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The Westminster Dog Show is back!
To prepare for the return of this beloved canine competition, PEOPLE spoke with Gail Miller Bisher — the director of communications for the Westminster Kennel Club and one Fox Sports analyst for the dog show — about what animal lovers can expect from this year’s event.
A change some dog aficionados might notice is the arrival of two new breeds to the completion. The Westminster Kennel Club recently recognized both theMudi, an energetic and “easy-to-train” canine, and theRussian Toy, a canine with “large eyes and high set ears, similar to a Chihuahua, but they’re much taller,” making the breeds eligible for the famous event. The Mudi will make its Westminster debut in the Herding Group, while the Russian Toy will be joining the Toy Group.
This year’s dog show will also highlight several “hidden gem” breeds, shining a spotlight on breeds that have been part of Westminster for years but are not as well known to the general public.
“There are 211 breeds and varieties of dogs eligible to enter Westminster, but a lot of those breeds, although they’re ancient breeds, they’ve been around for hundreds of years and even showing at Westminster since 1877, some of them are vulnerable, meaning they’re very low numbers of them that even exist,” Miller Bisher said.
“If people are looking for a dog to bring home, we want to make sure they know about these types of breeds as well because they’re awesome. They have long histories and make great pets, but people just don’t always know about them,” she added.
The 2022 Westminster Dog Show’s hidden gems this year are the “American Fox Hound — which George Washington owned, and they’re still showing at Westminster today — the Skye Terrier, Sussex Spaniel, and the Bergamasco Sheepdog.”
And while many may know the Westminster Dog Show for its confirmation event, where one dog is crowned Best In Show for best-exhibiting breed standards, the dog show also includes agility and obedience competitions that Miller Bisher said are not to be missed.
“I love watching the agility finals. Well, agility in general, but the agility finals, the amount of passion and energy and love is just, it’s palpable. It really is, and I think the audience sees it,” she shared.
Loyal Westminster watchers don’t have to miss a minute of the competition. Live streaming of the 2022 Westminster Dog Show’s events will be available atwestminsterkennelclub.org, the WKC App, and FOX Sports App.
Additionally, there will be 17 hours of live coverage from the show on FS1 and FS2, two and a half hours of the Agility Finals on FOX, an eight-hour live simulcast in Spanish on FOX Deportes, and 17 hours of live simulcast on Sportsnet in Canada.
Read on for full details on how to watch all of the 2022 Westminster Dog Show and learn more about this year’s event atwestminsterkennelclub.org.
SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2022
Masters Agility Championship Preliminaries
SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2022
Masters Agility Championship Finals
MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2022
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2022
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022
All times EST
source: people.com
