Westminster – Something Old, Something New

By Pilar Kuhn

photos by Lisa Croft-Elliott

It’s been a little over a week since the “Super Bowl of Dog Shows” concluded. The Westminster Kennel Club’s 137th dog show embarked on a banner year with some major changes. The most newsworthy change involved the daytime locations away from Madison Square Garden. Having spent this year watching from afar thanks to the live streaming video, I had some of my own observations about this year’s changes and also gathered feedback from fellow colleagues.

You may have heard in the “Ringside With Pilar” podcast with Tom Bradley that the decision to move the breed classes to Piers 92 and 94 stemmed from the necessity for more event space. Westminster used to be an “open” show allowing entries working toward their championships, but due to space limitations over the years at Madison Square Garden, the club transitioned to a show only for champions. With the “open show” entries and this new daytime location, all of “Westminster Nation” waited to see how the piers would morph from a bare slab of concrete and rafters to the prestigious event space that we all knew and loved at the Garden. The pictures posted The Canine Chronicle’s online home at www.caninechronicle.com proved the show committee succeeded. Ample purple and green carpet, large rings, abundant benching space and walls decorated with the Westminster logo created a gorgeous environment that riveted viewers from around the world for two solid days.

The new asset of live streaming video from all the breed rings proved invaluable for spectators and handlers. One roaming camera and twelve individual ring cameras kept us entertained at home watching as many breeds as we could. We employed a laptop, an iPad and two iPhones and could quickly shift focus from one ring to another. The handlers obviously had to walk or run from one location to the other, but the live streaming app helped them and their assistants monitor the multiple rings from ringside and also from the benching area. I heard one story that a nervous owner kept an eye on her handler in a different ring in hopes of her making the ring time for her own dog. Unfortunately for her, her handler was stuck in another ring, but thanks to the app, she was able to see the events play out and it was no surprise when the assistant showed up to handle her dog. Multiple conversations about this year’s addition of the live streaming confirmed that it enhanced the Westminster experience for everyone near and far.

One significant change from this past year affected many more entrants. The highly regarded Westminster Award of Merit was discarded this year in favor of the Select award for Grand Championship points. Several exhibitors commented that some breeds had strong representations of one sex over the other, but without Awards of Merit, judges could not recognize the strong and very deserving entries. Some speculated that changing to an “open” show format required the kennel club to limit the awards to Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex, Select Dog and Select Bitch. However, other large shows like the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship, now an “open” show format, as well as national specialties continue give out Awards of Merit in addition to Selects based on entry size. In previous years, a Westminster Award of Merit would warrant advertising because of the prestige of recognition at this grand show. I think exhibitors would prefer to have them return, but I’m sure when the Westminster team reviews this year’s successes and ways to improve, the Awards of Merit topic will be on that list to discuss.

All in all, it was an exciting year with all the changes. The Old English Sheepdog Bugaboo’s Picture Perfect aka “Swagger” and breeder-owner-handler Colton Johnson won Best of Breed from the Bred-By Exhibitor class and then went on to win the Herding Group on Monday night and Reserve Best In Show on Tuesday night. Swagger would not have had this opportunity if the show had been for champions only. And when the Affenpinscher GCh. Banana Joe V Tani Kazari aka“Joey” handled by Ernesto Lara was awarded Best In Show, we fondly closed the memory books on the 137th Westminster Kennel Club. The bask of the win will forever hang over Joey’s owner Mrs. Tina Truesdale and his co-owner and breeder Mrs. Mieke Cooijmans. No rest for Ernesto, though, who’s already back to work exhibiting at local dog shows. And the rest of us will continue to show and strive to be a part of history at the 138th Westminster Kennel Club.

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Posted by admin on Feb 22 2013. 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.