Westminster Kennel Club Unleashes Hounds

On certain nights at the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, says Westminster director of communications David Frei, one contestant can pad out to the center of the floor at Madison Square Garden and just own the joint.

You don't have to be a dog breeder or a dog fanatic to sense this happening, which is one reason Westminster has become such a popular attraction on the USA Network.

Live coverage of this year's show begins at 8 p.m. Monday on USA. The Monday-night program takes a detour over to CNBC, from 9-11 - to accommodate USA's even more popular wrestling show - before returning to USA on Tuesday night, 8-11, for the finale.

The lineup looks to be solid, as usual.

"This is the one show in the country where the best dogs face each other," says Frei, with some 96 of the country's top 100 still-active dogs entered.

That includes the No. 1 dog in the country over the past year, a toy poodle that made the Best in Show finals at Westminster last year, and the No. 2 dog, an Akita that was also a finalist here a year ago.

Still, Frei notes that no dog is a lock, since the last time the country's No. 1 dog won Best in Show at Westminster was 2001. Last year's favorite, a Dandie Dinmont terrier,lost to an English springer spaniel.

"Every dog has two minutes in front of the judges," says Frei. "That's what the decision is based on. And like any athlete, a dog has good and bad days. A great dog may not be on the top of its game in the ring that day. That's what makes the sport so interesting."

It made things interesting for everyone who saw the 2004 Best in Show judging, when a Newfound-land named Josh had one of those takeover moments.

"Josh had been at Westminster the year before, and when he came into the ring and heard 20,000 people cheering, you couldsee it affected him,"says Frei."It didn't throw him off, but he was wondering what all that commotion was about."

So, when he got back to that ring in 2004, he had it all figured out. He assumed all those people were there to watch him and cheer for him. He crossed that ring like he owned it."

This year's candidates for that kind of Westminster moment include dogs from four breeds newly recognized by the American Kennel Club: the Tibetan mastiff, the Swedish Vallhund, the Plott and the Beauceron.

For those wondering exactly what those dogs are, the Tibetan mastiff is large and somewhat shaggy, the Swedish Vallhund is reminiscent of the Welsh corgi, the Plott is a short-haired, medium-size, dark-coated hunting dog and the Beauceron is a good-sized French herding dog.

None is likely to win Westminster this year. But the sheer breadth of dogs in this show, Frei notes, is another of its continuing attractions - and on any given night, anyone's favorite could own that ring.

Coverage of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show begins Monday night at 8 on USA.
NY Daily News
By DAVID HINCKLEY