The good, bad, and ugly of the Westminster Dog Show

I suppose you’ll start with the history…

How well you know us! Yes, let’s start with how dog shows began—and then move on to Westminster.

Origin story of dog shows: The first dog show was held in a town called Newcastle upon Tyne on June 28, 1859. There were sixty dogs—all of them either pointers or setters—since the show was organised by hunters. And those are the only kind they had. The winners received guns instead of trophies—kinda quirky but just as useless from the winner’s point of view.

FYI: An earlier exhibition for pugs was held on May 30, 1850—but it “turned out to be a social affair”—which doesn’t surprise anyone at all. 

Birth of the beauty contest: A follow-up show in November of the same year in Birmingham threw spaniels in the mix. The next year, the event was dubbed the National Dog Show Birmingham—the first proper canine contest—which endures to this day. It also marks the moment when the dog show became a fashion show: 

[The Birmingham show] made ample room for non-sporting breeds, the aesthetically pleasing as well as accomplished animals that provide the mainstay of contemporary dog shows. These “fancy” breeds are the forerunners of the hundreds of groups, breeds, hybrids and types that the conformation judges have to choose between today.

As you can see in this illustration from the London News at the time, they’d moved way beyond hunting dogs: 

Btw: The National Dog Show Birmingham—as it’s called today—is three times the size of Westminster—and features more than ten thousand dogs. 

No breeding required: There were no draconian ‘breed standards’ in the early days: 

[T]he dogs’ owners probably couldn’t have told you exactly what breed their animals were, because no one asked such questions… the real measure of that dog was how well he performed at his particular job. 

In fact, breeds of the dogs were rarely mentioned—and when included, they tended to be delightfully creative: 

At a Manchester show in 1865, the class for “Other Breeds of Dogs,” a Havannah poodle took a third prize. No doubt that this was related to the Havanese, a breed which has also been known by several names, including the Havana silk dog. The dog’s name was Tiny, owned by Mr. Long, and the previous year Tiny had won a first prize—this time as a Spanish poodle.

Here’s a charming poster for one of these dog shows:

Coming to America: America’s first-ever dog show was held in Chicago on June 4, 1874. It featured just 21 dogs, all of them… setters and pointers, of course! Also this: “Since there was no American Kennel Club, there were no rules or breed standards to follow, so the judges were asked to write a critique about each dog.” One such critique of a pair of winners read:

The committee, among so many well appearing dogs, find it hard to make an award, but incline to the opinion that this pair of animals are entitled to the highest marks of credit as the best pair of Setters exhibited.

A bit vague and over-the-top—but fair enough.

So why does it become all about pure-breds?

Because dog shows began as an upper class affair—given the association with hunting. Naturally, the owners grew more obsessed with ‘breeding’ and ‘standards’ as the shows grew in popularity—and in turn birthed kennel clubs:

All the wealthiest families had kennels on their estates, and the handlers who ran them worked tirelessly to improve the quality of their stock. The conformation record books are filled with titans of American business—the names Belmont, Morgan, 4 Whitney, Gould, and Rockefeller were all commonly glimpsed in the show programs5—and shows were regularly featured in magazines and newspapers alongside news of other popular sports. “Everybody,” wrote a New York Times reporter of an early show’s attendees, “was fashionably dressed and wore an air of good breeding.”

The “good breeding” of their dogs soon became just as necessary. Price tag to note: By 1908, the “most desirable purebred dog” cost anywhere between $1,000 and $5,000. The price of a Ford Model T car: $825.

The Westminster Dog Show is born: The show was founded by two kennel clubs—the Westminster Kennel Club and the Kennel Club of Philadelphia. The first show—held in 1877—was called ‘First Annual New York Bench Show of Dogs’. It featured the who’s who of owners:

In the first Westminster show in 1877, four notable entries included two Staghounds belonging to the late General George Custer’s pack and two Deerhounds bred by the Queen of England. In 1889, famous entries included the Czar of Russia’s Siberian Wolfhound, and the Emperor of Germany entered a Russian Wolfhound the following year. Philanthropist J.P. Morgan entered his Collies in 1893, and journalist Nelly Bly’s Maltese was shown the following year in 1894.

Meanwhile, the American Kennel Club was formed in 1884 to establish breeding records of purebred dogs in the United States—i.e certify the high-pedigree of both owner and pooch. Btw, this is Sealyham Terrier Ch. Barberryhill Bootlegger—who won Best in Show exactly 100 years ago.

About that name: Westminster is named after a hotel bar in Manhattan—where “sporting gentlemen used to meet in the bar to drink and lie about their shooting accomplishments.”  

Ok, fine, show me the dogs already…

Alright, let’s fast forward to this year’s grand show and its delightful contestants (We’ll save the bits about unpleasant humans later).

Arriving in Westminster: There were 2,500 dogs from more than 200 breeds—mostly from the United States. But contestants flew in from distant shores—including Croatia and Thailand. They all, however, travelled in style:

Getting to the show requires extensive organising by owners and handlers, who plan hours- or days-long road or plane trips, pack thousands of dollars worth of gear — grooming tables, industrial-strength hair dryers, leashes, collars, toys, kibble and more — and pray that neither delays nor cancellations disrupt their itineraries.

The contestants: range from the familiar French bulldogs and Labrador retrievers to the more rare Norwegian lundehunds. The Lancashire heeler is a newly recognised breed which became official in January. The best represented breed at the show: Chihuahuas—all 49 of them. Here’s a fun reel of some of them:

And here’s our fave moment from the show:

The other fave moment:

Best in breed: All the dogs have won a bunch of dog shows to qualify. First, all dogs of the same breed are judged together—this is the ‘conformation’ round. They are judged on how well they ‘conform’ to the breed standard. The competition can be fierce—as among 48 French bulldogs—or near non-existent. There were only two Norwegian lundehunds—and three kuvasz. Below is Lowchen—one of the Norwegian lundehunds:

Not to diss the Frenchies—who are adorable and alarmingly popular:

Best in group: Then the breeds are grouped and judged in seven categories or groups—which include sporting, working, toy and others.  

Best in show: The winners of the seven groups face off in the final round—to decide who is fairest of them all. This year, the top prize went to a miniature poodle named Sage. She beat some tough contenders including Comet, a Shih Tzu who won the huge American Kennel Club National Championship show—and Stache, a Sealyham terrier who won the National Dog Show. 

Here's the lovely 3-year-old Sage enjoying her big moment with her doting handler Ka Hosaka—who “is to the poodle world what Michael Jordan is to basketball. Smooth, clever, elegant and nearly unbeatable”:  

Also this awesome photo of the two of them during the competition:

Our fave winner: is Nimble—who became the first mixed breed to win the agility competition—which is also the first AKC event to allow mixed breed contestants. She is insanely talented—and clearly the crowd favourite. Can we take Nimble home?

Our fave event: Dock diving—where dogs literally do just that. As you can see, some of them have serious technique:

In case you’re wondering: The dogs only win bragging rights and a trophy. Not even a nice bag of treats. So some things haven’t changed. But they do get to donate a $5,000 cheque to a shelter or kennel club.

Also having a moment: Climate change protesters from Extinction Rebellion, who stormed the field with a banner that read, “No Dogs on a Dead Planet”:

Aren’t you going to tell me what’s wrong with dog shows?

Well, we all know there are many things wrong with the way humans breed dogs—which is the very basis of these shows. But dog shows are also hazardous to humans—specifically children. 

Hazardous to dogs: Back in 2017, Marisa Scully laid a detailed and nuanced case against shows like Westminster. She pointed out that the so-called ‘conformation’ round solely judges how the dog looks—which is the least important criterion for a breed:

Consider the main genetic factors that enable a dog to live successfully as a companion animal: health, temperament and function. Westminster doesn’t claim to evaluate these criteria, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. After all, they too are part of the breed standard. Instead, there’s almost an exclusive emphasis on physical appearance rather than an account of all the information together. It creates a case where one of the least important aspects is accounted for as the most important thing due to its popularity.

By ignoring everything to the exclusion of looks, these shows set breeding standards that endanger the dogs. For example, German shepherds:

The German shepherd, initially meant to be extremely athletic and agile, now walks on its hocks because the over-angulation that leads to the sloping back became a “fad” in the show ring. Crippling early arthritis as well as back and spine issues frequently cause these dogs to endure heavy amounts of physical pain and disability at young ages.

You can see the difference here:

Rewarding a certain look incentivises all the ‘bad’ breeding practices the AKC claims to abhor. And we end up with dogs that win big in the spotlight—but spend years living with deformities. That fate may well await the very sweet Mercedes—who was the runner up this year:

Also hazardous to humans: This year’s show was held in the shadow of a pedophilia scandal—a veterinarian slated to judge at Westminster was recently arrested for distributing child sexual abuse photos and videos. The case drew attention to questions about the safety of kids who compete and apprentice as handlers.  

A Business Insider investigation in April uncovered a shocking fact about AKC rules: 

BI identified three other dog-show professionals — a handler, a breeder, and a former AKC employee — who were convicted of crimes against children. None were suspended by the AKC or local clubs, meaning they could return to the sport if they chose. Two of them did so.

Point to note: The AKC routinely bars people for violating rules about conduct, recordkeeping, or animal abuse. 

The bottomline: It’s never the dog, always the human.

Reading list

Associated Press has the best overview of the show. For more on the winning Sage, read BBC News—and NPR for more on dashing Ms. Nimble. Washington Post has lots of colourful tidbits from this year’s contest—and an awesome interactive piece explaining how show dog names are chosen. Business Insider’s investigation into AKC’s pedophile problem is a worrying read. Also in BI, a lovely collection of vintage photos from Westminster. Marisa Scully’s critique of Westminster in The Guardian is a must-read. For more on the history of the shows, you can read about the very first Westminster show in Dog News—and a broader history in Middleburg Life. The most informative: This book excerpt by Josh Dean. This paper by Phillip Howell connects the rise of dog shows to the changing role of the dog—from working animal to household pet.