Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
That the standard schnauzer used to be known as the “ratter” feels like something the schnauzers wouldn’t want people to broadcast on national television.
Readers, thank you SO MUCH for sending us all your dog photos at #nytdogshow. Here are a few more of our favorites:
Snack break anyone?
Apparently Samoyeds are “the happiest dogs on the planet,” Dr. Antkowiak says.
I’d LOVE to have the happiest dog on the planet, but there’s no way I could keep a white dog that white.
They smile to keep the drool from forming ice on their face? That does not seem that happy of a story.
That’s why I smile too.
Why is the back of this Portuguese water dog shaved? Looks like it’s not wearing pants. “It’s the dog best suited for Zoom calls,” Dr. Antkowiak says.
Like most people, I know the Portuguese water dog as “The Obama Dog” — and I’m so glad they never groomed theirs like this! That cold booty!
Everyone is saying the Neapolitan Mastiff is supposed to have tons of loose flapping skin, but no one is saying why. Why???
Just God’s vision, I guess.
The Leonberger is “comfortable performing virtually any job set before it.” OK, Leon — do my job. Write for the New York Times Style section.
Furball coming through.
We’ve been waiting all night for the Komondor, a cross between Rick James and a ’70s shag rug.
Dr. Antkowiak says he’s never seen a Komondor in real life — it may only exist for dog shows.
THIS IS MY FAVORITE DOG!
Komondor wins for being a Komondor. Pack it up, everyone.
I’m sorry, did they say we’re halfway through the working group? When I got this assignment I specifically asked “Isn’t that like 700 hours?” and was assured it was not. But we’ve gotten through 1.5 groups in the TWO HOURS I’ve been watching.
It is definitely 700 hours. And we were definitely deceived on this assignment.
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
The Boerboel, I think, and now the Alaskan Malamute just let out a few loud, low barks. It’s always strange hearing a bark at a show, since it’s always such a disciplined group.
OK, a dog tail fact from Dr. Antkowiak: Dogs cannot, in fact, wag their tails so much that they injure them. But! Dogs can get swimmer’s tail, when they wag their tail into an ocean wave and sprain the base of their tail and then it hurts to wag.
THE GREAT DANE HAS NO KNOWN CONNECTION TO DENMARK?!
That Great Dane looks kinda small to us here.
OK, so every single thing about it is a lie.
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
Several of the more fearsome working group dogs we are watching have big fans among the soccer stars of England’s Premier League. Our colleague Tariq Panja reported this year that after a spate of robberies at players’ homes on game days, more and more are bringing trained protection dogs into their families. Most then eagerly post photos of them on Instagram as a not-accidental warning: “I have a really big dog.”
The Irish red and white setter is getting lots of treats for Christmas this year.
Multiple handlers wearing beautiful light blue or periwinkle outfits in the working group tonight. They look fabulous against the judge’s orange ensemble. I’m getting a Cinderella’s fairy godmother vibe from a few of the looks.
The wild tailgating is winding down outside the venue.
Dr. Antkowiak says it appears that the boxer, Doberman and Great Dane in this group have all had their ears altered in surgery, an inhumane and cruel procedure to make the dogs look good just for these shows. Don’t cut your dog’s ears, people!
Jade, the German short-haired pointer that just won the sporting group, has great blood lines: She is the daughter of C.J., the pointer who won Best in Show in 2016 with the same handler, Valerie Nunes-Atkinson.
But it was a poignant victory for Nunes-Atkinson, too. Her beloved C.J. died in September after a sudden illness. His daughter Jade now has a chance to follow in his footsteps. “She’s a lot like him,” Nunes-Atkinson said.
I was going to say, I can’t believe Lisa Vanderpump from “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” got to do one of the voiceover segments — but I guess what else would she be doing? She was born to do exactly this.
If this show was testing skills dogs need in real life, we’d see a lot of sit, stay, don’t jump on the kids and stay in the house for eight hours without destroying things.
For these dogs, beauty is a full-time job.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Another vet question: If I took a dog’s joint health supplement, is it possible I would receive any benefits? I’d love to have joints like these dogs.
Dr. Antowiak says all supplements for pets are basically the same thing as those for humans, but with fewer federal regulations. “It’s a bit of a roll of the dice,” he says.
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
Reid, you will be pleased to know that we are about to interview the German short-haired pointer. Or at least the handler, but I’ll try and sneak in a question for the dog just for you.
Question for the doc: Have you ever treated a famous animal?
Dr. Antowiak says he once treated Tipper Gore’s Labrador after it got into rat poison at the Naval Observatory. He’s also seen Bob Dole’s dog, Soldier.
The Gores’ dog, of course, came with his own Secret Service agents.
Jade the German short-haired pointer wins the sporting group!
Did that dog owner just eat a dog treat?
It was chicken!
A judge just said Westminster is often the launching pad for dogs just starting out their careers. Where are they launching to if they’re starting from Westminster — Congress?!
My 4-year-old is calling out the sex of each dog. Which devolved into questions from the 7-year-old about how breeding works. Bedtime!
Dr. Antowiak also says that, unlike almost all of your house dogs, these show dogs are not spayed or neutered. Which means the intact males can be more aggressive.
Definitely a smaller crowd here in Tarrytown compared to last year at Madison Square Garden.
Dr. Antowiak says vizsla owners are kinda uptight, but I can report there are a lot of them in the dog park near my house.
“The Spinone is only for owners with a sense of humor” — WHAT?
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
Did a Spinone Italiano write that?
I was also confused by that. The personality? The hilarious wisecracks? The talent for memes?
The Sussex spaniel seems extremely cool. Low to the ground, apparently very happy-go-lucky, and looks like a big furry Tootsie Roll. I’d add it to my friend group.
Speaking of handlers, Justin and Cheslie Smithey are not only married, they also both won group competitions yesterday with Mathew, left, and Bourbon.
Andy, is there an explanation for why the handlers are all dressed up for a dinner party? They’re running in a circle with dogs.
Reid! You cannot be a winner in sneakers.
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
Dress for the title you want, Reid.
Apparently the English cocker spaniel is “considered a large dog in a small package,” per the breed bio. Are are any dogs considered a small dog in a large package?
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
The ASCOT in A.S.C.O.T. spaniel stands for Any Solid Color Other Than Black. But I have to think if you rolled up with a Tiffany blue one you’d get DQ’d.
Unbelievably disappointed this third type of cocker spaniel is “parti-color.” I was hoping for “party color,” of course. Glitter spaniel!
I really want a behind-the-scenes styling tutorial. Are flat irons used? Round brushes? How do they make the flowing locks happen?
Am I jealous? Why, yes.
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
The devices and implements and machines you see backstage at a dog show would curl your hair, Lisa. Literally, in some cases. Last year I stood, mesmerized, for five minutes watching someone blow dry an immensely furry dog with a Shop-Vac.
Dr. Antkowiak says that cocker spaniels are the breeds most likely to require pet insurance.
The sweetest and best-behaved dog my family ever had was a black senior cocker spaniel mix we adopted from our local humane society. We named him Jo-jo because my mom liked the “Joe Cocker” pun.
Reporting from the show in Tarrytown, N.Y.
If you’re wondering why no one is wearing masks in the tent, it’s because you had to provide proof of vaccination to attend the show this year. Once that was supplied, masks were optional. But at least two handlers have theirs on.
Question for our vet: If we eliminate shelter dogs with unknown parentage, what breed of dog has the most pleasant owners?
He says that dogs tend to match their owners. Owners with food allergies tend to have dogs with food allergies. The friendlier the dog usually comes with the friendlier owners.
“Golden retriever owners are usually the best, but you might not want to marry them. French bulldog owners can be high maintenance.”
Incredible gossip! That explains why my childhood dog Gizmo loved taking baths and hated … other activity of any kind. I guess he was also allergic to amoxicillin but, just like with me, it never really came up.
We’ve brought in an outside expert for dog show commentary: Dr. Matthew Antkowiak, the owner of AtlasVet in Washington and the veterinarian for my dog, Nellie. He’s here to help us navigate tonight’s festivities and will give us a heads up if any of these dogs are injured — so long as Nellie stops licking his face.
We asked on Twitter for dog photos, and you answered. Here are a few of our favorites that came in via #nytdogshow, like Buster, a fellow New York Times dog:
Archie, a Labrador ready to go swimming:
Autumn, a Llewellin setter enjoying the mountains:
Charlie, a way-too-small toy poodle:
And Pepper, a very tall dog owned by our friends at The Washington Post:
Hugs from tall dogs, flyaway hairballs, a mastiff’s mug and a convenient place to keep a comb: Here are scenes from the daytime competitions that led to tonight’s prime-time finale.
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Welcome to our live coverage of the final night of the Westminster Dog Show, the night when they separate the dogs from, well, the other dogs.
There are four new breeds at the show this year and three new voices in our coverage: Lisa Lerer and Reid Epstein from the New York Times politics team, who are well versed in preening showboats, and Caity Weaver, whose last article was about the website for the 1996 movie “Space Jam,” which makes her an honorary sportswriter. But she writes for Styles, and if there’s anything we’ll need tonight, it’s a bit of style.
Thousands of dogs compete against others from their breed: collie against collie, Saluki against Saluki. The 200 or so breed winners advance to compete against similar breeds in the group finals. The seven group winners then vie for the big prize: Best in Show, this year to be judged by Patricia Craige Trotter of Carmel, Calif. The decision is hers and hers alone.
The hounds are hunting dogs and include beagles and whippets. (Saturday’s winner: Bourbon, a whippet.)
The toys are small lap dogs like Shih Tzus and pugs. (Saturday’s winner: Wasabi, a Pekingese.)
The nonsporting group might well be called the miscellaneous group. It includes dogs that don’t fit elsewhere like Dalmatians and chow chows. (Saturday’s winner: Mathew, a French bulldog.)
The herding group was bred to herd and includes German shepherds and Border collies. (Saturday’s winner: Connor, an Old English sheepdog.)
The sporting dogs are retrievers and include Irish setters and various spaniels. (Winner chosen tonight.)
The working group consists of dogs bred to perform a task and includes Great Danes and Doberman pinschers. (Winner chosen tonight.)
The terriers include a host of varieties including fox terriers, Border terriers and many others. (Winner chosen tonight.)
This video from the American Kennel Club describes a typical dog show process in more detail:
More than 200 breeds are recognized by the American Kennel Club and are therefore eligible for the Westminster show. The four new entrants in 2021 are:
The barbet, a curly haired bearded dog;
the Belgian Laekenois, a shaggier shepherd;
the Biewer terrier, a longhaired, three-colored toy terrier;
and the Dogo Argentino, a white muscular dog with a smooth coat.
Here’s this year’s barbet competition:
The Belgian Laekenois round:
And the Biewer terrier judging:
For the first time, Westminster is being held at Lyndhurst, the Gothic Revival mansion and estate in Tarrytown, N.Y., once owned by the robber baron Jay Gould. Gould and his family loved dogs, though probably not having them hang out in tents and cars all over their lawn. Oh well. That’s what we have.
Handicapping a dog show field is a bit harder than picking the winner of the fourth race at Belmont. It is commonly said that terriers are the best bet, and the wire fox terrier does have the most wins, with 15. But terriers have won only two of the last 10 Westminsters, so prediction is difficult.
There may even be terrier fatigue: When King, a wire fox terrier, won best in show honors in 2019, not everyone was thrilled. “Boos and grumbles filled Madison Square Garden when the judge handed King the coveted pewter cup,” The New York Times wrote then.
There are show favorites and crowd favorites, and those are not always the same breeds. Golden retrievers and Labradors, for example, are two of the most popular dog breeds in the United States, but neither has ever won best in show at Westminster.
“If you had a popularity contest, we would win,” Christine Miele, the Eastern vice president of the Golden Retriever Club of America, told The Times in 2019.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
There will be a whippet named Bourbon and a Pekingese named Wasabi. A French bulldog named Mathew — wait, shouldn’t that be Mathieu? — won the nonsporting group, and an Old English Sheepdog called Connor was judged the best of the herding entries. (He also looked big enough to eat a couple of rivals if the result had not gone his way.)
The nation’s top dogs are getting a weekend in the country.
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has been a midwinter tradition in New York City for more than a century, but this year the event moved from Madison Square Garden, its longtime home, to Lyndhurst, a riverside estate in Tarrytown, N.Y., north of the city, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The change to a warm-weather, outdoor show was necessary, organizers said, to ensure the event could take place and still comply with the “ever-changing government restrictions” brought on by the health crisis. The Lyndhurst grounds have a long history as the host of dog shows, including dozens of events run by the Westchester Kennel Club.
The Lyndhurst estate, once owned by the robber baron Jay Gould, is now maintained by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The vast collection of antique furniture inside its iconic Gothic Revival mansion will, presumably, remain off-limits, even to champions.
The change in venue, which was made possible when two other shows agreed to surrender the June dates, allowed the Westminster show to extend a continuous run that dates to 1877, and includes 100 years of shows at various iterations of Madison Square Garden. Only the Kentucky Derby, which was first run in 1875 and crowns a horse, not a dog, as its champion, has had a longer run among American sporting events.
Here’s a look at the setup for this weekend:
You’re in the right place: The New York Times will have live commentary from our, uh, experts, beginning tonight at 7:30 Eastern time.
But you’re probably wondering if you can catch the dogs on TV. There is a “pre-show” at 7 p.m. on Fox, followed by coverage of the actual event beginning at 7:30. First, there will be three group finals, for the sporting, working and terrier groups.
Then, the winners of those groups will join four other group winners — from the hound, toy, non-sporting and herding groups — to compete for Best in Show. The big winner will probably be announced toward the end of the broadcast at 11 p.m.
Fox will also stream the event in its Fox Now and Fox Sports apps.
You can also watch highlights from this weekend’s agility championships:
Those hoping to attend the competition in person are out of luck this year: Spectators not directly involved with a competing dog are prohibited because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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