Forest and Stream magazine in 1877: “…the dog show held in the city last week was a success … a magnificent triumph for the dogs and for the projectors of the show … (people) representing as much of the culture, wealth and fashion of the town … That such a collection of dogs was ever gotten together before in any country we very much doubt …”
New York Times, May 1877: The first annual New York bench show of dogs is a great success …. the crush was so great that the streets outside were blocked with livery carriages, and the gentlemen who served as ticket sellers could not make change fast enough … the crush … began almost at the opening hour and continued until the close last night …
In catering to the tastes of humans who want to make people out of dogs, manufacturers have built up a fantastic $25 million-a-year business in doggy clothes, grooming aids and services.
Of the 17,000 veterinarians in America about 13,000 work with dogs and other small pets. There are 2,300 hospitals where dog ailments can be treated, and $50 million are spent yearly on dog remedies and veterinary services. Today, whether it likes it or not, the American dog is an emancipated creature with all the benefits of modern civilization, including such things as psychiatrists, dude ranches and even “college” educations at its disposal.
OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG Ch. Shepton Blushing Maid was a stand-in for the lead dog in King of Hearts on Broadway as well as being top winning show dog. Best of her breed at Westchester show, she is owned by Louise Acheson of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
The Westminster Kennel Club itself is something of a contradiction. It has no kennel (and hasnt had one for 50 years) and no clubhouse; it owns not one single dog, and it doesnt require its members to own or breed them. In fact, apart from its one dog show a year, the only other activity of the club is to meet for dinner once a month. The club today is primarily an exclusive group of New York businessmen who enjoy perpetuating a legacy of lofty ideals for the sake of Americas second oldest consecutive sporting event (after the Kentucky Derby)—the Westminster Dog Show.
The most important figures at a dog show are the judges—and Westminsters panel of 46 experts (21 of them women) are the pick of the 2,300 licensed by the American Kennel Club. Heading this years list is a Los Angeles investment counselor, Albert E. Van Court, who will judge the best-in-show event. A former breeder of dachshunds, Mr. Van Court has been a leading judge for the past 15 years.
At the same time, the vast flow of immigrants from Europe increased, providing cheap labor and resulting in devastating poverty for many. The Statue of Liberty went up in 1886 and Ellis Island opened in 1892. Typhus, cholera and tuberculosis reached epidemic proportions in the slums. Horse manure covered the streets and animal carcasses could remain on the street for weeks. Not until 1894 were sanitary reforms and mandatory street cleaning introduced. There was an epidemic of violence centered on Five Points and Hells Kitchen, both in Manhattan, with gangs like The Bowery Boys and their sworn enemies The Dead Rabbits committing everything from petty theft to murder. (The movie “Gangs of New York” in 2002 with Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio is a fictionalized version of real events.)
Central Park had opened in 1857, skyscrapers began to shoot up in Manhattan, the Metropolitan Museum was founded in 1870 and the Metropolitan Opera ten years later. Department stores, “marble palaces of unparalleled luxury,” were the new big thing (the first Macys had opened in 1858), providing a new and previously unknown way of shopping. The late 1800s saw the advent of the phonograph, the telephone and radio; the rise of mass-circulation newspapers and magazines; the growth of commercialized entertainment, new sports — basketball, bicycling, football — and the appearance of the automobile and electric trains.
What would the people who showed at the first Westminster in 1877 think if they could come back to the show 142 years later? In most respects I think they would be tremendously impressed: the combination of respect for tradition and willingness to try new things have resulted in a unique dog show experience that attracts the top dogs and, importantly, the top dog people from around the globe. Westminster isnt the biggest dog show in the world, but in many respects its the best, and we dog fanciers in America are very lucky to have it.
• The dog show saw some major changes at the third MSG. For one thing, in 1929 the old method of having a team of several judges determine Best in Show was replaced by the single-judge system: Dr. Carleton Y. Ford from Canada awarded BIS to the youngest BIS winner Westminster has ever seen, the 9-months-old Rough Collie Laund Loyalty of Bellhaven, imported from England and never shown again after this win. The reasons for this vary depending on whom you listen to; owner Florence Ilch stated that she received death threats for the dog if he were to be shown again. It is a fact, in any case, that Loyalty never became a champion, although hes incorrectly listed as one in the catalogs list of past winners.
• The second Madison Square Garden was located on the same site as the old but much larger and more luxurious. The main hall was “the largest in the world;” there were also a theater, a concert hall, the largest restaurant in the city and a roof garden, which became notorious when the celebrity architect who had designed the new Garden, Stanford White, was shot dead there by a jealous husband of the beautiful showgirl Evelyn Nesbit in what was at the time labeled as the “crime of the century.” (Later fictionalized in a 1955 movie with Joan Collins, “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.”)
2,800 dogs, 202, breeds, one Best in Show | WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW (2018) | FOX SPORTS
The Westminster Dog Show is the most prestigious dog show in the country, if not the world. As it enters its 146th iteration in 2022, a new Best in Show looks to be crowned.
There have been 112 dogs that have won the award, with multiple dogs as repeat winners.
The only dog to win Best In Show three times is the winner of the first Westminster Dog Show Warren Remedy in 1907, 1908, and 1909. A terrier, Warren Remedy would start terriers down the road of being the most frequent winner of Best In Show, at 47 victories. The second-place sporting group has 18.