Morris & Essex 2025 – A True Celebration of the Sport

By Amy Fernandez

Photo From Morris & Essex Kennel Club

Quite likely, Morris and Essex was a minor blip on the radar when it debuted in 1927. There was a lot of breaking news crowding out any developments within the sport. For instance, Charles Lindbergh successfully completed the first transatlantic flight; the legendary trial of Sacco and Vanzetti competed with multiple other horrors like the Mississippi flood, which killed over 500 people, and the rise of Stalin. Mainstream attention vied between the first actual “talking” picture and Babe Ruth breaking records. Dog biz of any sort was not a headliner.

But in this case, it didn’t last long. You might say that Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to create her own vision of the greatest dog show. AKC was still playing catch up as far as creating rules and regulations so they didn’t have much say in the matter. On top of that, Dodge could easily run rings around their finest dog show efforts, which partly explained her motivation to teach them how to do it. In the process, she broke all their vague “gentlemen’s agreement” type rules.

She personally decided which breeds were invited and it was hard to see the logic of her inclusions and exclusions. Simple reason, it was her party. She also handpicked the judges and they were invariably the most renowned experts in each invited breed because hey, money was no object. The 1927 panel featured Enno Meyer, Herbert Mellenthin, Alf Delmont, and Mrs. Belmont. Impressive as it was, the first year’s judging panel was nothing compared to what was to come.

So, May 28, 1927, launched this quiet corner of New Jersey right to global fame. As reported by The Times, “The newly organized Morris and Essex Kennel Club will conduct its first dog show on May 28 on the estate of Mr. and Mrs. M. Hartley Dodge in Madison, N.J. Eighteen of the leading breeds will be on exhibition in the show. Several prizes will be offered at the event, including a valuable sterling trophy donated by P. A. Rockefeller to the best dog in the show.” The trophies and cash prizes were newsworthy in themselves. In reality, everything about the show made news. And the 400+ dogs of 1927 was just a start point. Those numbers soon expanded to the thousands — at a time when most US shows couldn’t touch that dial.

The actual Great Depression wouldn’t hit this country for another couple years, but America was a very rigidly class-based system by any measure. And this part of the story was hard to overlook. For instance, every Bedlington entry featured a Guggenheim. But Mrs. Dodge had other ideas. Everyone was welcome, no social cachet required. For the price of a train ticket, dog lovers from every sector could and did experience the white-gloved waiters, the china and linen table service, and the breathtaking estate.

It was the ultimate example of “build it and they will come.” As The Times reported after the 1949 show, “The national nature of the event was reflected in two instances — in the catalogue addresses of exhibitors and in the license plates of automobiles. A partial check of the hundreds of cars produced plates from thirty states. Then the Checker stopped counting.”  They also stopped counting the gate when it surpassed 20,000 that year. They didn’t mention the sizable international crowd attending by that time.

Everyone was treated as an important guest, and possibly this was an early peek into her stunning decision to chuck the whole thing and devote herself to caring for stray dogs. As she explained to The Times on October 12, 1958, “While show dogs usually live a good life, there are thousands less fortunate and in desperate need of help from those who can and will give it. To this unhappy segment of dogdom, I now give top priority of my time and strength.” By then, Dodge needed a fulltime year-round staff for show planning.

Although her interest in the show waned, she had truly built something enduring because here we are, in 2025, and yes it’s time for Morris and Essex.

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Posted by Liz on Sep 29 2025. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.