Jewel. Courtesy NBC Sports.
The Philadelphia Kennel Club did an awesome job at keeping the results mostly under wraps from the actual date of the show (November 16th) until its airing on NBC on Thanksgiving Day. A record crowd attended the live event at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, and an estimated 18 million saw the broadcast. If you were too busy cooking or if your TV was busy with football games, the show will be re-broadcast on Saturday, November 30th at 8 pm on NBC. Can’t wait that long? The links below will take you to the group-level judging as it was telecast (which is an abridged version). If you’re interested in seeing every dog in each group, you can follow this link and scroll through the list to each dog in the group. There is no composite that shows every dog in any group all at once.
If you’re not familiar with dog shows, here’s what you need to know. Judging starts with all dogs of each breed competing against each other to be named Best in Breed, meaning that the winning dog is the best example of the breed standard being shown that day. The Best in Breed winners come together to compete against other dogs (about 25 – 30 breeds) in one of seven functional groups: Hounds, Sporting, Toy, Terrier, Herding, Non-Sporting, and Working. The judge is not picking one breed as superior to another; rather, they are choosing the dog they think most closely matches the standard for his or her breed. The winner from each group then goes on to compete against the six other Best in Group dogs, with the winner of this last round named Best in Show.
Hound Group: Best in Group winner Jewel of Washington, DC was shown by handler Lisa Miller. They’ve been having a very good year, which is no surprise since Jewel’s grandfather held the record as the winningest American Foxhound in the history of the breed…until Jewel broke his record this year. More formally known as GCH Kiarry’s Pandora’s Box, Jewel currently holds the titles of top-ranked American Foxhound, top-ranked Hound, and 6th-ranked dog of any breed. Watch Ms. Sharol Candace Way judge the hounds.
Working Group: Judge William P. Shelton chose Schweitzer, a Standard Schnauzer, as Best in Group. Schweitzer is actually named GCH Mistic Longfellow’s Serenade, but that’s a mouthful! Schweitzer was bred by Mistic Standard Schnauzers of Altoona, PA and is owned by Sally Marsh & Alfred DeRenzi. He recently won Best in Show at Schnauzapalooza. NBC combines the Hound and Working Groups into one clip, with the working group starting at about 13:15.
Toy Group: Rodger, a Pekingese from East Berlin, PA, won Best in Group, as judged by Mr. Dennis McCoy. Rodger was shown by David Fitzpatrick, the same handler who took Malachy all the way to Best in Show at Westminster in 2012. Watch part 1 and part 2 of the Toy Group judging.
Sporting Group: Mr. Clay Coady chose an Irish Water Spaniel named Riley from Seattle, Washington as the best dog in this group. Her formal moniker is GCH Whistlestop’s Riley on Fire, and she was bred by Colleen McDaniel & Stacy Duncan. The breeder, Whistlestop, is located in Bothell, WA. Owner Greg Siner was recently featured on the Dog Channel. NBC (for some unknown reason) does not have the composite video for the sporting group available at this time.
Herding Group: A Bearded Collie named Fawny was judged Best in Group by Mr. Rick Gschwender at today’s show. Fawny has no internet presence that I could find, so I can’t tell you much about her, but here’s the judging: part 1 and part 2.
Terrier Group: These feisty dogs competed under the watchful eye of Mrs. Robert S. Forsyth, who proclaimed a Norfolk Terrier named Ryder Best in Group. He is more formally known as Yarrow Venerie Ticket to Ride and hails from Boston. Bred by Beth Sweigart and Pam Beale, owned by John and Pamela Beale. Watch the Terrier Group judging, part 1 and part 2.
Non-Sporting Group: Mr. Carl E. Gomes had the honor of judging the non-sporting group, choosing a Bichon Frise named Honor as Best in Group. Honor is from Washington, DC, and his formal name is GCH. Vogelflight’s “Honor” to Pillow Talk. He was born in 2008 a result of breeding by Lori & Tracy Kornfeld and Mary & Kathie Vogel. He is owned by Ellen MacNeille and Charles, Matt & Paula Abbott. View Part 1 and Part 2 of the judging.
Watch Judge Randy E. Garren preside over the Best in Show judging, and see an interview with the Lisa Miller, Jewel’s trainer, on how it feels to win Best in Show.
Last, but not least: if you’re interested in the new breeds, check out this video from NBC Sports. The new breeds are the Chinook, the Rat Terrier, and the Portuguese Podengo Pequeno. (Say that one three times fast!)
Hoping you and your dog had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the 2013 National Dog Show as much as I did!
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Which dog in the hound group was shown just before the Otterhound??