Speaker 1: Guess what will? What's that? Man? Go? Time for a
Speaker 1: pop quiz? So I want to read you a line
Speaker 1: from a story I read this week and have you
Speaker 1: guess what it's about. All right, go for it. So
Speaker 1: here goes This is from the Chicago tribunes Rex hop Key,
Speaker 1: and he writes, we are so far gone, so consumed
Speaker 1: by political correctness, that unwanted and potentially dangerous outsiders are
Speaker 1: poised to put one of our most cherished institutions at risk.
Speaker 1: Any ideas what he's talking about, I kind of don't
Speaker 1: want to say. He's talking about cats were More specifically,
Speaker 1: he's talking about how cats are non dogs, as he
Speaker 1: calls them, got to make an appearance at Westminster's dog
Speaker 1: show this year. Wow, so they were actually I don't
Speaker 1: believe this. This gotta be a story. Yeah, it's true
Speaker 1: that they were. Actually Forty designer breeds like Twiggers and Bengals,
Speaker 1: all displayed at the Meet the Breeds event a few
Speaker 1: days before the dog show, which of course caused some
Speaker 1: commotion from purism can. In fact, an a k C
Speaker 1: spokeswoman had to defend the inclusion, and she clarified it
Speaker 1: for a Washington Post reporter by saying cats or pets too,
Speaker 1: but they're not dogs. That's not that's not the point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but the whole thing made me realize I know nothing
Speaker 1: about America's greatest dog show, and I started wondering how
Speaker 1: did dog shows get their start, and why are they
Speaker 1: so important to breeders? And most importantly, are there ways
Speaker 1: for an outsider a game of dog show. Let's dive in. Hey,
Speaker 1: their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will
Speaker 1: Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend
Speaker 1: man Gueshop Ticketer and behind that soundproof glass wearing the
Speaker 1: most stylish top hat I think I've ever seen, as
Speaker 1: our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And today we're going
Speaker 1: to be talking dog shows, not just how they got started,
Speaker 1: but how you can try to game them. But before
Speaker 1: we dive in, I wanted to just thank our listeners
Speaker 1: again for all the fun emails and messages were getting
Speaker 1: and voice messages on our hotline. And there was one
Speaker 1: that came in that was talking about our Weird College
Speaker 1: Classes episode we did just a few weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: I thought this was pretty great. It's from Catherine and
Speaker 1: grape Vine, Texas and it says. I just finished your
Speaker 1: podcast about college classes. You mentioned a wine appreciation class
Speaker 1: in Ohio, and I had to tell you it isn't
Speaker 1: the only one around. The decade ago, my brother took
Speaker 1: a course like that at the University of Houston, and
Speaker 1: my parents weren't happy and thought it would be a
Speaker 1: total joke. Instead, he turned out to be really good
Speaker 1: at tasting and raiding the wine, where he went on
Speaker 1: to take a course and and study to become a
Speaker 1: Somalia I love. He went on to judge for the
Speaker 1: wine show for the Texas Rodeo, which I didn't know
Speaker 1: that existed last year alone. It included twenty eight hundred
Speaker 1: of entries from approximately twenty different countries, including Australia, Austria, France, Italy, Japan, Peru,
Speaker 1: South Africa and Spain. I guess some of those weird
Speaker 1: random classes can really pay off. Uh, this is pretty great,
Speaker 1: So thank you so much Katherine for a for sending
Speaker 1: this in. I guess these classes can lead to big things, definitely,
Speaker 1: But you guys keep the emails coming. Part time genius
Speaker 1: at how stuff Works dot com or you can call
Speaker 1: us on our seven fact hot line one eight four
Speaker 1: four pt. Genius. It is still seven, right, seven, that's excellent,
Speaker 1: all right, all right, on to our main topic. You know, Mango,
Speaker 1: I know you and I both had dogs growing up,
Speaker 1: and and my family just got a new pup. Yeah, Noodles,
Speaker 1: that's right, Noodles Pierson getting the shout out on today's program.
Speaker 1: But you know, before we were coming on for the show,
Speaker 1: you were telling me that you were pretty dog obsessed
Speaker 1: as a kid. Yeah. I mean, I've always loved dogs,
Speaker 1: but in second or third grade, I watched this PBS
Speaker 1: series with my mom called All Things Bright and Beautiful,
Speaker 1: which is about this country veterinarian named James Harriet, and
Speaker 1: watching it convinced me I needed to be a vet.
Speaker 1: Like he drove around the country in this classic old
Speaker 1: car and he had this dog riding shotgun and he
Speaker 1: helped animals, so it all seemed kind of lovely and
Speaker 1: ideal to me. And this was maybe a year or
Speaker 1: two before we got a dog. In fact, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if I ever told you this, but my my
Speaker 1: school had this encyclopedia of dog breeds that I found
Speaker 1: hidden in the back corner somewhere, and I totally monopolized,
Speaker 1: like i'd return it and then immediately signed it out again.
Speaker 1: And I don't even know why. I mean, maybe it
Speaker 1: was because I figured, like a good vet needed to
Speaker 1: start studying dog breeds early. But you know, at a
Speaker 1: certain point, after like five or six weeks of my
Speaker 1: name being the only one on the library card, the
Speaker 1: librarian gently took me aside and let me know I
Speaker 1: should probably let someone else check it out, like she
Speaker 1: was very sweet about it. Library cards. I haven't thought
Speaker 1: so like the things in the back of the books.
Speaker 1: Haven't thought about that a long time. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: you know, since today's episode is all about dog shows,
Speaker 1: I'm curious to hear from you, like, have you ever
Speaker 1: gone to a dog show? No? I mean that's what's funny,
Speaker 1: is that, as obsessed as I was, and as much
Speaker 1: as I love dogs, I've always thought dog shows were
Speaker 1: next level, like just a step too far. And obviously
Speaker 1: that idea has certainly been helped by things like Best
Speaker 1: in Show, which is an hysterical movie, but it's certainly
Speaker 1: influences the way we think about dog shows too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I don't love the pageantry and it's so ostentatious,
Speaker 1: and so you know that writer Gia Tolentino, who I love.
Speaker 1: She wrote the story about the Westminster Dog Show for
Speaker 1: The New Yorker and in the opening scene, this is
Speaker 1: the scene she walks into. She sees uh tall fluffy
Speaker 1: dog strode genially around the room. I'm going to need
Speaker 1: you to stay away from my setup. One handler histed
Speaker 1: another as they power walk towards the staging area, wearing
Speaker 1: sequin accented suits. Like, clearly Best and Show didn't have
Speaker 1: to try that hard to mock some of what goes on. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. And and speaking of Best and Show, I
Speaker 1: do remember reading and this is really no shock to
Speaker 1: me but that none of the dog shows would let
Speaker 1: Christopher guests film his mockumentary there, so he basically had
Speaker 1: to build and recreate a massive dog show just for
Speaker 1: the movie. And it's such a great movie. But let's
Speaker 1: get back on track here, because you know, Noodles has
Speaker 1: a dog show to win, so we need to figure
Speaker 1: out how to game one. So before we start talking
Speaker 1: about how to run the tables, you know, why don't
Speaker 1: you walk us through a quick history of dog shows.
Speaker 1: You you you had the honor being assigned to looking up
Speaker 1: the history of dog shows. That's all yours. Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 1: So Westminster is America's oldest dog show that's still around today.
Speaker 1: It is massive, like it's the only one that gets
Speaker 1: broadcast for two nights on TV. And it's actually the
Speaker 1: second oldest continuously held sporting competition in the US. It's
Speaker 1: been going on since eighteen seventy seven. Wow, that's remarkable.
Speaker 1: I actually didn't have any idea how old it was.
Speaker 1: I did know what the oldest continuous sporting event was.
Speaker 1: Do you hapen to know what it is? It's the
Speaker 1: Kentucky Derby. It's actually right around this time. I guess
Speaker 1: it's only probably a year or so before Westminster. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. But what's funny is that Westminster has been
Speaker 1: a hot ticket from the start, and apparently people have
Speaker 1: just always been crazy for dogs. There's this great book
Speaker 1: called Show Dog by Josh Dean, and he talks about
Speaker 1: the dogs at the first Westminster and actually, let me
Speaker 1: read this quote just to show you how excited people
Speaker 1: were about the first show. Among the top attractions of
Speaker 1: that debut show were two stag hounds from a pack
Speaker 1: owned by the then dead General George Custer, to deer
Speaker 1: hounds bread by a queen Victoria of England, reported to
Speaker 1: be worth fifty dollars each and it's two legged dog
Speaker 1: said to be a veritable biped and possessing almost human intelligence, right,
Speaker 1: I know, And it was the place to be like.
Speaker 1: A New York Times story reported that the gentleman who
Speaker 1: served as ticket sellers could not make change fast enough
Speaker 1: to suit the impatience of the throng that was continually
Speaker 1: clamoring for admittance. Wow, now I do feel like we
Speaker 1: should be clear. Westminster wasn't America's first dog show. I
Speaker 1: mean we we just noted that it's the oldest one
Speaker 1: in the US that still exists today. There was one
Speaker 1: in Chicago before that, and then of course, well before that,
Speaker 1: Crufts in Birmingham, England, and that have been going on
Speaker 1: since Victorian times, you know. And in fact, that's probably
Speaker 1: why these dogs shows are so you know, pageanty. I
Speaker 1: guess it's it's it's kind of recreating that spirit maybe.
Speaker 1: But what's funny to me is that dog shows aren't
Speaker 1: officially called dog shows. They're known as conformation. That's so weird.
Speaker 1: And apparently when a dog makes it to the finals
Speaker 1: in a dog show, it's not actually competing against the
Speaker 1: other dogs for Who's the most Beautiful? Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: It's actually something I didn't know before we were doing
Speaker 1: the research for this episode. So unlike a beauty pageant
Speaker 1: where people are competing against one another, here every dog
Speaker 1: is being judged against how well it conforms to their
Speaker 1: own A k C. Standards. So it isn't that this
Speaker 1: first place terrier is more beautiful than a Great Dane.
Speaker 1: It's that the terrier is closer to being a perfect
Speaker 1: ambassador of its breed, you might say, then, than a
Speaker 1: great Dane was. And so, you know, but it accentuates
Speaker 1: what dog shows are really about, and that's breeding, you know,
Speaker 1: or more specifically, it's all about creating the most perfect
Speaker 1: pure bread possible, which you know, this is why winning
Speaker 1: is such a big deal, and the stud fees that
Speaker 1: come with winning are just outrageous. Yeah, and of course
Speaker 1: there are health complications that come with breeding pure breads,
Speaker 1: as anyone with a cursory knowledge of the Habsburgs or
Speaker 1: any royal dynasty will tell you. Yeah, and we'll get
Speaker 1: to some of that dark breeding stuff later. But you know,
Speaker 1: what might be my favorite fact that I learned about
Speaker 1: Westminster this week? What's that so every year, the winner
Speaker 1: and their dog they get to eat a victory meal
Speaker 1: at Sardi's, you know that the legendary restaurant in New York.
Speaker 1: And there's this cute tradition. But but if someone pointed
Speaker 1: out in two thousand and twelve, it also was this
Speaker 1: massive health code violation. You know, you'd have the Pekinese
Speaker 1: eating dice chicken at your table and lapping it off
Speaker 1: the fine china, and so this was a real problem.
Speaker 1: And so the whole thing put Mayor Bloomberg and the
Speaker 1: city in a bind because you know, he obviously wanted
Speaker 1: sanitary restaurants, so there was all this stress over what
Speaker 1: to do, and there was pressure from diners and so
Speaker 1: finally he and the city health commissioner got together and
Speaker 1: they came up with this plan. So what they decided
Speaker 1: is that the winner of the Westminster they also get
Speaker 1: a one night exemption from the health commissioner to eat
Speaker 1: dinner out in New York City. Is and this crazy,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's such a strange and gaping loophole, but
Speaker 1: they managed to keep this tradition alive at least for
Speaker 1: one pure bred dog a year. Well, I love that.
Speaker 1: It's so ridiculous. And speaking of food, there's this really
Speaker 1: fun article in the Washington Post by Karen Brouillard called
Speaker 1: Things I Learned covering Westminster, and there were a number
Speaker 1: of things in it that I hadn't realized or read
Speaker 1: anywhere else, like this makes sense to me now. But
Speaker 1: there are three different bathroom designations for the dogs. There
Speaker 1: there's a I see men's room dog area, a women's
Speaker 1: room for the female dogs to relieve themselves, and then
Speaker 1: there's one specifically for female dogs and heat. And at
Speaker 1: first I was wondering, like, why have all these separate
Speaker 1: but equal bathrooms. I know, I mean, they're just dogs,
Speaker 1: but but the reason is none of the male dogs
Speaker 1: are neutered, and so because this is all about breeding
Speaker 1: and breeding more pure breads and the stud fees like
Speaker 1: you don't want a dog mounting another dog on a
Speaker 1: bathroom break. Before you started this story, you were saying
Speaker 1: this was related to food. How's this related to food? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm getting there, but first I've had another weird fact
Speaker 1: that I hadn't thought about. So Brullard also talks about
Speaker 1: why male dogs dominate these dog shows, and while some
Speaker 1: breeders think it's because male dogs tend to be more beautiful.
Speaker 1: Brulard points out that this isn't exactly true and and
Speaker 1: that it actually comes back to breeding. So if your
Speaker 1: most beautiful female dogs are meant for breeding and you're
Speaker 1: making tons of money off the puppies, then they're probably
Speaker 1: going to be pregnant during the dog show season and
Speaker 1: unable to compete on the circuit that gets you there.
Speaker 1: So female dogs are out of disadvantage and can't really
Speaker 1: lean in. But that food fact, this is gonna be
Speaker 1: another breeding fact. I'm guessing no, but it is the
Speaker 1: funniest thing for Lar talks about her piece to me
Speaker 1: and lose and that's the dry cleaners seemed to hate
Speaker 1: dog handlers because they're always stuffing meat into their pockets.
Speaker 1: That's a great sentence like this one top handler was
Speaker 1: talking about how she makes all these specialty treats for
Speaker 1: her dogs and and that they're extra garlicky and dried
Speaker 1: out and whatnot. But she'll also just use hot dogs,
Speaker 1: so at any moment, she'll have a hot dog or
Speaker 1: two down her bra Another great sentence. But I mean
Speaker 1: this is like a known trick, and and she'll also
Speaker 1: have meat treats in her pockets and sometimes melted cheese
Speaker 1: and and all that forgotten food like gets stinky and
Speaker 1: it's a hassle to deal with. And if you have
Speaker 1: such a hassle that she and her dry cleaner eventually
Speaker 1: had to break up because of it. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: not quite sure how you forget that there's a hot
Speaker 1: dog and your bra melted cheese either way, but that
Speaker 1: is a good fact, I'll give it to you. It
Speaker 1: took you a while to get to that one. That
Speaker 1: that is good. You know, it's interesting to learn that
Speaker 1: handlers are basically like jockeys. I mean, these these top
Speaker 1: dog owners are they're scouting and using the best handlers
Speaker 1: to get a competitive edge, and they just want the
Speaker 1: judges to notice their dogs. Yeah, it's it's a totally
Speaker 1: fascinating job. And the handless story I liked the most
Speaker 1: was about this poodle handler CAUs Osaka, who apparently lives
Speaker 1: in Delaware, which you know, gives me extra prize. But
Speaker 1: he's apparently the Michelangela pool grooming. I don't know anything
Speaker 1: about this person, So what's his story? Yeah, so it's crazy.
Speaker 1: As a teenager, he was showing a Doberman at a
Speaker 1: show in Japan, and this legendary judge who I've never
Speaker 1: heard about. Her name's and Rogers Clark. She and her
Speaker 1: husband were there and and they spotted him and noticed
Speaker 1: his talent, and they basically said, like, if you want
Speaker 1: to be a great handler, come with those to the US.
Speaker 1: So at nineteen years old, cause who spoke zero English
Speaker 1: and hadn't really traveled like, he just up and moved
Speaker 1: in with the Clarks and and learned the art of
Speaker 1: the poodle. And now he's undeniably the best poodle groomer
Speaker 1: and handler in the world. But what makes him so
Speaker 1: great isn't that he's won so much, or that he's
Speaker 1: a perfectionist like and he has a perfectionist like he
Speaker 1: brushes each of his twenty poodles every night, which you
Speaker 1: can take anywhere from five minutes to half an hour
Speaker 1: per dog. Plus he crumps their hair as he does it.
Speaker 1: But what makes him so great is that he's insanely humble,
Speaker 1: Like here's a quote from Josh Dean thirty years later,
Speaker 1: causes unequivocally the top poodle groomer and handler in America?
Speaker 1: How long did it take him to become good? Still?
Speaker 1: I am no good? He said, you're the best there is,
Speaker 1: aren't you. People think so, but I don't think. I
Speaker 1: think learning never ends, he said, especially with poodles. Wow, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I do know that a good handler can
Speaker 1: certainly put a bigger spotlight on your dog, just in
Speaker 1: reading up about this. And they're also good at scouting
Speaker 1: the judges and masking certain defects, and so you know,
Speaker 1: they'll use different leased tricks to compensate for dog's wonky
Speaker 1: gate or you know, they're like zhibit dogs from certain
Speaker 1: angles just to try to get that vantage. Well, what's
Speaker 1: that mean? Like certain angles? Well, there's something out side
Speaker 1: wheeling where you bring the dog in from an oblique
Speaker 1: angle so that the judge won't see like a minor
Speaker 1: defect in the dog. And they're they're all kinds of
Speaker 1: tricks like this. But you know, with so much money
Speaker 1: and pride on the line, some dog owners will choose
Speaker 1: to go beyond just hiring a great handler, and they
Speaker 1: veered to the dark side and they'll actually play dirt,
Speaker 1: evenive or not. But before we get into the juicy
Speaker 1: evil side of dog shows, why don't we take a
Speaker 1: quick break for a quiz. So our guest today as
Speaker 1: an award winning photographer and an animal activist who first
Speaker 1: caught our eye with this incredible series. This is the
Speaker 1: one where she took flower crowns and put them on
Speaker 1: pit bulls, you know, to help them get adopted. It
Speaker 1: was just a beautiful series. Still does these today. She's
Speaker 1: done a ton of other wonderful work, and we'll talk
Speaker 1: to her about that. But Sophie Gammon, welcome to Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius. Hi, thank you for having me well, and
Speaker 1: today's show, we're talking about dog shows for most of
Speaker 1: the show, but you know, we're fascinated by this variation
Speaker 1: on this the doggie pageant scene, and I just it
Speaker 1: was funny. We were talking to you before you came
Speaker 1: in today, a little bit about how you got into
Speaker 1: shooting these doggie pageants and then the pit bulls, and
Speaker 1: so tell us a little bit about how you did
Speaker 1: get into this to begin with. When I actually first
Speaker 1: moved to New York from Europe, um, I kind of
Speaker 1: left my job, my family, my friends, everything behind. I
Speaker 1: just brought a husband with me, which was helpful, I
Speaker 1: guess technically he brought me. But so I arrived here
Speaker 1: and I had nobody, nothing to do, and I it
Speaker 1: was a way for me to reinvent myself, which was fantastic.
Speaker 1: But I only had the camera and that kind of
Speaker 1: became my way in and very quickly I realized I
Speaker 1: was more drawn to photographing dogs than people. So I
Speaker 1: was like, Oh, I'm just gonna do a project on dogs,
Speaker 1: and it really snowballed from there. That was almost like
Speaker 1: seven years ago, and now I'm a full time dog
Speaker 1: artist slash activist and all the good stuff that comes
Speaker 1: with Wow, that's great. Today's show was really about dog shows,
Speaker 1: but we're fascinated by this variation. You covered the doggie
Speaker 1: pageant and so as an outsider, it looks a little
Speaker 1: like a dog show meets toddlers and try and so
Speaker 1: can you tell us a little about dog pageants? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I come across that group of people in New
Speaker 1: York um that have mostly like chihuahuas or small breed
Speaker 1: dogs that they carry around in their purses and they
Speaker 1: dress them up. I was looking for people who looked
Speaker 1: like their dogs and and then I bumped into that
Speaker 1: scene and I was like, holy moly, I have to
Speaker 1: do something. So I guess my first contact with that
Speaker 1: scene was this is kind of crazy and pathetic. It's
Speaker 1: gonna make great photos, Let's go for it. And then
Speaker 1: you know, I started meeting these people and seeing their
Speaker 1: routine and the relationship they had with their dogs. And
Speaker 1: as a photographer, you know, you're trying not to judge.
Speaker 1: You go in as a witness and you want to document.
Speaker 1: So I was trying really hard to do that. So
Speaker 1: there's this very active group. They're trying to raise money
Speaker 1: for rescues through all these events, and which is fantastic, um,
Speaker 1: but mostly it's about you know, kind of spotlight and
Speaker 1: being on the catwalk with your dog. And so I
Speaker 1: always say, you know, it's like, really the child pageant.
Speaker 1: You think it's about the kids, but it's really about
Speaker 1: the moms, let's be honest. So a lot of it
Speaker 1: was just you know, single ladies in their forties, fifties,
Speaker 1: sixties that have this amazing intense relationship with their dog.
Speaker 1: The dog is really like a spouse at that point.
Speaker 1: It's insane the relationship they have. And and so they
Speaker 1: go through these fashion shows and the pageants where you know,
Speaker 1: they work on their skills together and outfits matching outfits.
Speaker 1: It's just a crazy subculture that that really fascinated me.
Speaker 1: Is that hard to photograph dogs and clothing? No, I
Speaker 1: actually have a series that I call dog Vogue, and
Speaker 1: I worked with a local pet s cuterier who basically
Speaker 1: create these amazing outfits for these chihuahuas in that scene.
Speaker 1: I mean, some of these people buy outfits that are
Speaker 1: worth like a thousand dollars covered in sources, crystals, like
Speaker 1: those outfits are sometimes works of art, like really, so
Speaker 1: it was actually really interesting for me to photograph that
Speaker 1: fashion aspect of it. Um, some dogs loved the attention,
Speaker 1: sometimes were miserable, let's be honest, but most of them
Speaker 1: actually it's part of their routine. You know. When my
Speaker 1: work came out about the pageant, I got a little
Speaker 1: bit of hate mail sometimes or hateful comments on social media,
Speaker 1: and mostly people are like, how dare you It is
Speaker 1: so unnatural to dress up dogs and all that? And
Speaker 1: my answer is always like, oh, because you think it's
Speaker 1: natural for dogs to like sniffle bombs at the airport
Speaker 1: or guides the blind, of course not. You know, that's
Speaker 1: just exactly you know, we created dogs a certain way,
Speaker 1: We created breeds, shape, sizes, skills, We invented all this
Speaker 1: from maybe the wolf. Maybe we you know, it's very
Speaker 1: unclear the exact origin, but throughout artificial selection, we completely
Speaker 1: manufactured engineered this animal slash companion. They love the reward,
Speaker 1: they love the attention. They want to make us happy,
Speaker 1: and that's how it's been for millionaire Why not? And
Speaker 1: you talk about that a little bit on your website. Thought,
Speaker 1: I thought that was really interesting, basically saying, we are
Speaker 1: the reason that dogs are around, right, We've created this,
Speaker 1: and so because of that, we now have a responsibility
Speaker 1: as humans to care for these absolutely. Thinking a little
Speaker 1: bit about your work, you know with the pit bulls
Speaker 1: and the rescue animals, um talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: that and what you've seen happening in the rescue world.
Speaker 1: I think if I try to look back at it
Speaker 1: a little bit, I would say, for years, you know,
Speaker 1: we we displayed shelter dogs as these miserable, sad, filthy,
Speaker 1: sick creatures that needed to be saved. We've all seen
Speaker 1: those commercial on TV, the sad song, and I'm crying
Speaker 1: just thinking about it. Right. I think it served a
Speaker 1: purpose for a long time. But now there's a new
Speaker 1: generation that I've been trying to lead a little bit
Speaker 1: of photographers and artists and advocates that try to present
Speaker 1: a more positive image of shelter dogs to say, look
Speaker 1: at this amazing face, this personality, like, don't you want
Speaker 1: to live with this for the rest of their life.
Speaker 1: What's difficult when it comes to pit bull is that
Speaker 1: although there is a breed called the American pitbull terrier,
Speaker 1: when you refer when the public refers to pitbulls, they
Speaker 1: mean a group of dogs that is a mix of breeds,
Speaker 1: different kind of breeds, mixed breeds, and also just any
Speaker 1: dog that kind of looks like that so has a
Speaker 1: blocky head or a big smile. In most shelters, even
Speaker 1: shelter staff don't know how to identify these dogs. So
Speaker 1: now we have this I called it the mythological creature really,
Speaker 1: which is the pitball? Right? You know, hid your children,
Speaker 1: But we can't even define what a pitbull is really.
Speaker 1: And then we build laws, bands, you know, and and
Speaker 1: all sorts of laws that prevents you from having them
Speaker 1: in your apartment or in your city or whatever around
Speaker 1: this concept of this dog that is going to eat
Speaker 1: your life. So it is so layered and super complicated,
Speaker 1: Like if you have specific questions, more than happy to
Speaker 1: talk about it. But this is a there's a lot
Speaker 1: to talk about when it comes to pitbulls. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: and then an important discussion, um, almost almost as important
Speaker 1: as I think this quiz that we've written for you today.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all right, well let's let's put her to
Speaker 1: the test. What's our quiz called today? So somebody's gonna
Speaker 1: play a game called dog breed or regional delicacy? All right,
Speaker 1: So it's as simple as that. We'll read you a
Speaker 1: name and you tell us whether this is a dog
Speaker 1: breed or regional delicacy. Okay, here we go, all right.
Speaker 1: Number one or ZOI dog? Wow? It quickly? Is that right? Mango? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a dog freed developed in Russia as a hunting
Speaker 1: and coursing dog. Okay, you're one for one, all right.
Speaker 1: The next one runs A has to be some food
Speaker 1: or something. It's definitely a food or something at these
Speaker 1: Midwest favorites or pockets of dough filled with meat, veggies
Speaker 1: and spices. You sounded really excited about that, alright. Number
Speaker 1: three keys Oh wow, oh I food? Yeah you yeah,
Speaker 1: you obviously haven't shot a key shon before. I don't
Speaker 1: think right, These are dogs, aren't they Mango. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: super fluffy dogs related to the Pomeranian. Oh how do
Speaker 1: you spell that? K E E S H O N
Speaker 1: D Wow? All right, don't make me say I don't
Speaker 1: do breed? Next one you per? You per? Oh? Food
Speaker 1: well done? Nice? Yeah, it's a also sometimes called a pasty.
Speaker 1: These meaty turnovers are a favorite in the Upper Peninsula.
Speaker 1: Can we not use paste? These and meat turns? The uncomfortable? Here? Alright?
Speaker 1: The last one? Here we go? A ham dog? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: I mean, I imagine it's some kind of food, but
Speaker 1: I know people who called it a a dog like this
Speaker 1: than we had a friend with a dog named Hamburger,
Speaker 1: didn't we Now you're right, it is a food, right, Mango? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the hand dog is invented by Chandler. Golf is a
Speaker 1: eat fried hot dog and a hamburger behund topped with
Speaker 1: an egg and served with fries. So I tried to
Speaker 1: be vegetarians, so I wouldn't know any of these anyway,
Speaker 1: not immediate pasty. All right. Well, how has Sophie done today? Mango? Well,
Speaker 1: soph he's gone astounding four for five, which earns her
Speaker 1: top prize. A note to her mom, singing her praises Wow, congratch.
Speaker 1: Otherwise she's gonna be like, I don't understand. We'll try. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll give it a shot. But I hope all of
Speaker 1: our listeners will check out Sophie's Instagram page and we
Speaker 1: will link to it uh in the information below this podcast.
Speaker 1: So thanks so much for joining us, Sophie. Thank you,
Speaker 1: it was super fun. Thank you. Welcome back to Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius Now Mango. I know we were both delighted
Speaker 1: to find out that there's some dirty stuff that goes
Speaker 1: on as far as the competition, So why don't we
Speaker 1: talk about that? Yeah, you know, I always think it's
Speaker 1: fun to read about the scandalous dark side of event,
Speaker 1: and especially when they feels so wholesome. Yeah, well, why
Speaker 1: don't we go back and forth with some of our
Speaker 1: favorite underhanded things and and I'll start it off if
Speaker 1: that works for you. So, all right, Apparently it's pretty
Speaker 1: common for a petty owner to hide a pair of
Speaker 1: scissors on them and what they'll do is they'll just
Speaker 1: snip a patch of hair off a competitor's dog, as
Speaker 1: they all thought. Yeah, for my reading, this is actually
Speaker 1: a somewhat common tactic that's so psycho and and you know,
Speaker 1: you know what sniffing for reminds me of, Like how
Speaker 1: that classical composer friends list was such a rock star
Speaker 1: that his fans would write him asking for locks of
Speaker 1: his hair, and he got so fed up that he
Speaker 1: finally bought a dog with similar colored hair and just
Speaker 1: started mailing his fans curls from his dog's hair instead
Speaker 1: of his own. You've always got a Frond's list of
Speaker 1: fact ready, but where we're um? Oh yeah that. The
Speaker 1: worst thing I read was that some owners slip other
Speaker 1: dogs chocolate before an event. It's just just because chocolate
Speaker 1: is bad for dogs or something. I mean, it is
Speaker 1: in the long run, but chocolate can also cause a
Speaker 1: dog's mouth to come all filmy inside, and since the
Speaker 1: judge looks at the teeth pretty closely, you can actually
Speaker 1: throw off your score. Wow. Actually, I read something that
Speaker 1: maybe even more disturbing about that is that sometimes dogs
Speaker 1: get roofied by a competitors. Roofied like I've heard about
Speaker 1: like people slipping them laxatives, but not roofies. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's it's not enough to make them fall asleep, but
Speaker 1: enough that they aren't sharp in the ring. And it's
Speaker 1: totally crazy what these people are doing. That's that's honestly gross.
Speaker 1: And of course there are other tactics that aren't as
Speaker 1: slimy as any of these, but but also don't feel
Speaker 1: exactly ethical, Like there are reports of dogs that have
Speaker 1: plastic surgery to enhance their assets, and they're funny, ridiculous
Speaker 1: things like their reports from judges who claim that some
Speaker 1: dogs use so much hairsprayed that they can't get their
Speaker 1: hand through the coat. And actually this is old article
Speaker 1: from the New York Times Weekend Review. This is from
Speaker 1: and it's all about the dog show enhancing and and
Speaker 1: it's so great here let me read this quotium as
Speaker 1: surely as there are pictures skilled in the use of
Speaker 1: hair oil or tobacco juice to alter a baseball's flight,
Speaker 1: there are dog handlers unwilling to be slaves to the rules.
Speaker 1: As a younger judge at a smaller show, Mr Goodman recalled,
Speaker 1: he would admire the rich coppery tones and the coats
Speaker 1: of Airdales and Welsh terriers. Sometimes his hands would be
Speaker 1: read afterwards. Can you imagine petting a dog in your
Speaker 1: hand coming out all rest like? And there's a great
Speaker 1: story in there too, about how one poodle looked like
Speaker 1: she she was like beautiful and naturally fluffy, but when
Speaker 1: an admiring judge got closer, the poodle shook and this
Speaker 1: thick cloud of powder floated off and floated towards the
Speaker 1: judges clothing. Oh gosh, yeah, but I did see. I mean,
Speaker 1: one thing that kept coming up and reading about this
Speaker 1: is that it's really hard to fool a skill judge.
Speaker 1: I mean, some of those powder and paint tricks might
Speaker 1: get you through the lower rounds, but it's definitely not
Speaker 1: enough to win for you at you know, at Westminster. No.
Speaker 1: I definitely agree with that. But like we mentioned before,
Speaker 1: a good handler does know who the judges are going
Speaker 1: to be and and they'll try to show to their interests. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, speaking wish that there's some great nicknaming for
Speaker 1: judges with certain pref Likewise, it's it's like jargon in
Speaker 1: the industry. But like a judge who obsesses over perfect
Speaker 1: teeth is called a tooth fairy, and one who gives
Speaker 1: preference to the dog's head over the body, they're called
Speaker 1: head hunters. All right, So so maybe you can take
Speaker 1: those things into consideration as you're showing a dog but
Speaker 1: there's one definite way to sway a judge that isn't
Speaker 1: talked about that much. And and honestly, that's advertising. And
Speaker 1: I really didn't have any idea about this, but just
Speaker 1: like they do for movies with all those you know,
Speaker 1: for your consideration as Yeah, and which is funny because
Speaker 1: Best in Show and for your Consideration are both Christopher guests.
Speaker 1: That is true. Good point. But you know, but the
Speaker 1: dog show world has the exact same kind of thing
Speaker 1: going on. And there there are a few dog magazines
Speaker 1: that go out free to every a case judge as
Speaker 1: they get their certification. And you know, some of these
Speaker 1: owners they'll pay thirty thousand dollars per dog to get
Speaker 1: their puppies glam shots and names highlighted in the magazines.
Speaker 1: It's it's really crazy and it's a big business. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's an insane amount of money. But but
Speaker 1: judges often claim that they don't read those magazines, right,
Speaker 1: and I mean, like I've read the titles. They're like
Speaker 1: the Canine Chronicle. Yeah, but you know they're there are
Speaker 1: three or four of these magazines out there, and they'd
Speaker 1: be all out of business if people didn't think they
Speaker 1: worked and there was this interview with The Daily Beast.
Speaker 1: Then Bob Wheeler was interviewed and he said, I can't
Speaker 1: think of any top ten dog in the last ten
Speaker 1: years that didn't do some advertising, you know, And the
Speaker 1: whole notion is, you can't put a mediocre dog in
Speaker 1: there and buy enough ad space to win. But if
Speaker 1: you have a real contender and you can build this
Speaker 1: campaign around them, and you know, if you're lucky enough
Speaker 1: to put a judge in your photo with your dog
Speaker 1: who also happens to be at Westminster, supposedly the flattery
Speaker 1: has worked. So let's recap a little. We know that
Speaker 1: if you want a game a dog show, you need
Speaker 1: a great handler, a lot of advertising, perhaps a little
Speaker 1: hot dog in your pants are bra of course you'll
Speaker 1: need a pure bread, but let's talk about that. So initially,
Speaker 1: when I was thinking about this, I was wondering if
Speaker 1: there was a way to game a dog show where
Speaker 1: you could pick a super obscure breed and just like
Speaker 1: work your way in through a side door and kind
Speaker 1: of like those mediocre American athletes who will buy their
Speaker 1: way into Olympic has been like a different country. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, I didn't find a lot about this,
Speaker 1: and I'm guessing you could win some local competitions and
Speaker 1: maybe get into Westminster if the breed is really obscure
Speaker 1: and uncompetitive. But you know, the show takes into account
Speaker 1: how many dogs you're beating to get there. And one
Speaker 1: intangible that judges and dog handlers seem to keep talking
Speaker 1: about is a dog's charisma, and so judges want dogs
Speaker 1: with great temperaments and great charisma. And you know you're
Speaker 1: not going to win with an introv that is sad.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's certainly breeds that dominate the competition.
Speaker 1: So if you're really looking to win, and you had
Speaker 1: the money for it, you'd probably want to go with
Speaker 1: a thoroughbred line of a known favorite breed, you know,
Speaker 1: rather than trying to win with an outsider dog, even
Speaker 1: if the competition will be pretty stiff to get to Westminster.
Speaker 1: So give me an example. Well, for decades, terriers were
Speaker 1: the dog and you couldn't get around them, and and
Speaker 1: that's partially because they're bred to be fearless, so they'll
Speaker 1: strut around and bounce and take it all in stride.
Speaker 1: But they've kind of lost steam over the years, and today,
Speaker 1: you know, Yorky's are really the only terrier that have
Speaker 1: been winning. Well, there has been a move to like
Speaker 1: toy dogs, right, Yeah, that's definitely true. I mean more
Speaker 1: tiny dogs have one recently, but there hasn't been a
Speaker 1: clear trend that Vegas or people creating the odds on
Speaker 1: Westminster have really identified at this point. Well, I don't
Speaker 1: want to dwell on this, but we should probably talk
Speaker 1: just a little bit about why dog shows and creating
Speaker 1: pure bred dogs can be problematic. You know, when I
Speaker 1: read about some of the problems that these dogs have,
Speaker 1: I was just horrified. Like English bulldogs obviously have at
Speaker 1: the worst. Not only does their big head make it
Speaker 1: hard to breathe and and their bulging eyes are so
Speaker 1: poorly connected to their sockets, but the dogs sink and
Speaker 1: water and they can't actually breathe themselves, like, they have
Speaker 1: to be artificially inseminated, and they can't give birth, so
Speaker 1: they have to be delivered by c sections. Like we're
Speaker 1: basically keeping the species alive because they're cute, and I
Speaker 1: mean they are cute. There was a time when I
Speaker 1: wanted to get a big, fat bulldog and name in Paddington. Well,
Speaker 1: you know it isn't just bulldogs and cavalier King Charles
Speaker 1: Spaniels have skulls that are too small for their brains,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of us that's pretty horrifying, and
Speaker 1: there are lots of problems. And you know, even when
Speaker 1: breeders are trying to avoid cruelty and build dogs with
Speaker 1: better temperaments, like you know, tail cutting is something that
Speaker 1: you can't do for dog shows anymore. So breeders quickly
Speaker 1: bred dogs with tiny tails, and that's something you can
Speaker 1: do when just two or three generations. But as you
Speaker 1: do that and crown a most beautiful dog that has
Speaker 1: this short, genetically engineered tail, you also don't know what
Speaker 1: other genetic traits you're accidentally introducing. Well, the one thing
Speaker 1: that does seem positive on this front is that much
Speaker 1: like there's the human Genome Project, there's actually a dog
Speaker 1: genome project that's located and mapped out all the canine
Speaker 1: jeanes like both good and bad, and and with the
Speaker 1: simple blood test, you can actually figure out whether or
Speaker 1: not your dog is a carrier for certain traits, and
Speaker 1: hopefully that will lead to healthier dogs in the future.
Speaker 1: But speaking of pure breads, I do want to talk
Speaker 1: a little about the dog breeds that haven't made the
Speaker 1: cut to get into Westminster. Do you want to give
Speaker 1: a few examples of those. Yeah, So they're about sixty
Speaker 1: or so breeds that are just on the waiting list. Basically,
Speaker 1: to make the cut, you have to show that your
Speaker 1: breeding club has over a hundred members and there needs
Speaker 1: to be like over three hundred of this dog in
Speaker 1: the US. Then there has to be a breed standard
Speaker 1: that they're all measuring up to or trying to measure
Speaker 1: up to, and the dogs have to have this pedigree
Speaker 1: of three generations minimum. Also, like these dogs can't all
Speaker 1: be from one region. That they've got to be scattered.
Speaker 1: And once all that's figured out, like then you can
Speaker 1: compete in the miscellaneous category, which feels a little like
Speaker 1: dog purgatory. I mean, there's some sort of political process
Speaker 1: that gets you off the wait list, and it's kind
Speaker 1: of murky as I understand it. Like the Tibetan Mastiff
Speaker 1: got out of the miscellaneous category in just two years,
Speaker 1: but the Cavalier King Charles, they actually spent thirty years
Speaker 1: there and uh and and some of it's from the
Speaker 1: breeders and the club themselves, like some clubs don't care
Speaker 1: who if they're recognized. Their red bone Coonhound is one
Speaker 1: of these examples. They're really more of an agility and
Speaker 1: performance dogs, so they're not interested in showing for conforming
Speaker 1: and uh, and they've been happy with their designation. And
Speaker 1: I think part of the reason the Cavalier Club like
Speaker 1: they didn't want their pops on the list was because
Speaker 1: breeders didn't want the dog to get too popular. But
Speaker 1: the a k C recognized them anyway, and the club
Speaker 1: was supposedly furious when it happened. I mean, I have
Speaker 1: to met These politics are kind of funny when it
Speaker 1: comes to all of this. All Right, Well, I think
Speaker 1: we've talked about dog shows and how to win a show,
Speaker 1: but I definitely want to talk about some of the
Speaker 1: non dog shows we found. So I'd love to read
Speaker 1: off a few of my favorites, and you let me
Speaker 1: know if I missed any great ones. Well, I do
Speaker 1: think before we moved to non dog shows, you've got
Speaker 1: to talk about a few other dog shows. And so
Speaker 1: I've got the World's Ugliest Dog Show, which often features
Speaker 1: dogs only an owner could love, Like these are the
Speaker 1: sweet temperament dogs with really bad haircuts, and their tongues
Speaker 1: are sticking out and and they often look kind of
Speaker 1: like they're modeled after the drawings of preschoolers. You know,
Speaker 1: you definitely don't need to be a pure bred to
Speaker 1: be in or just just really loved I guess. But
Speaker 1: all right, well here a few others. So there's a
Speaker 1: camel Festival. It takes place over twenty eight days, which
Speaker 1: is pretty crazy. You definitely don't want to miss that one.
Speaker 1: There's a rabbit show jumping competition that's known as the
Speaker 1: Canning Hoppen NG and Sweden. I'm sure I said that incorrectly,
Speaker 1: where the world's most adorable bunnies are trained to hop high,
Speaker 1: far and fast. And then of course there's the cricket
Speaker 1: fighting UFC style contest and Beijing, which I wouldn't even mention,
Speaker 1: except that the crickets, which have lifespans of a hundred
Speaker 1: days or so, they go for fifteen hundred dollars and insects.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. And how do how do you know if
Speaker 1: you've got a good cricket on your hands? Well, apparently
Speaker 1: if you poke it and it chirps louder, you've got
Speaker 1: a winner. Well, there's there's also an annual tarantula exhibition
Speaker 1: where which I want no part of, but where the
Speaker 1: animals are judged on their coats and shine and also
Speaker 1: their demeanor. I kind of like this idea of judging
Speaker 1: a tarantula's demeanor so weird. Yeah, I'm also curious, like
Speaker 1: how much a stud tarantula goes for and and you
Speaker 1: know you you did forget my favorite, which is the
Speaker 1: chicken strutting contest in Malaysia where where all these beautiful
Speaker 1: fouls and march around with their chests out. Not to
Speaker 1: worry about this, I was saving the chicken strutting the
Speaker 1: last The photos from this are unbelievable. I mean they're
Speaker 1: like these little comical drum majors and the winners go
Speaker 1: for ten thousand dollars a bird. I think my favorite
Speaker 1: part though, is the cheering for them. So I was
Speaker 1: reading this very sweet quote from one owner who was
Speaker 1: yelling over this big crowd, Yes, my hero, puff out
Speaker 1: your chest. I mean just reading that quote made me happy.
Speaker 1: It's pretty great. But you know, we can't spend this
Speaker 1: whole episode on dogs talking about chickens. So you know
Speaker 1: what time it is? Time for the PTG fact off
Speaker 1: And I've got just the fact to kick this off.
Speaker 1: M So, the first dog show on record goes back
Speaker 1: to June eighteen fifty nine. That's when sixty hunting dogs,
Speaker 1: only pointers and setters competed for best in Show. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't that they were trying to keep other dogs out.
Speaker 1: It's just that's the only dog they had at the time.
Speaker 1: But the interesting part is because these were hunting dogs,
Speaker 1: instead of trophies, winners were giving guns instead. I'm surprised
Speaker 1: no one's brought that back, Like I'm sure the n
Speaker 1: r A would love to sponsor war dog show and
Speaker 1: Noodles definitely needs a gun. So here's one about Westminster
Speaker 1: that I didn't realize. Did you know that since the
Speaker 1: tournament's conception they've been giving a percent of the profits
Speaker 1: to the A s p C A And in fact,
Speaker 1: there's also a portion of the profits that goes to
Speaker 1: scholarships for veterinary students. Wow, I I didn't realize that
Speaker 1: New York City gets so into this action all right. Well,
Speaker 1: in addition to the Sardi's meal and the show taking
Speaker 1: over Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building is lit
Speaker 1: up for the event in purple and yellow. The shows
Speaker 1: official colors and Lakers colors. That's right. Do you know
Speaker 1: that dog groom and parlors have been a thing since
Speaker 1: eighteenth century France. Apparently it all started when the poodle
Speaker 1: was named the official dog of King Louis the fifteenth Court.
Speaker 1: That makes sense to me, though. All right, right, here's
Speaker 1: one I love. Did you know that Rentin Tin was
Speaker 1: actually supposed to win the first Oscar for Best Actor?
Speaker 1: He started a number of box office hits and was
Speaker 1: the clear favorite. But according to author Susan Orlean, the
Speaker 1: Academy wanted to be perceived as more serious, so they
Speaker 1: took rent out of the running and did another vote,
Speaker 1: which is how a Mill Jennings ended up with the hardware. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a sad, sad day in dog history. Although I
Speaker 1: do love a good Emil Jennings blockbuster anyway, I do
Speaker 1: love that fact, and just like Rentintin, you deserve this
Speaker 1: week's trophy. But before we go, I want to thank
Speaker 1: Nolan Brown for his excellent research this weekend, and for
Speaker 1: all you listeners out there, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: tuning in. Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is
Speaker 1: a production of how stuff works and wouldn't be possible
Speaker 1: without several brilliant people who do the important things we
Speaker 1: couldn't even begin to understand. Christa McNeil does the editing thing.
Speaker 1: Noel Brown made the theme song and does the mixy
Speaker 1: mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing.
Speaker 1: Gay Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the
Speaker 1: research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams
Speaker 1: and Eves. Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears.
Speaker 1: Good job, Eves. If you like what you heard, we
Speaker 1: hope you'll subscribe, And if you really really like what
Speaker 1: you've heard, maybe you could leave a good review for us.
Speaker 1: Do we do? We forget Jason Jason who