Winthrop Rutherfurd and his Unparalleled Westminster Record
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By Amy Fernandez
There’s no getting around the fact that dog people are absolutely fascinating. The nature of this sport pretty well weeds out all of the rigid conventionalists. Let’s face it; this is no place for anyone dedicated to straightforward, predictable outcomes. Competitive conformation is endlessly complicated and ever-changing in one way or another. Those who are attracted to the game and choose to stick around and ultimately succeed; well, you know that the rest of their life is bound to be a bit off-center.
Here’s a classic example.
Winthrop Rutherfurd was so famous and successful in Fox Terriers that, from our perspective, it totally dominates his legend. Really, what else in life could rival winning Westminster three times in a row? It’s hard to imagine any comparable sports-related achievement, never mind wondering if this person does anything interesting in their spare time. That’s too bad because this was one singularly interesting guy. For starters, the purebred competition was Rutherfurd’s leisure time pursuit. A blueblood among bluebloods, he traced his pedigree back to Peter Stuyvesant and the Founding Fathers. You might say that Winthrop Rutherfurd was double linebred on American aristocracy.
Born in 1862, Rutherfurd graduated from Columbia the same year AKC was founded. As it turned out, that was an almost prescient twist of fate. Like most members of his privileged class, breeding and owning prized animals came with the territory. The Rutherfurd clan had been cultivating that project at their little homestead in Allamuchy, New Jersey, since the early 1700s. And by then, their 1000-acre farm was world-famous for its Dorset Sheep, Holsteins, and finely bred gundogs. However, for a large percentage of that fortunate class, this kind of backyard fantasy land was taken for granted, like the priceless artwork decorating the walls. It simply came with the territory, especially when you consider that the Rutherfurd family compound also featured every other imaginable luxury and amusement, including a nationally celebrated game preserve. But young Rutherfurd was not distracted by those temptations. Like any true dog person, he was absolutely enraptured with purebred form and function from the get-go. He soaked it up like a sponge. So, don’t even wonder if this guy actually knew dogs in the most genuine sense. There was no question about that.
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Posted by AnthonyA
on Apr 22 2021. Filed under Current Articles, Featured.
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