I’ve spent the last two evenings watching the group judging for this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show and a good deal of the last several days watching the agility competitions or the breed competitions. If you’re not familiar with all-breed dog shows, the way conformation shows are organized is that judges choose among the entries for the various breeds to select a Best of Breed for each breed. The various breeds are organized into seven groups: the Sporting, Non-Sporting, Terrier, Working, Herding, Hounds, and Toy groups.
The BoBs are then judged to determine which is the best example of the breed for each of the several groups. These seven Best of Group winners then compete to determine which dog is Best in Show, the dog that conforms most closely to the written standard for his or her breed. This year the Wire Fox Terrier was picked as Best in Show, no particular surprise. WFTs have been tapped as BiS at Westminster 14 times over the show’s 143 year history—more than any other breed.
We actually liked the Sussex Spaniel and Dachshund better but it’s difficult to assess dogs, especially coated dogs, unless you actually put your hands on them. Even at that I’m not much of a judge of terriers.
