The Road to Westminster

Have you ever thought about showing your dog and winning the granddaddy of them all, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show?  It may look like it only requires running your dog around in a circle, but the road to Westminster is actually tough going, involving a lot of time, travel, and money, not to mention finding a great dog to show.

This year’s winner, commonly known as Sadie, but officially shown as Ch Roundtown Mercedes of Maryscot, had over 100 Best in Show titles before winning the 134^th Annual Westminster show in 2010.  Her family, Dan and Amelia Musser of Mackinac Island, Michigan, has been involved in dog breeding and showing for 45 years.

When one of their employees, Mary O’Neal, bred Ch Anstamm Like a Rock to Ch Maryscot Painted Black, Sadie was born in the Musser’s kennel on April 2, 2005. From then until the time she hit the floor at Madison Square Gardens, Sadie had won 112 Best in Show titles, amassing more championship points than any other dog.

And that number doesn’t include the shows where she didn’t take the top honors.  In a recent blog post the Mussers’ daughter Robin Agnew says, “Lots of our childhood memories are of dog shows – many, many dog shows, many, many shows where Mom’s dog was not the winner, but where she enjoyed being a part of the whole thing.”

Agnew goes on to state that finding a perfect animal “is like finding lightning in a bottle.”  Although her parents have shown dogs for many years, it wasn’t until they began hiring professional handlers that they began seeing bigger success.

For example, this year’s trip to Westminster was Sadie’s third.  Her first showing was in 2008, and she got spooked by the feel of loose floorboards under her feet and the sound of the squeak in handler Gabriel Rangel’s shoes.  She wouldn’t make eye contact with the judges and ended up in 2^nd place in the terrier group, making her ineligible for the Best in Show judging.  A true professional, Rangel found ways to get Sadie ready for the next year’s show.

He helped her learn to make eye contact by having strangers give her small treats as she traveled the country to dog shows.  He also carted her around on a rolling cart to get her used to being on unsteady footing.  Oh, and he made sure to wear old shoes the next time around.  His hard work and creativity paid off.  In 2009, Sadie won the terrier group and advanced to the Best in Show ring, where she was narrowly beaten by Stump, a 10-year old Sussex Spaniel.  Most people say the reason Sadie didn’t take it all in 2009 was because she had a wee-wee accident in the ring.

The road to the 2010 show was a full-court press.  Trade magazine Dog News charges as much as $2,000 for a full-page ad, and the Mussers bought 10 ads over the past year to keep Sadie’s name on the minds of everyone in the dog world.

As if her impressive show record weren’t enough!  In the last two months of 2009 alone, Sadie won Best in Show at the Wine Country Kennel Club show in Napa Valley, at all four days of the Philadelphia Kennel Club’s shows, at the National Dog Show a week or so later, and at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship show in mid-December. She was named the 2009 dog of the year by the American Kennel Club.

With the Westminster win, Sadie now has two jewels in her Triple Crown.  A dog is said to have won the Triple Crown if he or she wins at the National Championship, at Westminster, and at the world’s largest dog show, Crufts.  The only dog to have achieved such a feat is Kerry Blue Terrier Ch. Torum’s Scarf Michael, known to his friends as Mick.  He won Crufts in 2000, Nationals in 2002, and Westminster in 2003.

It is unclear whether or not Sadie will make the trip to England for the Crufts show next month.  Rumor has it she has retired, presumably to the posh family-owned Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  Wonder if she gets a suite or a regular room?

For more information on Sadie and her family, check out this article from their hometown newspaper, The Mackinac Island News.

For more information on the wonderful world of dog shows, see the article in our doggies den here.