Westminster 1 and 2

February 11, 2014

     Watching the "Best of Breed" judging at Westminster is like being at a Superbowl of canine teams: you start with many entrants, then watch them narrowed down across the group categories: Sporting Group, Hound Group, Toy Group, Non-Working Group, Herding Group, Terrier Group, Working Group.  Spaniels are Sporting Group dogs, by the way, judged today.

     Yesterday I met a former vendor at Westminster, a maker of equestrian blankets for "turnout", exercise of horses in paddocks, who I'd invited to join me for the morning.  She had made me a skirt of the same waxed cotton fabric Barbour jackets are made of, a perfect fabric for a skirt to walk dogs in in rough weather --and to wear to Westminster.  She didn't take a vendor's spot at the show this year because the price of the booths doubled between last year and this.  Yesterday we walked through the show, which she enjoyed thoroughly, never having had the chance to see it before.

     We met a lovely woman showing a Pyreneen Shepherd, a dog that looks like the proverbial "shaggy dog", but actually hails from the steep mountains that divide Spain from the rest of Europe.  Like so many of the women who show up for Westminster, she is rotund.  I don't know why so many of the women who own and show dogs are obese, but they are, without question, seriously overweight.  Their dogs, on the other hand, are in perfect condition.

     Today I had two missions at Westminster: 1. to see the Boykin Spaniels judged at 10:00 a.m.in Ring 6 a Pier 90; and, 2. to meet a friend for the judging of the West Highland Terriers ("Westies") at 12:30 p.m..  The show is so big that two buildings, attached to Piers 90 and 92, are needed.  Pier 90 has the most activity, being where the vendors are located, as well as the American Kennel Club, the national organization; and the Westminster Kennel Club, which organizes the show.

      I left the house at 9:15 a.m., having given Beau a 45 minute walk and left him with a pig's ear.  I gave my house keys to Peter, my next door neighbor, who is both bothered by Beau's barking when left alone and willing to visit him to still it. I made it to Pier 92 just in time to catch the judging of the Boykins and to grab a seat in the front row next to another heavy-set woman showing her Field Spaniel, which was judged just before the Boykins.

      This lady, "Corkie", lives in Chicago and drove here to have "Petey", her Field Spaniel shown.  She took photos of the Field Spaniels shown throughout the judging and cheered for her dog's opponents as well as for her own.  She was a perfect example of the gracious contestant: to have been invited to Westminster her dog had to rack up a certain number of points.  To her, that was accomplishment enough and made her gracious.  Her dog took "Best of Select", 4th place, and she was happy.  She lives with three Field Spaniels and one Curly-Coated retriever in a house with half an acre of land.  All her Field Spaniels are named after sandwiches: Reuben, Colby, Pastrami.

     Judging the West Highland Terriers, which followed the Cairn and the Skyes, was Dr. Deen, a tall, elderly and portly Canadian gentleman in a three-piece suit and green-patterned bow tie.  He is expert on all three terrier breeds and wears his expertise lightly: when I crossed paths with him in the elevator after the last of the judging, I asked --prefacing my question with a confession of abject ignorance-- how many criteria he took into account in judging.  He answered me trenchantly:

     "First, I look for how 'true to type' they are.  Sometimes it's hard, because there isn't one dog that fulfills the type for the breed.  Today it was easier: there were three or four "typey" dogs, so I could make distinctions from there."

     Any dog that is at Westminster has to have racked up a certain number of points by winning at dog shows earlier in the year.  There are all sorts of awards and a point system I have yet to figure out.  What is clear is that those who show their dogs have a passion for doing so.  It's an expensive game, with it costing as much as $100,000 to campaign a dog for Westminster.  The participants within a breed all know each other and know what their dog's chances are, pretty much.  When a particular dog won, I often heard the owner of a competitor say "Yup, the winner" --or words to that effect.  Some were breeder-owner-trainers, but most dogs were shown by professional trainers.

      I think it is a kind of addiction to show dogs, like gambling.  It is an obsessive pursuit which requires rearrangement of schedules to a degree comparable only to having a child that wants to compete for the Olympics.  -Except that there's no outside funding for it.

      My own experience of watching the Boykins judged confirmed for me my choice of Beauregard as a pet --while simultaneously making me feel that my little friend was every bit the equal of any of the winners-- and grateful I didn't have to put him up to prove it.