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Pooches, Hooches Ready To Strut At Westminster Dog Show

The Associated Press

A breed new to Westminster, the French mastiff, right, will compete for top dog. In 2008, Uno the beagle won.

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By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 2009

Updated: 02/09/2009 09:26 am

TAMPA - There's another Super Bowl on TV this week. It's the one for dogs and dog lovers.

"The 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show" beams in live from New York's Madison Square Garden on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Here come those fancy-schmancy breeds, like the Brussels Griffons, the Bouviers des Flandres and the Toy Poodles. And the weird-looking pooches, like the Hairless Chinese Crested and the Hungarian Puli (which resembles a large walking mop).

And there are the more familiar bloodhounds, bulldogs, beagles, Labradors, spaniels and so on.

New this year is Dogue de Bordeaux, or French Mastiff, competing for the first time in the working dog group.

"Their heads are like bowling balls," Westminster host David Frei says during a recent telephone news conference. "If you saw 'Turner and Hooch,' Hooch had the look."

But here is how Frei might describe the breed when he's calling the action at the show: "The Dogue de Bordeaux is believed to have originated in France more than 600 years ago and is highly regarded for his balanced temperament and imposing presence."

This year, Frei will be joined by longtime sports analyst and former tennis champion Mary Carillo (2008 Beijing Games) as a co-host. On the floor will be reporter Tiffany Simons (from NBC Sports).

One of the longest continuously held sporting events in the United States (second only to the Kentucky Derby), the Westminster show has been televised for the past 25 years. This year will be Frei's 20th as host.

The USA Network's live coverage airs from 8 to 9 p.m. Monday and continues on CNBC from 9 to 11 p.m. It concludes on USA from 8 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, ending with the crowning of Best in Show.

More than 2,500 dogs compete, and all have earned American Kennel Club "champion" status at the hundreds of other shows held throughout the year.

For the serious dog fan, USA and Westminster have more coverage online.

Streaming video of all the breed competitions, including the first live streaming of the Best in Group and Best in Show events, will be on www.westminsterkennel club.org. The site also will have behind-the-scenes footage before the show starts and post-show interviews with the winners.

At the USA Web site, www.usanetwork.com, you can take a test to get your canine personality. If you're scrappy, mischievous, easily bored, headstrong and your bark is worse than your bite, you might be a beagle.

A beagle has won Westminster only once. Last year, Uno took Best in Show.

Terriers seem to have an edge.

"They've won best in show 43 times in the past 100 years," Frei says. "To win, dogs need personality, charisma and a belief in what they are doing. And terriers were bred to be on their toes and to look for trouble."

It can cost up to $5,000 to show a dog at Westminster, he says. This year, the most represented are Labrador retrievers with 47; followed by French bulldogs (42), German short-haired pointers (39), golden retrievers (37), Australian shepherds (35), Bernese mountain dogs (35), borzoi (34) and Havanese (31).

While Westminster has been called the Super Bowl for dogs, Frei actually has a Super Bowl ring that he earned as a public relations executive with the Broncos. He also worked with the San Francisco 49ers and ABC-TV Sports in New York.

Frei, who also serves as director of communications for the Westminster Kennel Club, raised Afghan hounds for 30 years and has bred and shown Brittanys for 10 years.

He says the televised finals of Westminster have always been popular with viewers, and the 2000 comedy film "Best in Show" brought in even more.

"It's been almost 10 years since 'Best in Show' came out, and people are still talking about it," he says. "I'm asked about it all the time. And I was embarrassed by it. It doesn't make fun of the dogs. It makes fun of people who show dogs.

"And a lot of us in the dog show community saw ourselves in that film, or people that we know."

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654 or wbelcher@tampatrib.com.

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