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Tag: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

  • Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Wins Westminster Dog Show

    Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Wins Westminster Dog Show

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    NEW YORK (AP) — This Buddy Holly no longer has to sigh, “That’ll be the day.”

    A petit basset griffon Vendéen named for the late rock ‘n’ roll legend won won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday night, a first for his rabbit-hunting breed.

    Buddy Holly bested six other finalists to garner the most prestigious dog show award in the United States. PBGVs, as they’re known for short, are the 154th most prevalent purebreds in the country, according to recent American Kennel Club rankings.

    “I never thought a PBGV would do this,” handler and co-owner Janice Hayes said. “Buddy Holly is the epitome of a show dog.”

    His competitors included Rummie, a Pekingese that aimed to bring home the third trophy in 11 years for his small-but-regal breed. Winston the French bulldog was gunning for the title after coming oh-so-close last year.

    An Australian shepherd named Ribbon, an English setter called Cider, a giant schnauzer named Monty and an American Staffordshire terrier called Trouble also were in the pack of contenders.

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 08: Buddy Holly, the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, winner of the Hound Group competes at the 147th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Presented by Purina Pro Plan at Arthur Ashe Stadium on May 08, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Westminster Kennel Club)

    Sarah Stier via Getty Images

    If Buddy Holly was feeling the pressure, he wasn’t letting it show ahead of finals. Instead, he seemed more concerned late Tuesday afternoon with playing with his people and rejecting the notion of a nap in his crate.

    “He just screams PBGV,” Hayes said. “They’re just very independent but very charming and just silly. Their goal is to make you laugh every day.”

    Originally from France, the small hounds were traditionally rabbit-hunters. (Their name means “low-lying, wire-haired dog from the Vendée region” and is pronounced peh-TEE’ bah-SAY’ grihf-FAHN’ vahn-DAY’-ahn.)

    Buddy Holly — so named because “he’s a buddy,” breeder Gavin Robertson explained — has also lived and competed in his native United Kingdom and in Ireland and Australia.

    Ribbon is “like the fun girl at the party,” handler Jessica Plourde said. Rummie is “true to Pekingese type, lots of carriage, presence — everything in one, here,” said owner and breeder David Fitzpatrick, who guided Pekes Malachy and Wasabi to Westminster wins in 2012 and 2021, respectively.

    Winstoncame in second at Westminster last year and went on to win last fall’s National Dog Show, hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia. Now he’s representing the most prevalent dog breed in the United States, as of rankings released in March.

    He “just steals your heart,” handler and co-owner Perry Payson said after Winston’s spirited semifinal turn, which included an impromptu leap into a decorative box in the middle of the ring.

    Each Westminster finalist first has bested other dogs of its breed, and then of its “group,” such as toy dogs or hounds. Among the breeds up for semifinal group judging Tuesday night was the newly eligible bracco Italiano, won by a dog co-owned by country music star Tim McGraw.

    Besides the chosen finalists, there were other fan favorites, too.

    There was the bloodhound that bowed deeply before a judge, the golden retriever cheered by the breed’s many fans, and the spunky German shorthaired pointer that did a few leaps before its lap around the ring. Spectators applauded 10-year-old handler Audra Maes and her shiba inu and breeder/owner/handler Alexandria Mitchell and her Ibizan hound. They made the judge’s first cut, an accomplishment at a show where many exhibitors handle other people’s dogs as a career.

    The Westminster show, held this year at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, also includes obedience and agility competitions that are open to mixed-breed dogs.

    About 2,500 dogs of 210 breeds and varieties vied for the trophy. Hundreds more competed in agility, obedience and other events.

    Associated Press writer Anna Furman contributed. New York-based AP journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

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  • Pekingese Gasps For Breath As Westminster Dog Show Goes Into Double Overtime

    Pekingese Gasps For Breath As Westminster Dog Show Goes Into Double Overtime

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    NEW YORK—As she regrouped with her handler to rethink their strategy, the Pekingese Rum Dum, 2, was seen panting excessively and trying to catch her breath as the finals of the Westminster Dog Show entered double overtime Tuesday. “Tonight, we leave nothing on the floor—nothing—do you understand me, Rummie?” handler David Fitzgerald shouted as he squirted liquid from a Gatorade bottle into the dog’s mouth, her trainer rubbed a cramp out of her rear-right leg, and what may be the most grueling Best in Show in Westminster Kennel Club history dragged on, still locked in a seven-way tie. “We didn’t come here to lose to a goddamn terrier, did we? No, we came here to win, so that’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to get back out there, take it one lap at a time, and this time prance like you fucking mean it. No excuses!” At press time, Rum Dum had reportedly been eliminated for unsportsmanlike conduct after taking a shit on the show floor.

    Teacher Who Learns More From Her Students Than She Teaches Them Fired

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  • For these hounds and humans, dog show a couples’ competition

    For these hounds and humans, dog show a couples’ competition

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    At the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, two otterhounds called Tips and Creed could be forgiven if they secretly were rooting for each other

    ByJENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press

    NEW YORK — As otterhounds lined up to be judged at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show Monday, Tips and Creed could be forgiven if they secretly were rooting for each other.

    Same goes for their owners and handlers, Tom and Debbie Develin. The Boyertown, Pennsylvania, duo are a couple. The dogs are, too, in a manner of speaking — they live together and have had a litter.

    Although there are a number of husband-and-wife professional dog handlers who sometimes compete against each other at the United States’ most illustrious dog show, that’s less common among so-called “owner-handlers.”

    “We cheer each other on and then see how it goes,” Debbie said.

    The Develins, both retired from managerial jobs, got their first otterhound years ago after Tom learned that the dogs had a reputation for friendliness. They live up to it, he says. Tips and Creed make therapy visits at hospitals and elsewhere when not busy with dog shows, agility, obedience and other canine sports.

    Tom started showing one. Debbie helped. Eventually, both were in the ring.

    Otterhound fanciers are a tight-knit group, partly due to sheer numbers. The big, shaggy, spirited hounds trace their roots to medieval England but are now among the rarest breeds in their homeland and in the United States.

    On Monday, neither Creed nor Tips advanced to the competition’s next round. But Creed got a ribbon, and both Develins came away happy for their dogs and their competitors.

    “It’s like one big family,” Debbie said.

    ___

    New York-based Associated Press journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

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  • Peke, Frenchie, Aussie and, yes, PBGV make dog show finals

    Peke, Frenchie, Aussie and, yes, PBGV make dog show finals

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    It could be the day for the petit basset griffon Vendéen named for Buddy Holly. Or the Pekingese could notch his breed’s third Westminster Kennel Club dog show win in little over a decade.

    And what about the French bulldog that nearly won last year? Or will the purple-and-gold best in show ribbon go to … Ribbon?

    Buddy Holly the PBGV (for short), Rummie the Peke, Winston the Frenchie and Ribbon the Australian shepherd are headed to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show finals Tuesday, along with three other finalists yet to be chosen.

    The first four got their chance to vie for the best in show trophy after making it through two rounds of judging Monday. First, each bested other dogs of its breed, and then of its “group” — toy dogs or hounds, for example.

    Ribbon, the Aussie, is “like the fun girl at the party,” handler Jessica Plourde said. Buddy Holly is “just a PBGV through-and-through,” said handler and co-owner Janice Hayes. (The full name of the merry, low-slung French rabbit-hunting breed is pronounced peh-TEE’ bah-SAY’ grihf-FAHN’ vahn-DAY’-ahn.)

    Rummie comes to Westminster with handler, owner and breeder David Fitzpatrick, who has guided two other Pekes to Westminster wins: Malachy in 2012 and Wasabi in 2021. Rummie has what it takes, too, he said.

    “He moves so beautiful, true to Pekingese type, lots of carriage, presence — everything in one, here,” Fitzpatrick said.

    The Frenchie, Winston, came in second at Westminster last year and went on to win last fall’s National Dog Show, hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia. Now he’s representing the most prevalent dog breed in the United States, as of rankings released in March.

    He “just steals your heart,” handler and co-owner Perry Payson said after Winston’s spirited turn, which included an impromptu leap into a decorative box in the middle of the ring.

    But if those four were the chosen finalists, there were other fan favorites, too.

    There was the bloodhound that bowed deeply before a judge, the shiba inu shown by a 10-year-old handler, and the Ibizan hound that breeder, owner and handler Alexandria Mitchell led to a strong showing.

    The Ibizan hound, Hugo, made it past the judge’s first cut. That’s a feat for a breeder-owner-handler at a show where many exhibitors handle other people’s dogs as a career.

    “I’m speechless right now,” said Mitchell, of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

    Audra Maes, at 10, was decades younger than many other handlers in the televised semifinals (which isn’t unheard-of in dog showing). But the Denver girl summed up the experience with aplomb: “It was pretty cool.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Anna Furman contributed. New York-based AP journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

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  • Peke, Frenchie, Aussie and, yes, PBGV make dog show finals

    Peke, Frenchie, Aussie and, yes, PBGV make dog show finals

    [ad_1]

    It could be the day for the petit basset griffon Vendéen named for Buddy Holly. Or the Pekingese could notch his breed’s third Westminster Kennel Club dog show win in little over a decade.

    And what about the French bulldog that nearly won last year? Or will the purple-and-gold best in show ribbon go to … Ribbon?

    Buddy Holly the PBGV (for short), Rummie the Peke, Winston the Frenchie and Ribbon the Australian shepherd are headed to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show finals Tuesday, along with three other finalists yet to be chosen.

    The first four got their chance to vie for the best in show trophy after making it through two rounds of judging Monday. First, each bested other dogs of its breed, and then of its “group” — toy dogs or hounds, for example.

    Ribbon, the Aussie, is “like the fun girl at the party,” handler Jessica Plourde said. Buddy Holly is “just a PBGV through-and-through,” said handler and co-owner Janice Hayes. (The full name of the merry, low-slung French rabbit-hunting breed is pronounced peh-TEE’ bah-SAY’ grihf-FAHN’ vahn-DAY’-ahn.)

    Rummie comes to Westminster with handler, owner and breeder David Fitzpatrick, who has guided two other Pekes to Westminster wins: Malachy in 2012 and Wasabi in 2021. Rummie has what it takes, too, he said.

    “He moves so beautiful, true to Pekingese type, lots of carriage, presence — everything in one, here,” Fitzpatrick said.

    The Frenchie, Winston, came in second at Westminster last year and went on to win last fall’s National Dog Show, hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia. Now he’s representing the most prevalent dog breed in the United States, as of rankings released in March.

    He “just steals your heart,” handler and co-owner Perry Payson said after Winston’s spirited turn, which included an impromptu leap into a decorative box in the middle of the ring.

    But if those four were the chosen finalists, there were other fan favorites, too.

    There was the bloodhound that bowed deeply before a judge, the shiba inu shown by a 10-year-old handler, and the Ibizan hound that breeder, owner and handler Alexandria Mitchell led to a strong showing.

    The Ibizan hound, Hugo, made it past the judge’s first cut. That’s a feat for a breeder-owner-handler at a show where many exhibitors handle other people’s dogs as a career.

    “I’m speechless right now,” said Mitchell, of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

    Audra Maes, at 10, was decades younger than many other handlers in the televised semifinals (which isn’t unheard-of in dog showing). But the Denver girl summed up the experience with aplomb: “It was pretty cool.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Anna Furman contributed. New York-based AP journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

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  • In dog show world, details obvious and subtle rule the day

    In dog show world, details obvious and subtle rule the day

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    NEW YORK — Doe-eyed dachshunds, push-faced French bulldogs and other nonsporting breeds circle the hallowed rings. A bracco Italiano receives a jowl massage. Spaniels get blow-dried. Everyone is prepping — lovingly, meticulously — for a hoped-for big moment.

    With more than 3,000 dogs competing this week at the annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show, one of the world’s most prestigious, sometimes it’s a competitor’s confident gait or self-possessed gaze that sets it apart from the pack.

    “Like all things, beauty is subjective,” said Ann Ingram, who traveled from Cork, Ireland, to New York City to judge several events. “A dog’s attitude in the ring can help. If the dog loves itself, you can tell. He kind of has that attitude of, you know, ‘I’m a winner.’”

    In short: There are the obvious characteristics — the quantifiable ones — and then there are the intangibles.

    The show is being held this year on the 40-acre (16-hectare) grounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where Ingram was selected to choose the winning schipperke, bulldog, Frenchies and miniature poodle to go on to the semifinals – and, perhaps, the marquee Best in Show competition on Tuesday night.

    Each spring, the rarefied world of breeding purebreds — a beloved if idiosyncratic American subculture — is telecast to viewers around the world for three days spanning more than 16 hours. Things can get pretty arcane if you’re not steeped in the topic.

    To hear Ingram and others tell it, the dog show is an arena where details matter deeply — details that the rest of the world may have no idea about. Though with the show’s increasing popularity as the years pass, that is changing.

    JUDGING HERE VARIES WIDELY BY BREED

    “With breeds like Frenchies and bulldogs, where there are health concerns with the breathing, you want to see them be able to move without any signs of distress,” Ingram said. A spirited trot or swishy, excited wag of the tail may signify an excellent performance for one breed, but subpar training for another.

    For example, “any poodle that flies around the ring like a workhorse is not a poodle,” Ingram said. Some dogs were bred to hunt lions (Rhodesian ridgebacks), while others are bred to be affectionate puffballs (Pekingese).

    Others are arrogant or aloof. Ingram says that when you approach an Afghan hound, “They actually look through you, rather than at you,” because they’re bred to be far-seeing. “It’s like, ‘You’re disturbing my vision — could you move?’”

    Atop gold-skirted, purple-velvet tables, handlers position their dogs in preparation for Ingram’s scrutiny. “When you go through the coat, maybe you find that there’s no body or the elbows are hanging out a bit,” she said. When judging poodles, her scrupulous attention to detail goes beyond the grooming. Some hairdressers, according to Ingram, pull poodles’ fluffy fur taut in order to make round eyes appear almond-shaped, which is the breed’s standard.

    Some details may be common, but standards are not universal. In European competitions, for example, cream-colored French bulldogs and white-colored Italian greyhounds are not recognized. But in the United States, both dogs are competitive.

    GO BEHIND THE SCENES WITH SOME DOG DETAILS

    At nearly 150 years old, Westminster is the second-oldest continuously-running sporting competition in the United States, behind only the Kentucky Derby. But modern innovations have changed the game. Popular TikTok accounts, the widespread use of QR codes and geotagged Instagram posts have raised the profiles of some competitors, who may go on to score lucrative kibble sponsorships.

    Before dogs enter the ring, groomers blow-dry the bellies of Tibetan spaniels, unfurl curlers from the muzzles of snow-white Malteses and spritz the coiffed, cloudlike bobs of bichon frisés. Some curly and coarse-coated breeds are brushed with baby powders while fine, silky-haired dogs are spritzed with various aerosol sprays.

    Behind the scenes Monday morning, handlers massaged the jowls of sleepy-faced bracco Italianos, which are eligible for the first time to compete at Westminster this year.

    Beth Sweigart of Bowmansville, Pennsylvania, holds the honor of judging Best in Show this year. So she’ll be holed up in her hotel room, staying clear of the rings until the premier competition. She’s respecting a longstanding policy.

    “Some breeds are more glamorous than others and catch the eye,” Sweigart said. But others, like Labrador retrievers, are what she called “a very utilitarian kind of dog. They’re not fancy movers.” They’re bred to be duck hunters. Though they were the most popular breed in the U.S. for nearly 30 years, Sweigart points out that at Westminster, they’ve never won.

    HERE’S HOW THEY PREP FOR THE BIG MOMENTS

    Though she doesn’t wear a uniform, experienced handlers and owners will likely recognize Sweigart from her more than 50 years in the dog world. In previous years, she’s judged various terrier, toy and sporting groups. At home, she has more than eight dogs, including Labradors, affenpinschers, and a pack of Norfolk terriers that she said are “named after patriots” such as Eisenhower, Sam Adams and Patrick Henry.

    Dress style is typically conservative and sensible, since handlers and judges are bending over dogs in all manners. Most female handlers and judges wear formal blouses and skirts cut below the knees. But “you don’t want to be too precious about your outfit,” Ingram said, because “if you’re judging something like a Saint Bernard, you’re getting slobber on it.”

    Also sequestered in a hotel Monday was George Milutinovich of Fresno, California, who was judging 21 breeds and varieties in the nonsporting group Monday night. He said he’ll have a leisurely lunch and will reread standards, then watch a few breed videos and “kind of get my head set for the night.”

    At home he has a Russell Terrier named Millie. Over the past couple decades, he has bred pugs and bichon frisés. But in the ring, judges suspend their personal affinities and biases. “What’s foremost in your mind,” Milutinovich said, is this: “Can this dog before me do the job that it was originally bred to do?”

    On Monday, the converging aromas of cologne and wet dog were in the air. Bon Bon, a short-haired dachshund, scarfed down a filet of chicken plucked from his handler’s breast pocket before rounding the ring with a dignified strut that drew rapturous applause.

    “There’s bigger shows numerically, but the fact that you’re actually getting the absolute cream of the cream … is quite exciting,” Ingram said. “The whole razzmatazz of Westminster is very special.”

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  • Across town from show dogs, a labor to save suffering ones

    Across town from show dogs, a labor to save suffering ones

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    NEW YORK — On a recent afternoon at a Manhattan animal hospital and adoption center, a pit bull mix called T-Bone, rescued after being tied to a utility pole, gazed out at visitors from his tidy room. Trigger was recuperating from a stab wound, a large incision still visible on his side.

    Pert little Melanie had been abandoned at one of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ community veterinary clinics. Tip’s owner had been overwhelmed by six dogs and four cats. Friendly, retriever-like Rainbow, surrendered by someone who could not care for him, snoozed in the adoption office.

    While the Westminster Kennel Club crowns the cream of the canine elite on one of tennis’ most storied courts this week, the ASPCA’s facility across town will be tending to dogs that have had far darker lives.

    New York is home to both the United States’ most prestigious dog show and its oldest humane society, the ASPCA. Their histories connect: Some proceeds from the inaugural Westminster show, in 1877, helped the young ASPCA build its first shelter years later.

    Westminster, being held 10 miles (16 km) east, feels like worlds away.

    “We have different priorities, different visions,” said ASPCA President Matt Bershadker. “The dog shows are focused on breed and composition and movement. And we’re focused on the heart and the inside.”

    Westminster stresses that it aims “to create a better world for all dogs,” and the club donates thousands of dollars a year to individual breeds’ rescue groups and to pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. Still, the show draws protests every year from animal-rights activists who argue that spotlighting prized purebreds leaves shelter pets in the shadows.

    Bershadker, for his part, says ASPCA leaders “don’t have a problem with purebreds, but we want them to be responsibly bred.”

    At the adoption center, there’s little reference to breed or might-be breed. Instead, staffers try to characterize dogs by, well, characteristics.

    During a recent visit, Sauce (“great on a leash,” in adoption center leader Joel Lopez’s description) was paired with Gordon (“likes hot dogs!”) in the airy, windowed training room.

    The two young adult males with gut-twisting histories — Sauce had been stabbed, Gordon starved — were there to learn to play and be around other dogs in a city of shared spaces. They sniffed each other and ran around on leashes, with occasional interventions from staffers when the interactions began to intensify.

    Elsewhere in the Upper East Side building, a terrace gives a taste of the outdoors to dogs that may seldom have been there. There’s even a mock living room where volunteers can bring animals to get used to just hanging out at home.

    “Regardless of where these animals are coming from, these are great pets. They just need a little bit of help to just get them over the hump and get them into the rest of their life,” Lopez said.

    That help is part of a $390 million-a-year organization that responds to disasters and large-scale animal cruelty cases nationwide. Its wide-ranging work includes a Miami vet clinic, an Oklahoma City horse adoption initiative, a Los Angeles-area spaying and neutering service, a behavioral rehab facility in North Carolina, and more.

    Established in 1866, the ASPCA is familiar to many Americans from its fundraising ads featuring woebegone animals, particularly a 2007 spot that featured singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan and ran for years. The charity spent over $56 million on advertising and promotion alone in 2021, the last year for which its tax returns are publicly available.

    Bershadker says the organization affects hundreds of thousands of animals annually, and its marketing communications form “an essential part of the ASPCA’s lifesaving work” by increasing public awareness and action.

    On another end of the dog-rescue spectrum, the all-volunteer Havanese Rescue Inc. takes in an average of about 30 Havanese each year and finds new homes for many within two to four weeks, according to group leaders.

    Getting $5,000 from the Westminster Kennel Club this year is “huge” to a group with a $60,000-a-year budget and dogs that have come in needing $10,000 surgeries, President Jennifer Jablonski said.

    Westminster also is giving $5,000 apiece to the Newfoundland Club of America, which has a rescue arm that found new homes for 67 Newfs last year, and to Lagotto Romagnolo Dog Rescue.

    At the ASPCA, the New York animal hospital alone treats 9,000 to 10,000 patients a year. In late April, there were at least 50 animals apiece in the adoption and recovery centers and about 100 or more in foster care, with kitten season looming.

    There are numerous animal shelters and rescue groups in New York City, and the ASPCA isn’t the go-to place for stray and lost dogs and cats. (The city largely directs such inquiries to Animal Care Centers, another nonprofit group.)

    The ASPCA’s charges often come through its work with police, but also from clinics, a food bank partnership and other efforts to connect with people struggling to support their pets because of financial, health or other problems.

    While the group helps police to build criminal cases, that’s not the only outcome.

    One small dog in the recovery area in late April was to be reunited with its owner. What had seemed like abandonment turned out to be a pet-sitting foul-up, but the owner also needed help with some veterinary issues, said Kris Lindsay, who oversees the recovery center.

    “This,” she said, “is one of the cases that we like.”

    This one, too: Rainbow has a new home — with a Connecticut man who had adopted dogs before.

    ___

    New York-based Associated Press journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

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  • Across town from show dogs, a labor to save suffering ones

    Across town from show dogs, a labor to save suffering ones

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — On a recent afternoon at a Manhattan animal hospital and adoption center, a pit bull mix called T-Bone, rescued after being tied to a utility pole, gazed out at visitors from his tidy room. Trigger was recuperating from a stab wound, a large incision still visible on his side.

    Pert little Melanie had been abandoned at one of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ community veterinary clinics. Tip’s owner had been overwhelmed by six dogs and four cats. Friendly, retriever-like Rainbow, surrendered by someone who could not care for him, snoozed in the adoption office.

    While the Westminster Kennel Club crowns the cream of the canine elite on one of tennis’ most storied courts this week, the ASPCA’s facility across town will be tending to dogs that have had far darker lives.

    New York is home to both the United States’ most prestigious dog show and its oldest humane society, the ASPCA. Their histories connect: Some proceeds from the inaugural Westminster show, in 1877, helped the young ASPCA build its first shelter years later.

    Westminster, being held 10 miles (16 km) east, feels like worlds away.

    “We have different priorities, different visions,” said ASPCA President Matt Bershadker. “The dog shows are focused on breed and composition and movement. And we’re focused on the heart and the inside.”

    Westminster stresses that it aims “to create a better world for all dogs,” and the club donates thousands of dollars a year to individual breeds’ rescue groups and to pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. Still, the show draws protests every year from animal-rights activists who argue that spotlighting prized purebreds leaves shelter pets in the shadows.

    Bershadker, for his part, says ASPCA leaders “don’t have a problem with purebreds, but we want them to be responsibly bred.”

    At the adoption center, there’s little reference to breed or might-be breed. Instead, staffers try to characterize dogs by, well, characteristics.

    During a recent visit, Sauce (“great on a leash,” in adoption center leader Joel Lopez’s description) was paired with Gordon (“likes hot dogs!”) in the airy, windowed training room.

    The two young adult males with gut-twisting histories — Sauce had been stabbed, Gordon starved — were there to learn to play and be around other dogs in a city of shared spaces. They sniffed each other and ran around on leashes, with occasional interventions from staffers when the interactions began to intensify.

    Elsewhere in the Upper East Side building, a terrace gives a taste of the outdoors to dogs that may seldom have been there. There’s even a mock living room where volunteers can bring animals to get used to just hanging out at home.

    “Regardless of where these animals are coming from, these are great pets. They just need a little bit of help to just get them over the hump and get them into the rest of their life,” Lopez said.

    That help is part of a $390 million-a-year organization that responds to disasters and large-scale animal cruelty cases nationwide. Its wide-ranging work includes a Miami vet clinic, an Oklahoma City horse adoption initiative, a Los Angeles-area spaying and neutering service, a behavioral rehab facility in North Carolina, and more.

    Established in 1866, the ASPCA is familiar to many Americans from its fundraising ads featuring woebegone animals, particularly a 2007 spot that featured singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan and ran for years. The charity spent over $56 million on advertising and promotion alone in 2021, the last year for which its tax returns are publicly available.

    Bershadker says the organization affects hundreds of thousands of animals annually, and its marketing communications form “an essential part of the ASPCA’s lifesaving work” by increasing public awareness and action.

    On another end of the dog-rescue spectrum, the all-volunteer Havanese Rescue Inc. takes in an average of about 30 Havanese each year and finds new homes for many within two to four weeks, according to group leaders.

    Getting $5,000 from the Westminster Kennel Club this year is “huge” to a group with a $60,000-a-year budget and dogs that have come in needing $10,000 surgeries, President Jennifer Jablonski said.

    Westminster also is giving $5,000 apiece to the Newfoundland Club of America, which has a rescue arm that found new homes for 67 Newfs last year, and to Lagotto Romagnolo Dog Rescue.

    At the ASPCA, the New York animal hospital alone treats 9,000 to 10,000 patients a year. In late April, there were at least 50 animals apiece in the adoption and recovery centers and about 100 or more in foster care, with kitten season looming.

    There are numerous animal shelters and rescue groups in New York City, and the ASPCA isn’t the go-to place for stray and lost dogs and cats. (The city largely directs such inquiries to Animal Care Centers, another nonprofit group.)

    The ASPCA’s charges often come through its work with police, but also from clinics, a food bank partnership and other efforts to connect with people struggling to support their pets because of financial, health or other problems.

    While the group helps police to build criminal cases, that’s not the only outcome.

    One small dog in the recovery area in late April was to be reunited with its owner. What had seemed like abandonment turned out to be a pet-sitting foul-up, but the owner also needed help with some veterinary issues, said Kris Lindsay, who oversees the recovery center.

    “This,” she said, “is one of the cases that we like.”

    This one, too: Rainbow has a new home — with a Connecticut man who had adopted dogs before.

    ___

    New York-based Associated Press journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

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  • Across town from show dogs, a labor to save suffering ones

    Across town from show dogs, a labor to save suffering ones

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    NEW YORK — On a recent afternoon at a Manhattan animal hospital and adoption center, a pit bull mix called T-Bone, rescued after being tied to a utility pole, gazed out at visitors from his tidy room. Trigger was recuperating from a stab wound, a large incision still visible on his side.

    Pert little Melanie had been abandoned at one of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ community veterinary clinics. Tip’s owner had been overwhelmed by six dogs and four cats. Friendly, retriever-like Rainbow, surrendered by someone who could not care for him, snoozed in the adoption office.

    While the Westminster Kennel Club crowns the cream of the canine elite on one of tennis’ most storied courts this week, the ASPCA’s facility across town will be tending to dogs that have had far darker lives.

    New York is home to both the United States’ most prestigious dog show and its oldest humane society, the ASPCA. Their histories connect: Some proceeds from the inaugural Westminster show, in 1877, helped the young ASPCA build its first shelter years later.

    Westminster, being held 10 miles (16 km) east, feels like worlds away.

    “We have different priorities, different visions,” said ASPCA President Matt Bershadker. “The dog shows are focused on breed and composition and movement. And we’re focused on the heart and the inside.”

    Westminster stresses that it aims “to create a better world for all dogs,” and the club donates thousands of dollars a year to individual breeds’ rescue groups and to pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. Still, the show draws protests every year from animal-rights activists who argue that spotlighting prized purebreds leaves shelter pets in the shadows.

    Bershadker, for his part, says ASPCA leaders “don’t have a problem with purebreds, but we want them to be responsibly bred.”

    At the adoption center, there’s little reference to breed or might-be breed. Instead, staffers try to characterize dogs by, well, characteristics.

    During a recent visit, Sauce (“great on a leash,” in adoption center leader Joel Lopez’s description) was paired with Gordon (“likes hot dogs!”) in the airy, windowed training room.

    The two young adult males with gut-twisting histories — Sauce had been stabbed, Gordon starved — were there to learn to play and be around other dogs in a city of shared spaces. They sniffed each other and ran around on leashes, with occasional interventions from staffers when the interactions began to intensify.

    Elsewhere in the Upper East Side building, a terrace gives a taste of the outdoors to dogs that may seldom have been there. There’s even a mock living room where volunteers can bring animals to get used to just hanging out at home.

    “Regardless of where these animals are coming from, these are great pets. They just need a little bit of help to just get them over the hump and get them into the rest of their life,” Lopez said.

    That help is part of a $390 million-a-year organization that responds to disasters and large-scale animal cruelty cases nationwide. Its wide-ranging work includes a Miami vet clinic, an Oklahoma City horse adoption initiative, a Los Angeles-area spaying and neutering service, a behavioral rehab facility in North Carolina, and more.

    Established in 1866, the ASPCA is familiar to many Americans from its fundraising ads featuring woebegone animals, particularly a 2007 spot that featured singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan and ran for years. The charity spent over $56 million on advertising and promotion alone in 2021, the last year for which its tax returns are publicly available.

    Bershadker says the organization affects hundreds of thousands of animals annually, and its marketing communications form “an essential part of the ASPCA’s lifesaving work” by increasing public awareness and action.

    On another end of the dog-rescue spectrum, the all-volunteer Havanese Rescue Inc. takes in an average of about 30 Havanese each year and finds new homes for many within two to four weeks, according to group leaders.

    Getting $5,000 from the Westminster Kennel Club this year is “huge” to a group with a $60,000-a-year budget and dogs that have come in needing $10,000 surgeries, President Jennifer Jablonski said.

    Westminster also is giving $5,000 apiece to the Newfoundland Club of America, which has a rescue arm that found new homes for 67 Newfs last year, and to Lagotto Romagnolo Dog Rescue.

    At the ASPCA, the New York animal hospital alone treats 9,000 to 10,000 patients a year. In late April, there were at least 50 animals apiece in the adoption and recovery centers and about 100 or more in foster care, with kitten season looming.

    There are numerous animal shelters and rescue groups in New York City, and the ASPCA isn’t the go-to place for stray and lost dogs and cats. (The city largely directs such inquiries to Animal Care Centers, another nonprofit group.)

    The ASPCA’s charges often come through its work with police, but also from clinics, a food bank partnership and other efforts to connect with people struggling to support their pets because of financial, health or other problems.

    While the group helps police to build criminal cases, that’s not the only outcome.

    One small dog in the recovery area in late April was to be reunited with its owner. What had seemed like abandonment turned out to be a pet-sitting foul-up, but the owner also needed help with some veterinary issues, said Kris Lindsay, who oversees the recovery center.

    “This,” she said, “is one of the cases that we like.”

    This one, too: Rainbow has a new home — with a Connecticut man who had adopted dogs before.

    ___

    New York-based Associated Press journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

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  • Today in History: FEB 13, Supreme Court Justice Scalia dies

    Today in History: FEB 13, Supreme Court Justice Scalia dies

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    Today in History

    Today is Monday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2023. There are 321 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Feb. 13, 1935, a jury in Flemington, New Jersey, found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-slaying of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)

    On this date:

    In 1633, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before the Inquisition, accused of defending Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun instead of the other way around. (Galileo was found vehemently suspect of heresy and ended up being sentenced to a form of house arrest.)

    In 1933, the Warsaw Convention, governing airlines’ liability for international carriage of persons, luggage and goods, went into effect.

    In 1939, Justice Louis D. Brandeis retired from the U.S. Supreme Court. (He was succeeded by William O. Douglas.)

    In 1965, during the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder, an extended bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese.

    In 1972, “Cabaret,” directed by Bob Fosse, based on John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical of the same name, starring Liza Minnelli and Michael York, was released.

    In 1980, the 13th Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, New York.

    In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, allied warplanes destroyed an underground shelter in Baghdad that had been identified as a military command center; Iraqi officials said 500 civilians were killed.

    In 1996, the rock musical “Rent,” by Jonathan Larson, opened off-Broadway less than three weeks after Larson’s death.

    In 2000, Charles Schulz’s final “Peanuts” strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at age 77.

    In 2002, John Walker Lindh pleaded not guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to conspiring to kill Americans and supporting the Taliban and terrorist organizations. (Lindh later pleaded guilty to lesser offenses and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in September 2019 after serving 17 years of that sentence.)

    In 2011, Egypt’s military leaders dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and promised elections in moves cautiously welcomed by protesters who’d helped topple President Hosni Mubarak.

    In 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative and most provocative member of the U.S. Supreme Court, was found dead at a private residence in the Big Bend area of West Texas; he was 79.

    Ten years ago: Beginning a long farewell to his flock, a weary Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his final public Mass as pontiff, presiding over Ash Wednesday services inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

    Five years ago: President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said he had paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a porn actress who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Trump. Ahmad Khan Rahimi was sentenced in New York to multiple terms of life in prison for setting off small bombs in New York and New Jersey; the attacks in September, 2016, left 30 people injured. A bichon frise named Flynn was named best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club in New York, a choice that seemed to surprise most in the packed crowd at Madison Square Garden.

    One year ago: Airlines canceled flights to the Ukrainian capital and troops there unloaded fresh shipments of weapons from NATO members, as the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought to project confidence in the face of U.S. warnings of possible invasion within days by a growing number of Russian forces. Playing in their home stadium, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the Super Bowl.

    Today’s birthdays: Actor Kim Novak is 90. Actor Bo Svenson is 82. Actor Stockard Channing is 79. Talk show host Jerry Springer is 79. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is 77. Singer Peter Gabriel is 73. Actor David Naughton is 72. Rock musician Peter Hook is 67. Actor Matt Salinger is 63. Singer Henry Rollins is 62. Actor Neal McDonough is 57. Singer Freedom Williams is 57. Actor Kelly Hu is 55. Rock singer Matt Berninger (The National) is 52. Country musician Scott Thomas (Parmalee) is 50. Singer Robbie Williams is 49. Singer-songwriter Feist is 47. R&B performer Natalie Stewart is 44. Actor Mena Suvari (MEE’-nuh soo-VAHR’-ee) is 44. Actor Katie Volding is 34. Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (also known as Prince Michael Jackson I) is 26.

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