Shih Tzu and Louis de Afghan Hound. There is a high -ranking Otterhound, who represents one of the rarer breeds of the country, and a large winning wire Fox Terrier, whose breed won more than all others in Westminster.
Yet show Cognoscenti often says that the victory is ‘the dog on the day’, which means that the person who has the performance of your life.
And regardless of which dog the judge chooses, others sometimes win the heart of the audience. Under the crowd has been buried over the years: a Sussex spaniel that sat up on his hind legs; A treaty sake of Leonberger who gnawed at the bag of his handler while he went around the ring; And a Shiba Inu shown by a 10-year-old girl.
Which varieties win the most?
Wire Fox Terriers have taken the first prize 15 times, the most recently in 2019. Poodles of different sizes have 11 wins. A miniature poodle called Sage won last year.
Many breeds have not yet won, including favorites such as the French Bulldog and Labrador Retriever. But never say: two of the last three winners have been a first for their breeds: the Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen and the Bloedhond.
What do winners get?
Bragging rights, ribbons and trophies. There are no cash prizes, although the winners of agility and obedience can each lead a donation of $ 5,000 in Westminster to a training club or the American Kennel Club Humane Fund.
Ok, it’s prestigious, but are there no protests?
Animal rights activists are routinely protesting outside, and sometimes inside, the show. During the last round of last year, someone with a plate with the text “Boycott Breeders” tried to climb the ring. The demonstrator was quickly intercepted and arrested.
The Westminster Club says that it promotes responsible dog ownership and celebrates all fangs and at the same time emphasizes the “preservation” of varieties with certain properties.
