Timeline

1876 (or earlier) – A group of sporting gentlemen meet regularly in the bar of a Manhattan hotel to trade stories about their shooting accomplishments and the talents of their dogs. Eventually they form a club and name it after their favorite hotel: The Westminster Breeding Association. Early on, the club owns a kennel and raises Pointers for hunting and field trials.

1876 – The Westminster Breeding Association helps stage a dog show in Philadelphia in celebration of America’s centennial. The show is such a success that the members decide to hold their own dog show to allow them to compare their dogs in a setting away from the field. The members change the name of their organization to the Westminster Kennel Club.

1877 – The first New York Bench Show of Dogs, given under the auspices of the Westminster Kennel Club, is held in the Hippodrome at Gilmore’s Garden in New York City, drawing an entry of 1,201 dogs.

1879 – This year’s Premium List contains show rules and regulations, adopted together by Westminster and the Philadelphia Kennel Club. A Board of Appeals at the show is made up of three members of each club. It was an early step in the search for a set of rules under which the shows all across the country might be held. There would be no national governing body until the founding of AKC in 1884.

1884 – The Westminster Kennel Club is elected by the American Kennel Club as the AKC’s first member club. The American Fox Terrier Club becomes the next member in 1886. Westminster is the only all breed club to be a member until the Rhode Island Kennel Club joins in 1897.

1888 – With her assignment of 117 St. Bernards at Westminster, Anna Whitney becomes the first woman to judge a dog show in America. She judges every year for the next seven years, but it would be 1901 before another woman judges any dog show in the U.S.

1892 – The entry fee for Westminster is raised from $3 to $5, where it will remain until 1947.

1893 – Philanthropist JP Morgan makes the first of his many appearances at Westminster with his Collies.

1894 – Famous American journalist Nelly Bly enters her Maltese at Westminster, some four years after she made a record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes, racing the record of Phineas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days.

1905 – With 1,752 dogs on hand, Westminster becomes the largest dog show ever held anywhere in the world, surpassing the last show held at the Crystal Palace in London.

1907 – The award of Best In Show is given for the first time at Westminster. A panel of 10 judges makes the decision, although their names were not recorded. (In fact, the names making up the panel of Best In Show judges were not recorded until 1912).

1908 – The number of dogs entered reaches 2,000 for the first time.

1909 – Ch. Warren Remedy, a Smooth Fox Terrier, is awarded Best In Show for the third consecutive year, a feat never since duplicated at Westminster.

1917 – A special hero of World War I, a German Shepherd named Filax of Lewanno who had brought 54 wounded soldiers to safety, was exhibited at Westminster.

1918 – The profits of this show were donated to the American Red Cross in support of the war effort.

1923 – No Best In Show prize is awarded because of ongoing changes in American Kennel Club rules.

1924 – Westminster becomes the first club to conduct Best In Show judging in accordance with the new rules and format installed by the AKC.

1926 – Madison Square Garden III opens on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets. Westminster moves its show there, where it will remain until the facility closes in 1968.

1928 – Mrs. Reginald F. Mayhew of Forest Hills, NY, becomes the first woman to have a voice in deciding Best In Show, as one of a panel of five judges making the decision.

1933 – Mrs. M. Hartley Dodge judges Best In Show, becoming the first woman to officiate as the sole judge of this award. Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge is soon legendary in the dog show world, as the force behind the Morris & Essex Kennel Club and the benefactor of St. Hubert Giralda Animal Shelter in New Jersey.

1933 – A German Shepherd belonging to New York Yankee great, Lou Gehrig, is among this year’s entries. Afra of Cosalta takes second in the Open Bitch class; Gehrig goes on to some success on the baseball field instead, finishing with a .340 lifetime batting average as one of the most beloved Yankees of all time.

1934 – The Children’s Handling Grand Challenge Trophy is offered for the first time at Westminster. Later to be known as Junior Handling, this competition continues to be part of Westminster every year.

1935 – Mrs. Sherman Hoyt handles her Standard Poodle to BIS, the first such win ever for a woman handler, a feat that would not be repeated until 1956.

1941 – The show is changed from three days to a two-day event.

1946 – A tugboat strike causes New York Mayor William O’Dwyer to close the city down on the eve of the dog show. Business was allowed to resume 24 hours later, by that time forcing Westminster to make arrangements to hold its show in one day instead of two. Using 17 rings and a makeshift schedule that kept all rings in constant use, Best In Show was awarded by 12:15 am that night, 15 minutes earlier than the year before.

1948 – Television coverage of Westminster takes place for the first time.

1951 – The boxer, Ch. Bang Away of Sirrah Crest, becomes the first dog from West of the Mississippi to win Best In Show at Westminster.

1956 – Anne Hone Rogers (later Mrs. James Edward Clark) becomes the first woman professional handler and the second female to handle a dog to the Best In Show award.

1968 – Lakeland terrier Ch. Stingray of Derryabah becomes the first dog to win Best In Show at Westminster after winning the same award at Crufts, Westminster’s London counterpart.

1968 – The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the final event of any kind held at Madison Square Garden III. In 1969, the show moves to Madison Square Garden IV, its present location.

1969 – A bitter snowstorm cripples the New York area and plays havoc with Westminster’s first show at the new Garden.

1972 – The English Springer Spaniel Ch. Chinoe’s Adamant James captures his second consecutive Best In Show at Westminster, becoming the seventh dog – and, so far, last – with multiple BIS wins.

1976 – William W. Brainard, Jr. becomes the first person to judge Best In Show three times, a mark that is still unmatched.

1983 – Ch. Kabik’s The Challenger, an Afghan Hound, becomes only the third Hound – and, for far, last – to win Best In Show.

1989 – A red Doberman Pinscher bitch, Ch. Royal Tudor’s Wild as the Wind CD, becomes the first dog with an obedience title to capture Best In Show.

1992 – Westminster becomes the first Champions Only dog show held under AKC rules. Awards of Merit are added to the awards, the exact number given to be a function of the number of entries in each breed or variety.

1993 – After capturing Best In Show the previous year, Ch. Registry’s Lonesome Dove, a Wire Fox Terrier, fails in an attempt to repeat the win when it is awarded third place in the Terrier Group. This is the last time that a BIS winner has tried to repeat.

1997 – Ch. Parsifal Di Casa Netzer, a Standard Schnauzer, becomes the first Italian bred dog to win Best In Show.

1999 – “Kirby,”, a spunky Papillon officially known as Ch. Loteki Supernatural Being, becomes the oldest dog ever to win Best In Show. He is eight years, one month and ten days old. With this win, he becomes the first dog in the world to win both the World Dog Show (he won Best In Show at Helsinki over 17,000-plus dogs in 1998).

2003 – Ch. Torums Scarf Michael, a Kerry Blue terrier, captures Best In Show, becoming only the second dog to win both Westminster and Crufts.

NOTE: Only three places other than Madison Square Garden (in its various incarnations) have hosted the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show – the Gilmore Gardens (1877-1879), the American Institute Fair Building (1890) and the Grand Central Palace (1920).