Posted on 06/13/2021 4:33:15 PM PDT by LibertyWoman
Thanks, it is truly exciting to have a dog you raised from a pup to win your breed at WKC
I can not imagine what it must feel like to win the group or BIS.
I am grounds chair of our kennel club show in NH.
I can not express the awe that went into setting up this weekends WKC show at Lyndhurst.
It is really a first class operation.
I am sure it was a combination of both.
The only thing I never considered was the people who fly in for the show with their dogs.
It is too warm in June for dogs from hotter climates.
So, many people drove in.
There were people at our hotel who drove from Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana.
That is why they want to have it in the winter.
Apparently the Westchester Kennel Club has used the Lyndhurst estate for their shows in the past.
We may come back the next time they have a show there again.
That makes sense. I never paid attention to the time of the year...has it traditionally been in the winter?
What an exciting win! I’ve shown there a couple times and what an interesting experience. Especially these days because there’s so much press and the show has become such an extravagant event. The first time I went to MSG, it was before it was renovated and it seemed like the same dark arena you found in every city. My friend won a group on the first night and had to find a place to stay because he had checked out of his hotel early. Paying through the nose for a hotel room was worth it of course.
I was thinking of going to this one just to watch because of the venue but no spectators!
There is politics but Westminster tries to minimize it with strict judging rules. The breed judges can't have judged the breed for a certain period of time prior to judging that breed at Westminster. There are probably similar rules for the Group judges and the Best in Show judge.
That said it's a fairly small world in dogs. If you judge on a regular basis you know which dogs are being campaigned during that year. The dogs that make it to the group phase are trained to perfection on top of being great specimens of their breed standard. At the group level you could literally pick almost any dog and no one would argue with you.
sometimes judges in the upper level are looking for a certain charisma that makes the dog stand out above the rest of the group competition. If the judge knows what the best in show judge's likes and dislikes, you have to figure that will play into it. A judge would like to they are picking a dog that has a chance at Best in Show. But if you know the judge doesn't particularly care for Golden Retrievers (I know it's impossible) but seems to like Setters. All things being equal the judge would likely pick the Setter.
The other thing about Westminster is they give out Judges award of Merit in the Breed competition. Since there can be only one best of breed it's nice that a nationally ranked judge has picked your champion dog over the 20-30 other champions competing and because there is more than one award the Judge is likely going to make the selection based on the breed standard as it is difficult to keep that many political associations in your head.
Interesting. Thank you for that information.
Interesting. Thank you for that information.
I thought the same thing when I saw that Lab. Seemed out of step with all the other doggies, who are very fit.
As much as I love dogs, the Westminster Show is just a bit too sedate too me. Now I did watch the new? Agility Competition that Westminster had on Sat. that is fun to watch.
the place they held it this year was 20 minutes from my house. The public was not allowed to buy tickets- all those people in the stands were owners, breeders, dog preppers.
I don’t know that i love dog shows but i loved Westminster at the Garden- plus Daniel winning the sporting group last year blew the roof off the Garden.
Yes, traditionally it has been the second or third week in February on a Monday & Tuesday @ Madison Square Garden.
About 8-10 years ago they switched the daytime breed judging to a different location on the Chelsea Piers. The only thing at MSG is the night time group judging.
It is also been traditionally a “bench show”. This means you are supposed to be at your assigned spot for the entire day with your dog. You assigned spot is about 2’ x 2 1/2’.
Thousands of people are constantly coming by taking pictures and asking you questions. Many NY’ers bring their kids who want to pet and touch your dog. The concern being that there are occasional animal rights nuts that will try to do something to your dog. It is very stressful on the dogs.
When it was a bench show at the garden, it was incredibly crowded. The rings on the floor were very small. People would be ten deep, elbow to elbow around the rings. It could be difficult to get from the benching area to the floor. Most people would carry smaller dogs to get them through the crush of people. The fear being someone might step on one by accident.
Frankly, it was a pain in the A$$.
In addition, the hotels around the garden are old and crappy. It costs $50/day minimum just to park. Parking is $100/day for a van/suburban type vehicle. There is no place to walk your dog outside unless you go the 20 blocks north up to Central Park. Plus your dogs feet get filthy just walking around on the streets. Don’t even get me started on the homeless and needles on the sidewalks. The only good thing is you can eat fairly cheap if you want. You can also spend your entire paycheck, if you feel like it.
We stayed at the Westchester Marriott about 1 1/2 miles from Lyndhurst. It took about 40 minutes to get in and park on Saturday morning around 9am. The GPS routed us around down to Irvington and back up from the south. We had to show our tickets, our negative covid tests results downloaded to the Reel Health app and they still took everyones temperature. Then they gave you a wrist band good for Saturday only.
Other people that drove in that morning said it took almost an hour once they got off the highway by the Tappan Zee bridge to get in and park. Most of the traffic came in from the north side.
There is no way they could have let the general public in. They limited it to two tickets per exibitor. So, between owners, handlers, ground crew, Fox Sports people, there had to be 3000 people there during the day.
When our dog won breed, we were then given two tickets for Saturday nights show only. So, the only people in the big tent at night were owners, judges, WKC members, Fox Sports people, press, production and grounds crew.
Excellent reply. So yes there is some inside politics but not that much. The truth is the judges value their own opinion and exhibitors know what they like and dislike (and enter accordlingly). Most Best in Show dogs are judged by 3 different judges in a show. Nobody has that many inside political connections. If people thought they did very few would show up to that show.
Also to know whether someone is a bad judge, you have to know many breed standards. I was “tipped off” about a setup in another breed (that I know pretty well). The judge was a friend of one of the exhibitors. I was watching while one of these best specimens of that breed I’d ever seen walked into the Bred by Exhibitor class. It won the class and the points. That was the dog setup to win. The person who tipped me off saw one friend handing a ribbon to another friend. I saw the best dog win. Sometimes politics is a matter of perspective.
man- unless you were hauling a bunch of stuff in the car it may have been easier to walk over.
Favorite part of the weekend?? Jen Taft referred to the bridge behind Lyndhurst as the “Tappan Zee Bridge” on Fox.
I was not impressed with the judge for the toys- she looked confused despite the fact her dog won best in breed.
BTW- why is the show in January next year and not mid February?? Disappointed to see that.
All the locals seem to still call it the Tappan Zee.
We left after the Hound group, so we did not see the later groups.
I do not know why it is January. Maybe some scheduling conflict with the Garden. Dog News is asking peoples opinions on the site. IMHO I think they should move it there permanently.
Won’t happen and shouldn’t happen.
It may be a nicer venue, it may be easier and it may be less expensive but there is no denying the atmosphere was a fraction this weekend what it is at the Garden.
Move it to Lyndenhurst for good and its just another dog show- the Garden makes it an event more and more are interested in. When i went in 2020 with my wife i was pissed- pissed i had not attended that event the prior 20 years.
btw- how did CJ the german short hair pointer die? They told the story last night but did not explain what happened.
I have no idea how he died.
i should’ve looked first:
“Speaking to The Canine Review by telephone, Dr. Vurick said believes that CJ died from coinciding illnesses: lymphoma, which weakened CJ’s immune system and left him vulnerable to a secondary, opportunistic illness, cryptococcus, a fungal disease found worldwide that can be contracted by ingesting or inhaling tiny particles from bird droppings.”
https://thecaninereview.com/2020/10/08/cj-beloved/
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