The Westminster Dog Show Judging Bracket

It’s that time of year again! The Westminster Dog Show is here! It’s like the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Olympics rolled into one for dog people.

The big event this year will take place from June 20-22, 2022 in Tarrytown, NY. Get excited!

About the Westminster Dog Show

In the 1800s, a group of sporting gentlemen met regularly at the Westminster Hotel bar to drink and talk shop. They would discuss hunting and boast about their hunting dogs. The hotel, now long gone, was located at Irving Place and 16th Street in Manhattan. ⁣⁣
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Eventually they formed a club, bought a training area and kennel where they kept their dogs, and hired a trainer. They called their kennel club the Westminster Kennel Club, after their favorite hangout, and decided to hold a dog show. ⁣⁣
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The First Annual New York Bench Show of Dogs, held by the hunter’s Westminster Kennel Club, took place on May 8, 1877 at Gilmore’s Garden (which would later be known as Madison Square Garden). It was wildly popular, drawing an entry of 1,201 dogs. It was originally scheduled to be held over three days, but was drawn out to last four days instead, with proceeds from the fourth day donated to the ASPCA to create a home for stray and disabled dogs. Prizes for the first few shows included items like pearl-handled pistols. ⁣⁣
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The Westminster dog show is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, after the Kentucky Derby. It pre-dates the invention of the light bulb, the automobile and the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. It has been held in New York City every single year until 2021 – last year’s and this year’s events are taking place in Tarrytown, NY. ⁣⁣
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The dog show judges seven groups: Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding. In order to win the coveted title of Best in Show, a dog must take Best in Breed and then proceed to compete in Best in Group, and finally on the grand prize competition of Best in Show.⁣⁣
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The Terrier group has more than twice as many wins as any other group, with the Wire Fox Terrier winning the most Best in Show titles of any single breed, a total of 15 times. ⁣⁣
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A Smooth Fox Terrier named Ch. Warren Remedy won Best in Show three times (1907–1909), and six other dogs have won twice.⁣⁣

Westminster Dog Show: The Bracket

Let’s kick off the event with a bit of fun.

Every year, we host the MVP of NYC, where New Yorkers can vote on the top dog breed in New York City. The competition usually coincides with the Westminster Dog Show, but this year, timing was off due to a last minute Westminster schedule change.

Let’s take advantage and vote on the Westminster competition! It’ll be fun, furry, and free! And all about the dogs.

How to Play

Anyone can play! Here’s how:

1. Download the 2022 Bracket.
2. Fill it out!
3. Email the completed bracket to [email protected]. Please make the subject of the e-mail “Westminster Bracket” and include your name and Instagram handle in the body of the email. Yes – it can be your dog’s Instagram handle 😀.

The bracket is open and available to play from now until Sunday, June 19th.

Rules

The rules are, there are no rules!

Just kidding! There are rules, but only a few.

• One entry per person.
• Brackets must be submitted between now and June 19th, 2022. Any bracket sent after June 19th, 2022 will not be accepted.
• Entrants must follow @dogsofnyc on Instagram and must have signed up for Urban Sniffs, our database of dog-friendly locations in NYC. We will be checking entries so don’t skip this step!

Prizes

The person with the bracket that comes closest to correctly predicting the winning breed wins the following prizes, all from our Dog Candy shop:

Westminster Dog Groups

Here’s a list of all of the dog breeds in the running at Westminster this year. You must choose one winner from each group.

SPORTING GROUP

HOUND GROUP

WORKING GROUP

TERRIER GROUP

TOY GROUP

NON-SPORTING GROUP

HERDING GROUP

Want to play?

Download your bracket here!

Contact us if you have any questions.

Let the games begin!