Arts & Entertainment

Best in Show: The Westminster Dog Show Returns to Tarrytown

Published 12 months ago12m ago • Bookmarks: 100

June 12, 2022

By Shana Liebman–

On June 18, the legendary Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show returns to The Lyndhurst National Historic Trust for the second year in a row.

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The 146th annual competition was originally scheduled to be held at Madison Square Garden in January, but Covid concerns again led the club to relocate to Tarrytown’s Lyndhurst estate.

The Tarrytown History of the Westminster Dog Show

Lyndhurst’s Executive Director Howard A. Zar says that “the Westminster Kennel Club dog show at Lyndhurst last year was nothing less than magical…The synergy of having a dog show on the property and having so many dog lovers wandering the grounds really brought the property to life in a historically accurate way.”

In fact, there is a rich dog-showing history at Lyndhurst, beginning with Jay Gould, a railroad tycoon who purchased the Tarrytown estate as his summer home in 1880, and often showed purebreds. He even hosted a kennel on his property. Gould and his children owned bulldogs, Pekingese, St. Bernards, Great Danes, Pointers, Spaniels, Sheep Dogs and one Chihuahua. The family bequeathed the 67-acre estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1961, and the grounds later served as the home of the Westchester Kennel Club dog show, from 1973 to 2009.

According to Zar, last year’s event proved that Lyndhurst is an ideal home for the event. Not only did it feature many of the breeds that the Gould family bred, but the Gould Saint Bernard cup competition also came back to Lyndhurst for the first time. “Even the ‘Best in Show’ winner, a Pekinese, was the same breed of dog that was the favorite of Lyndhurst’s last owner, Anna Gould, Duchess of Talleyrand,” Zar said. “So, we think there was some site karma on crowning a winner that had been a favorite on the property in years past.”

The Westminster Dog Show in 2022

The 2022 show begins on June 18 with the “Masters Agility Competition” and ends with the announcement of the “Best in Show” on June 22. Unlike last year, the 2022 event will be open to spectators who can not only watch the competitions but also take tours of the mansion and visit vendors under tents on Lyndhurst’s grounds.

“Having spectators at the show provides an opportunity for breed education where we can provide the public with a relevant, trusted source of history and information on dog breeds,” Gail Miller Bisher, Director of Communications at the Westminster Kennel Club, explains.

There will be 3,200 dogs competing in Conformation, Agility, Obedience and Junior Showmanship events over the four days. The dogs come from 49 states and nine countries. This year, two new breeds will be introduced: The Mudi, joining the Herding Group, and the Russian Toy in the Toy Group.

“We are also launching two new initiatives — a partnership with Valor Service Dog and an inaugural Veterinarian of the Year Award,” Bisher adds. Valor Service Dog is sponsoring a puppy in training — a golden retriever named Betty— who will undergo 18-to-24 months of training before being placed as a service dog with a military veteran or first responder in need. The Veterinarian Award will go to Dr. Joseph Rossi at North Penn Animal Hospital, and Westminster is donating $10,000 in the name of Dr. Rossi to MightyVet, a nonprofit platform founded to support veterinarians, students, and vet techs tackling mental well-being issues and continuing education in the veterinary profession.

How to Watch the Westminster Dog Show at Lyndhurst

Tickets are on sale at westminsterkennelclub.org. Due to capacity limitations, there are no tickets available for “Group Judging” or “Best in Show” events. Parking must be reserved and is located either at Belvedere or Montefiore, which are both a short walk and/or shuttle bus from Lyndhurst.

Live streaming of all events is available via the Westminster Kennel Club website. FOX will air some coverage and other events will be available on cable channels FS1, FS2.

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