The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (WDS) was created where countless other great ideas are born—around a table at a bar.
The WDS had already been around for more than 70 years when television sets started taking up real estate in living rooms in the late 1940s.
If 205 breeds of dogs aren’t enough for you to swoon over, we’ve got some good news for you: Nine of those breeds are further divided into varieties based on size, colour, and coat.
In 1892, Westminster raised the entry fee from $2 to $5, which still included attendants to feed and exercise the dogs, but inflation wasn’t the reason for the increase.
A look back at the Facts & Figures of Westminster proves that age doesn’t matter when it comes to wowing the judges. (That said, a dog has to be at least six months old to compete in AKC shows.)
The 144th WDS will welcome 2,630 dogs from 49 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The states with the most canines at WDS are California (238),.
Lively and spirited, terriers were bred to hunt and kill vermin. Today, they are hunting for something more prestigious: the coveted Best in Show trophy.
When it’s judgment time in the ring, the handler will often “stack” the dog. Stack is defined by Westminster as “the pose itself by a dog or the posing of the dog by a handler in its natural stance.”