NEW YORK — If every dog needs to have its day, a champion canine is about to have its year.
By the end of Tuesday night, one of the more than 2,500 hunting dogs, terriers, spaniels, setters and others who participated in this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show will be crowned best in show.
Will Comet the shih tzu reach 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 trainers who have won the grand prize before?
And what about Louis, the Afghan hound whose trainer and co-owner says he lives up to his breed’s nickname “the king of dogs”?
And that’s not all: Three more finalists will be chosen on Tuesday night, before all seven face off in the final round of America’s most illustrious dog show. The event will be held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the US Open tennis tournament.
In an event where all competitors are champions in the sport’s scoring system, victory can depend on finesse and a standout turn in the ring.
“You just have to hope they put it all together” in front of the judge, said trainer and co-breeder Robin Novack as his English springer spaniel, Freddie, headed into Tuesday’s semifinals after a first-round win.
Named after the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, the spaniel is currently the second-highest-ranked dog in the entire country in statistics from The Canine Chronicle magazine, and Novack was hopeful about his chances at Westminster.
“He’s the best dog I can find, he’s in great condition and he loves to show off,” argued Novack, of Milan, Illinois, as an upbeat-looking Freddie awaited further care before the game began again.
Dogs compete first against others of their breed. Then the winner of each breed faces others from their “pack” – in Freddie’s case, “sporting” dogs, usually bird hunters bred to work closely with people. The seven group winners face each other in the final round.
The best winner of the show gets a trophy and a place in the history of the dog world, but no cash prize.
In addition to Freddie, other dogs in Tuesday’s semi-final group competitions include Monty, a giant schnauzer who is the country’s top-ranked dog and was a Westminster finalist last year, and Stache, a Sealyham terrier. He won the National Dog Show, which was televised on Thanksgiving Day, and took the top prize at a big terrier show in Pennsylvania last fall.
Monty is “a stud” of a giant schnauzer, solid, powerful and “very spirited,” said trainer and co-owner Katie Bernardin of Chaplin, Connecticut, after winning his breed Tuesday afternoon.
So “spirited” that while Bernardin was pregnant, she practiced obedience and other dog sports with Monty because he needed stimulation.
Although she loves giant schnauzers, “they are not an easy breed,” she warns prospective owners. But she adds that it can be great to have dogs led “if you put the time into it.”
A fraction of Monty’s size, Stache the Sealyham terrier presents a rare breed that is considered vulnerable to extinction, even in his native Britain.
“They are a little-known treasure,” said Stache co-owner, co-breeder and handler Margery Good, who has been breeding “Sealys” for half a century. Originally developed in Wales to hunt badgers and other burrowing animals, terriers with a “fall” of fur over their eyes are brave but comical – Good calls them “silly hams”.
“They are very generous with their affection and interest in pleasing you, rather than you being the one to please them,” said Good, of Cochranville, Pennsylvania.
Westminster can seem like a study in canine contrasts. Just walking around, a visitor could see a chihuahua peering out of a carrier bag at a stocky Neapolitan mastiff, a circle full of honey-colored golden retrievers next to a line of giant black schnauzers, and handlers with dogs much larger than themselves.
Shane Jichetti was one of them. Ralphie, the 80-pound Great Dane she co-owns, far outweighs her. It takes a lot of experience to show such a large animal, but “if you have a bond with your dog and just go along with it, it works,” she said.
Plus, Ralphie, despite his size, is “so calm,” Jichetti said. Playful at home in Staten Island, New York, he’s straight-laced—just like his harlequin-print coat—when it’s time to step into the ring.
“He’s just an honest dog,” Jichetti said.
The Westminster show, which dates back to 1877, focuses on the traditional purebred judging that leads to the best in show award. But in the last decade, the club has added agility and obedience events open to mixed breed dogs.
And this year, the agility competition featured its first non-purebred winner, a border collie-papillon mix named Nimble.
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