Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

Based on Wikipedia: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

The Most Glamorous Night in American Dog Shows

A ten-year-old Sussex Spaniel named Stump shuffled into Madison Square Garden in 2009, came out of retirement, and walked away with the most prestigious title in American canine competition. He remains the oldest dog ever to win Best in Show at Westminster. At the opposite extreme, a nine-month-old Rough Collie named Laund Loyalty of Bellhaven won the whole thing back in 1929—essentially a puppy by show dog standards.

Between these two extremes lies one of America's strangest and most enduring sporting traditions.

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show isn't just a dog show. It's the second-oldest continuously held sporting event in the United States, trailing only the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks—both horse races held the same weekend. Westminster has run every single year since 1877. World wars didn't stop it. The Great Depression didn't stop it. Even a global pandemic only managed to relocate it temporarily.

Born in a Hotel Bar

The whole thing started with a group of hunters who liked to drink at the Westminster Hotel on Irving Place and Sixteenth Street in Manhattan. These weren't casual hunters—they were serious sportsmen who worked with gun dogs, primarily Setters and Pointers, breeds designed to help humans find and retrieve game birds.

The hunters decided they wanted to show off their dogs. So in 1877, they created the Westminster Kennel Club specifically to hold a dog show. They named it after their favorite bar.

That first show drew over twelve hundred dogs to Gilmore's Garden, the original Madison Square Garden. The organizers had planned three days. The show proved so popular they needed four. In an unexpectedly philanthropic twist, the club donated all the proceeds from that extra day to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals so they could build a shelter for stray and disabled dogs.

The prizes for those early shows reflected the practical origins of the event. Winners didn't receive trophies or ribbons. They got pearl-handled pistols—useful tools for hunters who actually worked these dogs in the field.

What Makes a Dog Show Different from a Dog Competition

Here's something that confuses a lot of people: at Westminster, dogs don't compete against each other in the way you might expect. They're not running races or catching frisbees or demonstrating tricks. Instead, each dog is judged against an imaginary ideal—a written description of what the perfect specimen of that breed should look like.

This is called conformation showing. The word "conformation" comes from the Latin "conformare," meaning to form or shape. Judges are essentially asking: how closely does this actual dog conform to the theoretical perfect dog described in the breed standard?

These breed standards can seem bizarrely specific. They dictate not just size and proportion, but things like eye shape, ear placement, tail carriage, acceptable colors, and even the angle at which a dog's rear legs should bend. The Collie standard, for instance, specifies that the dog's expression should be "a combination of intelligence, dignity, modesty, and perception of the situation."

Who decides what counts as perfect? Each breed has a parent club—like the Collie Club of America—that writes and maintains its breed's standard. The American Kennel Club, which is often abbreviated as the A-K-C, administers the rules about how shows work and how judges should apply those standards.

This creates an interesting paradox. Many breeds haven't performed their original jobs in generations. Nobody uses Poodles as water retrievers anymore. Bulldogs don't bait bulls. Yet these dogs are still judged on their theoretical ability to do work they'll never actually perform.

A Benched Show: What That Actually Means

Westminster is what's called a benched show, which is increasingly rare in America. In most dog shows—called unbenched shows—dogs only need to show up for their scheduled ring time. They can arrive, compete, and leave.

At a benched show, every dog must stay in an assigned location—literally a show bench—for the entire duration of the event. They can only leave their benches to enter the judging ring, get groomed, or go outside for bathroom breaks.

This might sound like a burden on the dogs and their handlers, but it serves an important purpose. Spectators and breeders can walk through and see every single entered dog. You can examine breeds you've never encountered, talk to handlers, and get an education in canine diversity that would be impossible if dogs came and went as they pleased.

The Journey from Breed Ring to Best in Show

The competition unfolds in layers. First, dogs compete against others of their same breed. A Golden Retriever competes against other Golden Retrievers. A Poodle against Poodles. From each breed, one dog emerges as Best of Breed.

Then those Best of Breed winners advance to group competition. The American Kennel Club organizes all recognized breeds into seven groups based loosely on what the dogs were originally bred to do:

• Sporting — Dogs bred to help hunters find and retrieve game birds, like Retrievers, Setters, and Spaniels
• Hound — Dogs bred to chase prey, either by sight like Greyhounds or by scent like Bloodhounds
• Working — Large breeds bred for jobs like guarding, pulling sleds, or rescue work
• Terrier — Small, feisty dogs originally bred to hunt vermin
• Toy — Tiny companion breeds, though some had working origins
• Non-Sporting — A catch-all category for breeds that don't fit elsewhere
• Herding — Dogs bred to move livestock

Each group produces one winner. Then those seven dogs—the best of each group—face off in the final round: Best in Show.

A single judge examines all seven group winners and selects one as the overall champion. That dog becomes what Westminster calls "America's Dog" for the coming year.

The Terrier Domination

If you had to bet on what type of dog will win Westminster, bet on a Terrier.

Through the 2010 show, Terriers had won Best in Show forty-five times out of one hundred three total awards since 1907. That's more than twice as many wins as any other group. The Sporting group comes in second with eighteen wins. Herding dogs, despite their impressive intelligence and trainability, have only won three times.

Within the Terrier group, one breed dominates above all others: the Wire Fox Terrier, which has won fifteen times. To put that in perspective, two of America's most popular breeds—the Labrador Retriever and the Golden Retriever—have never won Best in Show. Not once. Ever.

Why do Terriers win so much? Some argue it's their natural showiness. Terriers were bred to be bold, alert, and ready for action. They stack well—that is, they stand in an alert, attractive position naturally. They have an intensity that catches judges' attention.

Critics suggest the judging community has developed an institutional bias toward Terriers, that judges learn from other judges who favored Terriers, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. Others point out that Terrier handlers and breeders have simply invested more in the Westminster circuit over its century-plus history.

The Famous Pointer Who Never Won

Look at the Westminster Kennel Club's logo and you'll see a Pointer—an elegant hunting dog in a classic pointing stance, one front leg raised, body tensed, head extended toward imaginary quarry.

This is Sensation, a dog brought over from England in 1876, a year before the first Westminster show. The club imported him primarily for breeding purposes, not for competition. An artist named J. Wellstood created a steel engraving of Sensation that became the club's permanent symbol.

Here's the irony: despite serving as the face of Westminster for nearly one hundred fifty years, Pointers as a breed have not dominated the show. The logo honors a specific dog's beauty and breed type, not competitive success.

The Only Three-Time Champion

Only one dog in Westminster history has won Best in Show three times. Her name was Warren Remedy, a Smooth Fox Terrier who won in 1907, 1908, and 1909—the first three years the Best in Show award was given.

Six other dogs have won twice, all in consecutive years. But since 1972, no dog has repeated as Westminster champion. It's not that there's a rule against it—winning dogs are fully eligible to compete again. They just haven't won.

This might reflect how competitive the show has become. In the early twentieth century, a truly exceptional dog could simply outclass the field year after year. Today, with thousands of dedicated breeders and handlers pouring resources into the competition, the gap between excellent and exceptional has narrowed to the point where lightning rarely strikes twice.

The Madison Square Garden Connection

For most of its history, Westminster has been synonymous with Madison Square Garden. The show started at Gilmore's Garden in 1877, which was renamed Madison Square Garden in 1879. As the Garden moved locations and rebuilt itself—there have been four different buildings called Madison Square Garden—Westminster moved with it.

The pandemic disrupted this relationship for the first time in over a century. In 2021 and 2022, with New York City's public health restrictions making indoor events difficult, Westminster relocated to the grounds of Lyndhurst, a historic mansion in Tarrytown, New York. In 2023 and 2024, the show moved to an even more unusual venue: the United States Tennis Association's Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with Arthur Ashe Stadium serving as the main arena.

Imagine explaining to a time traveler from 1877 that their gun dog show would one day be held where Serena Williams won Grand Slam titles.

In 2025, the show returned to Madison Square Garden and its traditional February scheduling, just in time to prepare for its one hundred fiftieth edition in 2026.

The Modern Barrier to Entry

You can't just show up at Westminster with your family pet. The show requires all dogs to be registered with the American Kennel Club and recognized for conformation competition. As of 2016, one hundred ninety-nine breeds and varieties were eligible.

But registration alone isn't enough. Since 1992, the show has required that dogs have already demonstrated competitive success before entering. Currently, dogs must be champions—or at least have earned one of the two required "major wins" toward their championship title. Major wins are shows with enough competing dogs to make the victory significant; the exact number varies by breed and region.

The Westminster Kennel Club caps total entries at twenty-five hundred dogs. The top five dogs in each breed—based on points earned through October 31 of the preceding year—receive printed invitations by mail and get early entry. After that deadline, other qualified dogs can enter until the cap is reached.

This creates a peculiar dynamic. Westminster isn't where dogs go to become champions. It's where champions go to become legends.

Beyond the Perfect Purebred

Starting in 2014, Westminster made a surprising addition: an agility competition open to mixed-breed dogs. Dogs of any background—including what the show officially calls "All American Dogs," meaning mutts—can compete.

Agility is completely different from conformation. Dogs race through obstacle courses featuring jumps, tunnels, weave poles, and seesaws. Speed and precision matter. Breed standards don't.

The highest-ranking mixed-breed dog in the agility round earns a special title recognizing that you don't need a pedigree to be athletic. Whether this represents Westminster acknowledging modern attitudes toward purebred elitism, or simply a practical way to draw more viewers and participants, probably depends on your perspective.

Junior Handlers and the Next Generation

Since 1934, Westminster has run Junior Showmanship competitions for handlers aged nine to eighteen. This isn't about judging the dogs—it's about judging the young humans handling them. Judges evaluate how well the junior handlers present their dogs, their knowledge of ring procedure, and their ability to work with their animals.

The eight finalists all receive scholarships for post-secondary education. The Westminster Kennel Foundation also awards veterinary school scholarships to students from six schools annually. The show is actively investing in creating the next generation of handlers, breeders, and veterinarians.

What Happens When You Win

The Best in Show winner doesn't just get a ribbon and go home. They embark on a whirlwind media tour as "America's Dog."

The day after winning, the dog appears on nearly every television network morning show. They visit the observation deck of the Empire State Building for a photo opportunity. The New York Stock Exchange invites them to ring the opening bell—which raises interesting questions about whether dogs understand the symbolic significance of American capitalism, but makes for excellent television.

For the handler and owner, a Westminster Best in Show win transforms a dog's breeding value. Stud fees increase dramatically. Puppies from that bloodline become far more desirable. The economics of professional dog showing suddenly make a lot more sense when you understand that a three-minute judging session can determine hundreds of thousands of dollars in future breeding revenue.

The Voice of Westminster

For decades, viewers at home experienced Westminster through the narration of Roger A. Caras, a natural history writer and animal advocate who served as president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He was known as "the Voice of Westminster," providing breed descriptions and commentary that educated casual viewers about the dogs they were watching.

Caras brought genuine expertise and enthusiasm to his role. He wasn't just reading scripts—he genuinely cared about animals and could communicate what made each breed distinctive. After his death in 2001, the show has cycled through various announcing teams, but longtime viewers still remember when one voice defined the Westminster experience.

The Television Journey

Westminster's broadcast history traces the evolution of American sports television. CBS Sports covered the show from the late 1960s through the 1980s as part of its CBS Sports Spectacular anthology series.

In 1984, USA Network picked up the broadcast, keeping it for nearly two decades. When General Electric acquired Universal to form NBC Universal in 2003, Westminster stayed on USA Network but became an NBC Sports production. From 2006 through 2016, scheduling conflicts with professional wrestling meant Monday coverage aired on CNBC instead—a sentence that perfectly captures the chaos of cable television programming.

Fox Sports acquired the rights in 2017 under a ten-year deal. The coverage initially split between FS1 and National Geographic Wild, which made thematic sense until Disney acquired the National Geographic channels. Since 2020, FS2 has served as the secondary broadcaster.

Through all these changes, Westminster has remained one of the few non-sports sporting events that reliably draws viewers. The show occupies a strange category—technically a competition, functionally a pageant, emotionally a celebration of the human-canine bond.

The Peculiar Tradition Continues

Every February, thousands of dogs and their humans descend on New York City for an event that started with hunters drinking at a hotel bar one hundred forty-eight years ago. The pearl-handled pistol prizes are gone, replaced by ribbons and trophies. The gun dogs have been joined by toy breeds and herding dogs and breeds that exist solely to be companions.

But something essential remains unchanged. Humans still gather to admire dogs, to argue about what makes one specimen better than another, and to celebrate the strange partnership between our two species. The judges still look at each dog and ask the same fundamental question: does this individual represent the best of what this breed can be?

It's a question without a truly objective answer. Beauty standards change. Breed standards evolve. The "ideal" Bulldog of 1877 looked quite different from today's version. And yet we keep asking the question, keep holding the shows, keep awarding the prizes.

Maybe that persistence—through world wars and depressions and pandemics—tells us something about why humans and dogs have spent the last fifteen thousand years together. We just like looking at them. We like deciding which ones are the best. And we like doing it in a fancy arena in New York while the whole country watches.

The Wire Fox Terriers seem to be winning, but the Golden Retrievers aren't giving up.