Ten Things You May Not Know About The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
Ten things you may not have known about the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show:
- The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was started in 1877 as a show for gun dogs and among other things some of the prizes were firearms of different sorts.
- The show was changed to a two-day format in 1941, before that its length was varied from three to four days long.
- A success from the start, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show drew over 1200 dogs.
- The American Kennel Club (AKC) was started in 1884 and the Westminster Kennel Club was the first club admitted.
- The first televised Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show took place in 1948.
- The youngest dog to win Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was a Rough Collie in 1929.
- Through the first hundred years (1907-2007) of the Best in Show award being won, it was presented to a terrier the most, 44 times.
- Only one dog has won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Best in Show award and also won any kind of Obedience Championship.
- The most challenged rule in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show’s history is the name length rule instituted in 1984. The rule stated that no dog participating in the show was allowed to have a name longer than seven words.
- A herding dog has only won Best in Show one time out of the first one hundred times it was awarded.
