by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com (All photos and Video taken by Nancy E. Hassel)

And the winner is…the 15 inch Beagle, Miss. P!  This adorable little dog took home the most prestigious title in the dog show world in the United States, Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

The crowd went absolutely ballistic when the Old English Sheepdog went around the ring, the noise was insane. He was clearly the crowd favorite, the Beagle was the crowd’s 2nd favorite.

I personally am always pulling for the underdog or different breed – seems like it is the same 7 breeds year in or year out – and there is always a poodle in BIS.  Nothing against the adorable poodles, just always wonder why every year there is a poodle?  With 192 different breeds now competeting in Westminster, it would be nice to see something completely different in BIS, a Doberman, AmStaff, Frenchie winning perhaps? Aww one can dream! (Fifi the Doberman was so close a couple years ago). (What breed were you cheering for? Tell us in the comment section at the bottom!) The Doberman in the working group came close to making it to BIS, beautiful dog:

Regardless of who my favorite choice would be (I too have many breeds I would love to see in that BIS ring!), Westminster is an incredible event to be at. The excitement in the air, and during the group judging can be nail biting. It’s not often you can see so many different types of dogs in one location. People and their dogs travel from all over the world, and Long Island, (smile), to compete!

Some of our Long Island dogs, like the Leonbergers, Mr. America, Hollywood and Magnetto – with local owner, breeder, and handler – Morgan Williams, were in the ring and Magneto won Winners Dog!

Then there is this adorable little Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Abbie, who is also a therapy dog from Long Island – she stood out amoung all the Staffy’s not just because of her beautiful markings – but because of her spunk.

This dog Brennan, well he is not from Long Island, but his relatives (human ones) used to live here, and he was a show stopper, even while laying down! You can see why, he is a 240lb massive Mastiff – is that redundant?

Another dog that stood out to me was Kennedy, a beautiful sweet, and non-docked eared American Staffordshire Terrier – she took 2nd place in her group. Love that she placed and without her ears being docked – my preferred look for an AmStaff (aka American Pit Bull Terrier for those of you who are wondering same dog different breed names for AKC vs. UKC look it up if you’re not sure!). She was not from Long Island, but sure does look like a lot of our AmStaffs living locally!  Congrats Kennedy!

I say this every year, but if you have never been to Westminster, love dogs, and live close by – you have to make plans to go next year!  For a lot more PICTURES, click here!

What breed were you cheering for?

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

What a whirlwind of Westminster events in New York City this weekend!  Starting with the first ever Master’s Agility Championship this past Saturday – which was a blur of flying dogs – and as you may have heard there were many mixed breeds competing.  If you have never watched agility in person, I would highly recommend planning to attend the event next year – you won’t be disappointed.  It was so much fun to watch every dog, the super fast ones making it through the course in 30 seconds flat and the older slower dogs meandering through – which was pure entertainment for the crowd.

This American Eskimo dog flew through the course!

This doxie wasn’t too fast and wasn’t too slow.

This dog was Logan, and 11 year old Amercian Staffordshire Terrier, aka pit!

And now we are at the 2nd day at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show – for the evening’s Best in Show.  If you are reading this and have always thought about coming, especially if you are on Long Island or in the tri-state area and can easily get to Madison Square Garden, and you are a dog lover, there is no reason not too attend.  This year there were upwards of 3,000 dogs competing for the coveted title of Best in Show.  This is the 138th annual event of the show – and the excitement in the air is like any of your favorite sporting event.  It is for our love of dogs that bring people from around the world to the event.  I have been to Westminster at least 8 times and look forward to it ever year – for the dogs of course!

Beautiful Irish Setter

Lion or dog? Tibetan Mastiff!

Everyone loves a Golden Retriever

Portuguese Water dog

American Staffordshire Terrier – gorgeous!

New to Westminster this year the Chinook.

To see a lot more pictures click here and some Westminster Dog Breed Trivia click here!

And the Best in Show winner is Sky the Wire Fox Terrier!

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.comn

The 137th Westminster Kennel Club dog show is the super bowl of dog shows, while I have been to Westminster many times before, this is the first time I have been at the evening Best in Show.  Talk about the air being electric with excitement throughout the crowd, the handlers and even the dogs were jumping around the ring.  As dog owner, I love all breeds of dogs, my first dog was a mixed breed dog, a cock-a-poo from an oops litter…from a neighbor, then owning a Doberman as an adult and a Pit Bull (Max!).  But seeing so many different breeds in one place at one time is any dog lovers dream whether you covet a lovely mixed breed or have a purebred, doesn’t matter to me – love ’em all.  And the funny thing is, it never gets old – Westminster is the place to be if you want to see hundreds of different breeds. And as sporting events go, the crowd was doing the ‘wave’ during the commercial break before the best in show!

If you have never been to Westminster, live in the tri-state area and love dogs – this is a must do event.  It is well worth the trip.  You can talk to the owners-breeders-handlers of the dogs entered, and if you are someone who is looking to adopt a purebred dog, this is a great place to learn about the breed and find out if the breed you were thinking is for you.  Then of course, contact your local animal shelter as many, many purebreds are there waiting for you.

This year Las Vegas took odds on the Doberman winning the Best in Show…of course I am typing this as I sit in the press area on the floor and I am really pulling for Fifi the Doberman to win…but if an American Staffordshire Terrier wins the Terrier group then I will be really happy if the AmStaff wins. (neither won… 🙁 )

People come from all over the world, as well as right here on Long Island and the tri-state area to compete, to be spectators and to cover the event.  This year the show was at the Piers during the day, and at Madison Square Garden at night.  I was originally not planning on going to the piers, but after downloading the Westminster app to my phone, (which was an awesome tool by the way!), I saw that there were shuttle buses, and wow did they run smoothly.  Kudos to the organizers!

This show unlike some of the even smaller local outdoor shows, you can walk through the benching area, see the dogs getting groomed, and get up very close to watch them compete for their best of breed during the day time.  It’s quite an experience.

This cutie in the benching area holding his favorite toy and posing for the camera!

The excitement of best in show really builds when the lights go down and the dogs come out one by one with the spot light on them.  Tonight when the Old English Sheepdog came out the thunderous cheer in the Garden was deafening.  Talk about dog lovers in the crowd!  The Affenpinscher also got an the crowd going nuts…and just like that the Old English Sheepdog got Reserve Best in Show, the first time this was awarded at Westminster, and Banana Joe the Affenpinscher won Best in Show. It just so happened that his owner, a young women was standing behind me in the press area, and when he won, she was greeted by hugs and cheers from friends and family and was shedding happy tears.  Years of work go into a BIS dog and years of competition, it was a sweet moment to see up close. Congratulations to Banana Joe and to every single dog who competed in the 2 day event.

Banana Joe the Affenpinscher takes Best in Show!

Duck Tolling Retriever

Click HERE to see tons of additional Photos!

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

A new dog is crowned the best in show for the 136th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the Pekingese GCH Palacegarden Malachy and did you know the Best in Show (BIS) judge is from Long Island?  While I was cheering for Fifi the Doberman to win, (for obvious reasons) she didn’t grab the BIS title.  The Westminster Dog Show is the Superbowl of dog shows and with 2,000 dogs competing this year at Madison Square Garden, I would not want to have to pick the winner!  People come from all over the country and the world to compete or just to attend as a spectator.

After being at Westminster all day on Valentine’s day, I was reading the guide and record and it occurred to me, the 136 Annual dog show.  That’s 136 years this show has been happening, and started back in 1876, really quite remarkable.  Another piece of interesting history, for all you history buffs out there – did you know that the Westminster Kennel Club Annual Dog Show is one of only 3 tenants to have been in every one of the four different incarnations of Madison Square Garden – and Westminster started prior to the first MSG location.  MSG was originally it was called Gillmore’s Gardens and was located at 26th and Madison Avenue.  The current location of MSG is the fourth place MSG has been located.  Who knew?

The Clumber Spaniel was one of the first breeds in the early days of Westminster

As more and more dog breeds are accepted in the the American Kennel Club and now being shown at Westminster – there is a much broader scope of fans, onlookers and attendees at the show.  The show seemed a little more crowded to me this year than last and this year 6 new breeds were competing: the Cesky Terrier; Entlebucher Mountain Dog; Finnish Lapphund; Norwegian Lundehund (a dog with 6 toes on each foot); and probably the most unique looking dog the Xoloitzcuintli the national dog of Mexico – commonly called the ‘show-low’ for short.  The hairless breed was originally called the Mexican Hairless – who knows why the name was changed, but really a cool looking dog.  I do however prefer dogs with fur! And even only last year the Cane Corso, once considered a rare breed was let into Westminster and I think there were 20 dogs competing today.

Cane Corso

Dog shows in my opinion have evolved in the way of the crowd – it’s not the average dog show person that you see at the event – but every day dog owners and dog lovers.  It’s such fun way to see so many breeds in one spot and have such an enthusiastic crowd at Westminster.  You can ask the handlers questions about the dogs, get ideas if a certain dog is for you, etc. Even Pet Celebrities like Victoria Stillwell was there meeting dogs and speaking with people.

Victoria Stillwell of Animal Planet's It's Me or the Dog

And if for some reason you can’t hop on the LIRR to head into the show next year, you can join in on their social media craze.  Social Media for Westminster has taken off like wild fire in the past two years.  The Facebook Page for Westminster has over 96 thousand fans and during the two days of the show fans watching the show were tweeting with the #WKC hashtag.  Last year the day after the BIS win – their website had 10.2 million page views – amazing!

As cool as that all is – we all just want to route for our favorite breed or local owner who has a dog in the show, like Lynn the only female Harlequin Great Dane that was in the Great Dane Ring today, Lynn is from Patchogue.  There are many stories like that and many dogs from Long Island who competed the last two days at Westminster.  Do you have a dog that competed from Long Island? (more pictures below)

Sleepy girl!

English Mastiff takes a rest right in the middle of the floor!

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

After the Pre-Westminster Fashion show, and before the Westminster Dog Show there is a conference tucked in between both and held at the Hotel Pennsylvania – it’s been taking place the past few years.  What conference am I speaking of?  The 4th Annual Pet Writing Conference of course!  This year was my first year I was able to attend – but as a pet writer or someone in the pet industry thinking about getting into pet writing – this is a conference you should not miss.  Meeting with other pet writers from across the US, pet authors who have published pet books and with editors and publishers – this was an intimate group of about 40 pet writing professionals I would not have otherwise have met.

The conference is hosted by Charlotte Reed of The Pet Socialite Inc., and at lunch time the world famous David Frei of the Westminster Dog Show and Angel on a Leash stopped by to speak to us and with us – in which he was a fab addition of the lunch break.  I have met David a few times in the past and he did not disappoint with his stories of Uno a past Westminster Best in Show winner and his perfect pronunciation of the new breeds this year.  You know the dog breed starting with an X, I wouldn’t even attempt how to pronounce it.

Prior to David showing up at lunchtime, there were different seminars throughout the morning – and I have pages of notes yet to go through and hearing from people in the pet writing industry and learning their ins and outs – was very informative and dare I say fascinating at some points.

I spoke with a publisher and was asking her what she sees in self publishing vs. trying to get your book published world, and she said her company has published pet books that were self published first and the traditional publishing methods.  Was pretty interesting to hear her insight.

Another seminar had speakers from Petside.com and they were so nice and helpful – it was such a wonderful thing to see – as many of us have our own blogs, or pet magazines – they offered nothing but insight and even how to work with them.

Back to the books – one seminar after lunch that was almost a battle, was the Authors on writing – which featured a local Long Island author of 3 children’s books, the first being, ‘Ankle Soup‘ by Maureen Sullivan.  I met Maureen 3-years ago at a pet event in NYC when she and her illustrator were debuting Ankle Soup – and the French Bulldog on the cover is what caught my eye.  Turns out Maureen has been in the publishing world for a while, and yet she still self published her own three beautiful books.  The other author in that seminar, had a book published called Culinary Canine – and she told us of the woes of getting book published, how long it took and how long before they see a percentage (yikes!).  It was really insightful to hear the too authors almost battle out which publishing method was better.  (If and when I write a book, I think I am going to self publish) – so for that part of the seminar alone – made it well worth the attendance of the conference.

I love the fact that I learned things I wasn’t expecting to learn, hence all the notes I still have to go through.  And I was inspired by a few of the speakers that gave me great ideas for things I have coming up in my own pet world.  Gotta love that – and of course all the networking too.

If you’re a established pet writer, blogger or budding pet writer, I would say while in the midst of next year’s Westminster blur – be sure to attend this conference.  Now if I could just think of a catchy title for my book…