Dog Show 101: What’s on at the Westminster Kennel Club

NEW YORK — To the casual spectator, competing in the Westminster Kennel Club dog show may seem very simple: get a dog. Prepare it. Make a pose. Drive it around a ring.

But there is much more involved in reaching the pinnacle of dog eventing in the US, now in its 148th year. It’s a challenging year for the kennel club: The program’s president died last fall and a judge was charged in March with possession of child sexual abuse materials.

Here are the ins and outs of Westminster, which kicked off Saturday with an agility competition at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York:

More than 2,500 dogs from 200 different breeds and varieties, which are subsets of breeds, signed up to try for the best in show trophy to be awarded on Tuesday night.

Hailing from every U.S. state and country, from Chile to Thailand, the line includes familiar breeds like French bulldogs and Labradors, rarities like Azawakhs and Norwegian Lundehunds, and a newcomer, the Lancashire heeler. Chihuahuas are the most represented breed this year, with 49 entries.

Two of last year’s seven semifinalists are expected back: Trouble, an American Staffordshire terrier, and Monty, a giant schnauzer, who is currently the country’s top-ranked dog in statistics from The Canine Chronicle magazine.

Also participating were Comet, a Shih Tzu who won the big American Kennel Club National Championship show in December, and Stache, a Sealyham terrier who won the National Dog Show that was televised on Thanksgiving Day.

Then there’s Zaida, an Afghan Hound who just won last month’s World Dog Show in Croatia. Other winning contestants include a German shepherd named Mercedes and an otter named Melody.

Westminster’s agility and obedience competitions on Saturday involved another few hundred dogs, including some mixed breeds.

All dogs are champions, which means they have accumulated a certain amount of points in the sport’s complicated system.

The process of becoming a show dog begins when breeders determine which puppies are physically and temperamentally suited for what is known as a “conformation” competition.

Some owners show their own dogs. Other canines have professional trainers who crisscross the country to compete most weekends. They can gather information about rivals’ schedules and reflect on judges’ previous choices. Some owners even take out full-page ads in dog publications to salute and promote their animals.

“Conformation” dogs first face others of their breed, which can sometimes include dozens of others, sometimes few or none at all. The winner of each breed moves on to a semi-final round of judging against others in a group of dozens of breeds. In the final round, the seven group winners compete for best show.

Judges decide which dog best matches the ideal, or “standard,” for their breed. For example, a herding dog may need proportions that allow for tight turns, while some dogs may require thick paw pads for rough terrain.

Judges do practical exams and watch the dogs move. The distinctions can be very subtle. People from the program often say that the victory can go to “the dog of the day”, that is, the one who has the performance of his life.

“In Westminster, all the big dogs are in the same place for the only time this year,” said dog expert David Frei, who has hosted the Westminster broadcast for decades. will have to face its biggest competitor.”

Bragging rights and trophies are on the line. There are no cash prizes, although agility and obedience winners can direct a $5,000 donation to a training club or the American Kennel Club Humane Fund.

Wire fox terriers have won the top prize 15 times, most recently in 2019. Poodles of various sizes have won 10 times.

Many breeds have yet to triumph, including favorites like the Labrador retriever. But a petit basset griffon Vendéen topped the show for the first time last year, as did a hunting dog in 2022.

All of the winners of the recently added agility and obedience competitions were also purebreds. But there is a special agility award every year for the best mix, called the “all-American dog” in show parlance.

Westminster has long faced protests from animal rights activists who see the competition as a deplorable canine beauty contest that fuels fashionable dog buying and reckless breeding. The club routinely counters that it celebrates all dogs, while also highlighting the “preservation” of breeds with specific characteristics.

But this year’s event comes as the U.S. dog show world faces an unexpected and painful reckoning.

Adam Stafford King, a suburban Chicago veterinarian and Havanese breeder who was supposed to judge some toy breeds at Westminster, was arrested in March on federal charges of distributing photos and videos of child sexual abuse to an online contact. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

His attorney, Jonathan Bedi, did not respond to an Associated Press inquiry but told Chicago media in April that King was wrongly accused.

Shortly after King’s arrest, the American Kennel Club, which is essentially the governing body for Westminster and thousands of other dog competitions in the US, revoked his judging privileges and his appointment to Westminster was canceled.

Although King’s alleged crimes did not occur at dog shows, the case helped reveal arguments that have raged quietly for years about whether the AKC has done enough to protect children who compete and learn as trainers. A Business Insider investigation in April found that four show business professionals have been convicted since 2008 of crimes against children, some of them at dog events.

The AKC began requiring its field representatives and registered coaches to complete an abuse prevention program in 2021. The club recently switched to a different program and last month extended the requirement to judges, coaches and some others, covering about 20,000 people, spokeswoman Brandi Hunter Munden said.

On Thursday, the club approved a policy that could make it easier to break ties with people, particularly regarding conduct outside of dog shows. The policy requires discipline, which may include a lifetime suspension, for anyone convicted of a crime or involved in sexual crimes, harassment or any conduct that endangers the well-being of another person or harms the club, among other offenses.

“Our goal is not just to protect the young people in our sport, it is to protect all individuals,” she said. “We want this sport to be safe, inclusive and family-friendly.”