The Dogs and the Bitches Have Come to Town

The 135th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show began yesterday at Madison Square Garden.

Named after the hotel at whose bar sporting gentlemen met to boast about their shooting and their dogs, the Westminster Kennel Club was formed in the 1870's, helped stage a dog show in Philadelphia in 1876 and officially inaugurated the pageant of pooches in New York with 1,201 dogs in 1877.

This means that they have been handing out this top prize longer than the Academy Awards (1927), the Pulitzers (1917), and the Nobels (1901).  I've heard it said that it's the oldest continuously held sporting event; however, a quick search showed me that the Kentucky Derby was inaugurated in 1875.  There's also the America's Cup (1851) and the National Jousting Hall of Fame (1821).  And then, of course, there's this which claims to be the world's oldest recorded sporting event--it held its TRICENTENNIAL in May of 2008.

I've attended the show twice, spending the afternoons watching the Best in Breed events and returning at night for the Best in Group and Best in Show. I had so many favorite moments, including the victory of J.R., the Bichon Frise pictured here whose white fur glowed inside that arena, but I'm slightly ashamed to say that I most loved whenever the announcer, with the poshest of accents, would introduce one of the female dogs:  "Florence is a three-year-old bitch."  That NEVER grew old.  I would laugh, laugh, laugh (like a three-year-old idiot), but I think that the tension had something to do with it.  When the judge walks up and down the line of contestants, you can hear a pin drop and feel your heart thudding in your chest.  It is freakish.