WEBVTT - How Does the Westminster Dog Show Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogebam here at the very first Westminster Kennel Club

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<v Speaker 1>Dog Show in eight seventy seven, held in an open

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<v Speaker 1>air building in New York City that P. T. Barnum

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<v Speaker 1>built for his circus, Somewhere around one thousand, five hundred

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<v Speaker 1>canines were displayed for what The New York Times declared

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<v Speaker 1>a new fashionable amusement among members of the city's high society.

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<v Speaker 1>The Times announced in advance of the show on March

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<v Speaker 1>of that year, the attendance promises to be very select.

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<v Speaker 1>That hoity toity image for the world's most famous dog

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<v Speaker 1>show may, for some lingered nearly a century and a

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<v Speaker 1>half later bolstered by perfectly quite poodles performing for tuxedo judges,

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<v Speaker 1>but the hundred and forty five running of the Westminster Show,

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<v Speaker 1>which begins on June eleven, is a good bit more

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<v Speaker 1>than a finally brushed out coat on a careful controlled

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<v Speaker 1>pure bred. Certainly meticulously bred dogs, often outrageously groomed, are

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<v Speaker 1>still the show's centerpiece. Beyond that, though, Westminster is an

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<v Speaker 1>unabashed lovin for all dogs from the prancing show dog

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<v Speaker 1>performing for a worldwide audience to that rescue mutt taking

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<v Speaker 1>up residents on your living room sofa. For the article

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<v Speaker 1>this episode is based on How's to Work. Spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Gayl Miller Bischer, the director of Communications for the Westminster

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<v Speaker 1>Connel Club, the world's oldest group dedicated to the sport

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<v Speaker 1>of showing pure bred dogs. She said, Westminster is a

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<v Speaker 1>celebration of dogs, and it's a celebration of companionship, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's something that we have always strived to promote. If

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<v Speaker 1>you ever come to the dog show, where one of

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<v Speaker 1>the few benched shows still in existence, and that just

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<v Speaker 1>means that all the dogs have to stay at the

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<v Speaker 1>show all day. They're categorized alphabetically, so if you want

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<v Speaker 1>to see all the Afghans, they're all together in one area.

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<v Speaker 1>All the beagles are together. The whole purpose of that

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<v Speaker 1>is because we are a public education event. It's about

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<v Speaker 1>educating the public and making sure they learn about the

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<v Speaker 1>breed before you bring a dog into your home. And

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<v Speaker 1>as we mentioned that show has been around for a while.

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<v Speaker 1>The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the second longest

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<v Speaker 1>continuously held sporting event in America, behind only the Kentucky Derby,

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<v Speaker 1>which started in eighteen seventy five. The Westminster show was

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<v Speaker 1>around before the light bulb, which debuted in eighteen seventy nine,

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<v Speaker 1>and the first gasoline powered automobile from eighteen eighty five.

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<v Speaker 1>It also predates both the invention of the game of

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<v Speaker 1>basketball eighteen ninety one and the first World Series nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>o three. But the Westminster Show, as long running as

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<v Speaker 1>it is, will be vastly different this year due to

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<v Speaker 1>the remnants of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time

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<v Speaker 1>and it's a hundred and forty five year history, the

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<v Speaker 1>Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will not be held in

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<v Speaker 1>Manhattan in twenty one. Because of the early planning needed

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<v Speaker 1>to put on a show of this size and the

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<v Speaker 1>uncertainty of where the world would be pandemic wise, organizers

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<v Speaker 1>months ago opted to move the show twenty five miles

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<v Speaker 1>or forty kilometers north of the city to Terrytown, New York.

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<v Speaker 1>What's more, the show will be without any human spectators. Westminster.

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<v Speaker 1>The show has been through a lot in the century

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<v Speaker 1>plus of its existence. It was shortened to two days

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<v Speaker 1>during World War Two, and in ninety six because of

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<v Speaker 1>a tug boat strike in the city. The show was

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<v Speaker 1>completed in just one day. Last February, just before COVID struck,

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<v Speaker 1>the Westminster Conel Club held its hundredth straight show at

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<v Speaker 1>the Madison Square Garden Venue. Organizers discussed all sorts of

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<v Speaker 1>scenarios for the hundred forty showing, delay it until fall online,

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<v Speaker 1>only cancel it for the first time ever, moving it

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<v Speaker 1>north to the Lyndhurst Estate, a National Trust historic site

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<v Speaker 1>on the Hudson River, in a control setting that would

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<v Speaker 1>still allow for television coverage one the day. It's the

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<v Speaker 1>first time, too, that the competition will be held in

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<v Speaker 1>the month of June in non pandemic times. The show

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<v Speaker 1>normally takes place over a week one, it's an elongated

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<v Speaker 1>weekend and some two thousand, five hundred dogs are entered

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<v Speaker 1>in the show this year. Festivities begin Friday, June eleven

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<v Speaker 1>with a fan favorite, the Master's Agility Championship, which is

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<v Speaker 1>open to all dogs, including all American a k A.

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<v Speaker 1>Non purebred types. Some three fifty dogs will tackle an

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<v Speaker 1>obstacle course in the timed event. Mixed breed dogs are

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<v Speaker 1>also welcome at the Master's Obedience Championship. The Westminster Kennel

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<v Speaker 1>Club Dog show, though, is the judging of two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>nine breeds and several different varieties of certain breeds in

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<v Speaker 1>seven distinct groups. Hound, toy, non sporting, sporting, hurting, working,

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<v Speaker 1>and terrier. Dogs are judged by how closely they conform

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<v Speaker 1>to their breeds standards, which are the features that the

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<v Speaker 1>American Kennel Club or a KC defines as ideal features

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<v Speaker 1>for that breed. The standards cover how the dogs should look,

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<v Speaker 1>move and their temperament. Take, for example, a long haired

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<v Speaker 1>docks and a one of the three varieties of the

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<v Speaker 1>docks and breed, including smooth and wire haired in the

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<v Speaker 1>hound group. To be judged well, a long haired ducks

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<v Speaker 1>and must meet appearance criteria such as, to quote the

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<v Speaker 1>a k C, the trunk is long and fully muscled

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<v Speaker 1>when viewed in profile, the back lies and the straightest

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<v Speaker 1>possible line between the withers and the short very slightly

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<v Speaker 1>arched loin. Short hair on the ear is not desirable

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<v Speaker 1>to profuse. A coat which masks type equally, long hair

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<v Speaker 1>of the whole body, a curly coat, or a pronounced

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<v Speaker 1>parting on the back are faults. Movement is based on

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<v Speaker 1>criteria such as quote viewed from the front. The legs

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<v Speaker 1>do not move in exact parallel planes, but incline slightly inward,

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<v Speaker 1>and there are requirements for temperament as well, such as

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<v Speaker 1>the docks in is clever, lively and courageous to the

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<v Speaker 1>point of rashness, persevering in above and below ground work

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<v Speaker 1>with all the senses well developed. Any display of shyness

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<v Speaker 1>is a serious fault. Each dog is judged first among

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<v Speaker 1>others in the breed uh Docksins, against Docksins, and then

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<v Speaker 1>against members of its group. The hound group includes thirty

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<v Speaker 1>five breeds and varieties from Afghans to Docksins, two Wimmen's.

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<v Speaker 1>If judged best of breed, and then best of group,

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<v Speaker 1>the dog competes against the winner of the six other

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<v Speaker 1>groups for Best in Show, Westminster's top prize, and that's

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<v Speaker 1>announced the final night. In the hundred and forty four

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<v Speaker 1>years of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, a dog

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<v Speaker 1>from the Terrier group has one Best in Show a

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<v Speaker 1>record forty seven times. The wire fox terrier has won

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen Best in Show awards, the most by any breed,

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<v Speaker 1>but the show is clearly not a popularity contest. The

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<v Speaker 1>most popular dog in America, according to The A k

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<v Speaker 1>C is the Labrador Retriever, a member of the Sporting group,

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<v Speaker 1>but a lab has never won Best in Show at Westminster.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article Westminster Dog Show

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<v Speaker 1>celebrates a hundred and forty five years, but one will

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<v Speaker 1>be different on House to haworks dot com, written by

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<v Speaker 1>John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with hows tofworks dot Com and it is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clay. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio,

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