Everything You Always Wanted to Know
about America’s Dog Show – Westminster
In Color and In Person!
The colors
of the
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show are luscious grape-purple and sparkly gold
on a backdrop of a rich green carpet. Westminster is a TV staple, a seemingly
out-of-reach dog show where, yes! you can walk in off the street and, luck
permitting, sit in a chair on the floor and theoretically even reach out and
touch the competing dogs in the ring (a faux pas – but you CAN go ‘backstage’
and meet them with their owners’ permission – champions all!)
And did you
know that the lights of the Empire State Building shine Westminster purple and
gold during America’s Dog Show, this year on Sunday?
You’ve watched it
on TV. This year is the year to attend in person. It’s nearby – in New York
City AND Monday is a federal holiday, so you have no excuse! Here is all the
information you need to have a grand time at America’s Dog Show! I take
the train because Penn Station allows me to walk to the evening dog show at
Madison Square Garden without even going outside!
Facts and Facts from Before
Last
year, Sky, a Wire Fox Terrier, was declared America’s Dog, winning over approximately
2500 dogs in two days in New York City and on TV. The excitement was electric.
The 2500 dogs competed in 7 rings, 7 groups, breed by breed. Group Finals were
held each evening with winners from the day shows, and the final final was
composed of one representative of each of the seven groups of dogs (Toy,
Terrier, Working, Sporting, Non-Sporting, Herding and Hound).
Dogs are judged, not against each
other, but against the written standard for their breed.
2015 Facts
Who: All the dogs entered are champions
as of 31 October. The top five dogs of each breed receive an automatic
‘pre-invite invitation’ if their people choose to enter them. Other champions
vie for the remaining of the approximately 2500 places by submitting an
application during November and December of the previous year.
Highly
populated (and popular) breed classes this year include 56 Labs, 58 Goldens, 43
Aussies (Australian Shepherds), 41 Frenchies (French Bulldogs), 38 Rhodesian
Ridgebacks and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and 33 Rottweilers, just to
mention a few. Only one White Bull Terrier and only only Norwegian Lundehund
are entered. The entry fee for dogs is very affordable and no fee is required
for this year’s 88 junior handlers to compete although they must accumulate a
certain number of wins prior to the show and be under a certain age.
Most of the dogs are American but
this year you will also see champions competing from 48 states (none from Idaho
or North Dakota), the District of Columbia, Canada, and 13 other foreign
countries.
What: The 139th
annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the second longest continuously
held sporting event in this country, just one year behind the Kentucky Derby
(since 1877 – before even I was born!). A two-day event in New York City that
is televised every year.
Where:
Madison Square Garden, New York City (Penn Plaza, 7th and 8th Avenues, 31st to
33rd Streets), across from the Hotel Pennsylvania. Day tickets at The Piers are
less than $30 and evening tickets are $40 or $55. You may even see someone
famous (Bill Cosby and Lauren Bacall have attended in the past.) Some years the
event sells out.
When:
February 16 and 17, 2015 (always the ‘week’ of Valentine’s Day), 8 am to 11 pm.
Hounds, Toys, Non-Sporting and Herding dogs (and junior showmanship) will be
shown Monday 9 am to 6 pm at Piers 92 and 94) with their group finals Monday
night at 8.
Sporting, Working, and Terriers are
shown Tuesday with their groups Tuesday night as well as the finals for Best in
Show on Tuesday night beginning at 8, preceded by the Junior Handling Finals
from the afternoon sessions.
Make a week of it! There are related
events starting the previous Friday and dog shows the weekend before, a
reception at the AKC (American Kennel Club) Office Sunday afternoon, awards
banquets galore, seminars, and celebration breakfasts the day after, as well as
champion tours of the morning TV shows. And this year – the second Westminster
Agility competition was Saturday with 330 dogs and their handlers competing as
a team, including mixed breeds.
Red Carpet Treatment on a Green Carpet (and Purple, of course)
Watch live streaming video on the Westminster
Kennel Club website and on the Westminster App, and social media. Monday
and Tuesday’s competitions will also be shown live on CNBC and the USA Network
during the day, as well as 8-11 pm each evening (Monday on CNBC and Tuesday on
USA Network).
Why: Why
not? It’s close by and an event you will always remember. You’ve seen it on TV,
now catch it in person.
How:
Take the train for a comfortable, elegant, quiet, unrushed, scenic ride into
yesteryear and arrive relaxed. Come just for the day or the week. Call Amtrak
at 1-800-AMTRAK or visit www.amtrak.com for rates and schedules. If your train
stops at Penn Station (trains from the south), where Westminster is located,
you don’t even have to venture outside!
Details:
General admission tickets will cost less than 30$ for one day or at little as
$40 for an evening session (see www.westminsterkennelclub.org for much more
information). And fortunately there is a huge TV-type screen that can be
easily seen way up in the rafters during the evening shows. Since the event is
sold out some years, you should plan ahead.
Breeds, Colors, Sizes, Varieties, . . . . 192 Breeds and Varieties in
2015
Some breeds have specialized classes
for each variety. For example, black cocker spaniels are shown in a different
class than parti-colored ones with a third cocker class, my favorite, being
ASCOB (Any Solid Color Other than Black). On the other hand, black labs and
yellow labs and chocolate labs all compete together.
New breeds this year include the
Coton de Tulear and the Wirehaired Vizsla, in the Non-sporting and Sporting
Groups, respectively.
So, a lab would compete against all
colors of labs but a cocker competes only against cockers of the same color.
Hmmmmm. . . . And I often wonder why our country’s favorite dog for years, the
lab, has never won Best in Show. . . .
Benching
Westminster is one of the last
benched dog shows in America. That means that dogs showing on Monday are required
to be there all day, in the back, even when not competing. You can go
‘backstage’ and speak with the owners, breeders, and handlers, watch the dogs
being groomed, and shop, shop, shop. However, it is very crowded and similar to
the crowds during the holiday shopping season, winter coats and all.
Shopping
Ah, shopping! ‘Backstage’ at
Westminster you can find leashes, books, jewelry, new gadgets galore. In the
Hotel Pennsylvania and next door are even more vendors with canine first aid
kits, T-shirts, artwork and demonstrations of Search and Rescue and agility.
Plenty to do across the street! You can even mingle in the lobby as ‘dogs and
their people’ check in Sunday afternoon at 3 and meet the hotel’s doggy
concierge.
The required
Westminster souvenir is the guidebook which you can’t do without (for only
$20) but you can also pick up a poster, notecards, a print and DVD to watch
over and over again. The catalog is $25 and allows you to keep score.
Judging
Word has it that the Best in Show
(BIS) (the champion of champions) judge is selected a couple of years in
advance and sworn to secrecy, his or her name revealed only six months before
the show. During the preliminary two days of judging, this judge is sequestered
backstage so when the finals begin, the BIS judge is as unbiased as possible.
This year, that person is the Hon. David C. Merriam, originally a Bull Terrier
person, of Bonsall, California.
Sensation – A Sensation!
Sensation, a Pointer, is the mascot
of the Westminster Dog Show and appeared on the cover of the show catalog from
1936 through 1979. From 1980-1982, a head study of Sensation was selected for
the cover, but in 1983 a foil embossed version of the full body engraving
appeared on the cover and has been there ever since.
Charities
Veterinary school scholarships are
presented Tuesday night and other charities are supported by the Westminster
Kennel Club, including (in the past) the AKC Museum of the Dog,
Take The Lead, the Animal Medical Center
of NYC, the ASPCA, Angel On A Leash, Greyhound Friends, and
Guide Dog Foundation For The Blind.
Two New Breeds
Two newly
recognized dog breeds will be shown for the first time this year.
But, Only One Westminster
There is only one Westminster! Be
there in person this year!
________________________________________________
You’ve seen
it on TV, now come see it in person!
Read More: a series of six articles from 2014 here (and photo credit)
