Live Updates: Westminster's Best in Show Field Is Nearly Complete

New York Times

12-02-2025

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The coats are immaculately coifed, the ears are floppy and the crowd loved the golden retriever. Just the terrier group remains at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show before the top dog is crowned.
Monty, a giant schnauzer, won the working group for the third year in a row, giving him a spot in the final seven to compete for best in show at Madison Square Garden in New York. Freddie, an English springer spaniel, won the sporting group earlier, and four other group winners were named on Monday.
That esteemed collection includes three dogs who have graced the final round before. Comet, a 4-year-old Shih Tzu from Monclova, Ohio, won the toy group for the second year in a row. Bourbon, a 9-year-old whippet from Sugar Valley, Ga., won the hound group, and was also the show's runner-up in 2020 and 2021. And few dogs generated more buzz last year than Mercedes, a 5-year-old German shepherd from Bethesda, Md., who was a crowd favorite last year and has won the herding group in back-to-back years.
Neal, a 4-year-old bichon frisé from Mabank, Texas, won the non-sporting group and will make his first appearance in the final seven.
Here's what else to know:
How to watch: The evening's events are airing on FS1 and streaming on the Fox Sports app.
Getting ready: A Times reporter tagged along as Louis, a lustrous Afghan hound and last year's runner-up, got ready for competition with a spa day, including a sudsy shower.
Never bet on the golden: While golden retrievers are consistently among America's most popular companions at home, they're never top contenders for best in show. In an upset, Boujee, the top-ranked golden, was eliminated earlier Tuesday, but Truffy got loud ovations each time he appeared Tuesday night. He finished fourth in the sporting group.
Back home: The show is back at Madison Square Garden, its traditional home, after four years in other New York venues as a result of Covid-19 disruptions.
Reliving 2024: In case you're just here for the photos, there's plenty more from last year's competition, when Sage, a miniature poodle, took best in show. Feb. 11, 2025, 9:31 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Monty is clearly a pretty and successful dog, but has he done a day of work in his life? Monty, a giant schnauzer, won the working group for a third consecutive year at Westminster. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times
Tuesday night was business as usual for Monty, a dignified giant schnauzer who won the working group at Westminster for a third straight year.
Monty entered the competition hot off a win at the American Kennel Club National Championship last month, and sitting atop the American Kennel Club's all-breed rankings from last year. He won the working group in 2023 and 2024, but fell short of best in show both times.
Working dogs are brawny types who often find employment as military and service animals. But it has been more than 20 years since a member of the group won best in show at Westminster.
Feb. 11, 2025, 9:26 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Monty the giant schnauzer wins the working group for the third year in a row, and heads back to the best in show ring. Could this be his moment at last?? Feb. 11, 2025, 9:26 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
All dog owners love their breeds the best. A reader once wrote, in a comment on a piece I wrote about a samoyed, 'No dachsund, not interested.' And another reader has written to declare that 'a Basset hound should win.' (Alas, that is not happening - the hound group was won, as we mentioned earlier, by a whippet named Bourbon, knocking the Bassets out of contention.) Feb. 11, 2025, 9:22 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
The Tibetan mastiff — known for their 'stubbornness' — goes last. And now comes the hard bit: culling the finalists in the working group. Feb. 11, 2025, 9:19 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Here comes the Siberian husky! They like to howl at odd times. I once met an owner who said, 'Siberian huskies were put on this earth to make people alcoholics.'

The Saint Bernard is named Bodacious. Whatever happened to 'show, don't tell?' Feb. 11, 2025, 9:17 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Apparently Portuguese water dogs are taught to 'herd fish into nets.' This feels like a quixotic pursuit. But still — maybe they should be in the herding group? Feb. 11, 2025, 9:14 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Here comes the Neapolitan mastiff, who is a faithful companion for an owner who, rather alarmingly, 'is not put off by a little drool,' the announcer says. It's not for nothing that Andy and I privately call this group the Drooling Group. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times Feb. 11, 2025, 9:09 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
How do you clean a Komondor, the kitchen mop of champions? Sarah once asked a handler, and it was as complex as you'd think.
'He takes a bath once a week. He spends an hour in a tub filled with shampoo. Then we rinse him with apple cider vinegar, take a force drier and blow the water out of his cords. Then he goes and lies in front of a fan and dries for two days.' Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times

Lexus the Great Dane is large enough that viewers would be forgiven for thinking this was the Kentucky Derby. Credit... Eduardo Munoz/Reuters Feb. 11, 2025, 9:02 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
As impressive and enormous as he was when his turn came, the Great Dane is currently laying on his back getting his belly rubbed. Because, in the end, dogs gonna dog. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:59 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Monty the giant schnauzer, the top-ranked dog in the American Kennel Club rankings and a favorite to win it all tonight, struts out for his once-over. He has won the working group the past two years. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times Feb. 11, 2025, 8:59 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
I think he was … smiling when he went for his trot? That looked like a confident dog. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:50 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Despite purportedly being a terrier, the Black Russian terrier is part of the working group. Just one of the many mysteries swirling around Westminster. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:48 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
'A formal introduction is necessary' if you would like to convene with an Anatolian shepherd dog, the announcer says. (Note that both the Anatolian shepherds and the German shepherds have the word 'dog' in their formal breed titles, so no would mistake them for actual shepherds.) Feb. 11, 2025, 8:49 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
I like the truth in advertising in that. So many dogs have been described as 'affectionate' or 'an excellent family companion.' Just once you want to hear one called out as 'haughty and diffident' or 'cares little about your feelings or your couch cushions.'
Feb. 11, 2025, 8:45 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
These working group dogs are not allowed to use laptops or take calls, even from their bosses or their bankers, while they're in the ring. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:42 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
While we say good-bye to the sporting group and wait for the working group dogs to punch out of their 9-5 jobs, it's a good time to remember that there is also a group called the non-sporting group. (It had its competition yesterday; the winner was a bichon frisé named Neal.) If you were nitpicking here, you might point out that the non-sporting group is also the non-all-the-other-groups — neither toy nor hound nor terrier, neither herding nor sporting. In other words, these are miscellaneous dogs. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:41 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Up next is the working group, which seems the imply the other groups are all layabouts. There's a lot of size in this one: Great Danes, giant schnauzers, bull mastiffs. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times Louis, an Afghan hound handled by Allison Morrison Jones, was judged by Dr. José Luis Payró during best of breed on Monday. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times
The defeat of Louis the Afghan hound in the breed competition on Monday was the culmination of an epic battle that appears to have divided the Afghan (hound) world.
Louis, whose full name is CH Sunlit's King of Queens, won the breed and then the hound group last year. But another dog has been sniffing at his tail (so to speak) ever since: Zaida, who took the breed title this time around.
As in a boxing or tennis match, each dog had its partisans, who cheered and clapped every time their favorite did something — in this case, like run around the ring. The crowd was six or seven abreast, as Afghan aficionados jostled for a sight of the action.
One breeder, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, has been following the rivalry and said on Monday that the two factions hate each other.
The breeder who was scared of retribution said that the two dogs represented two distinct types of Afghans, and that Afghan owners and breeders are divided over which is the superior kind. On a cosmetic level, that appeared to be true: Louis has long black hair and is a male; Zaida has long champagne-colored hair and is a bitch, as female dogs are known in the show world.
The event judge strung out the suspense by making the two dogs run around the ring far more times than usual, and seemed also to change his mind, possibly several times over, about who should be top dog. In the end, Zaida's win marked the end of an era for Louis. His crowd of fans remained largely silent as Zaida was showered with acclaim.
Sadly for lovers of the breed, Zaida failed to win the hound group, losing to a delicate-looking whippet named Bourbon.
Freddie, an English springer spaniel, overcame crowd support for the golden retriever to win the sporting group. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times
The golden retriever's streak of losses at Westminster continued on Tuesday night, when Freddie, an English springer spaniel, won the sporting group.
Far smaller than many of his competitors, Freddie trotted around the ring to show off his rich brown saddle and proud white chest, his stub of a tail protruding at a rakish diagonal.
'Freddie is the dog that I've worked my whole life for,' Robin Novack, his handler, said after the victory. 'He's the one for me.'
Virginia Murray, the judge for the sporting group, scrutinized a field of athletic entrants that had each been named best of their breeds. They included an Irish setter with a coat the color of gingerbread and a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever that was landlocked at Madison Square Garden, far from its favorite waterfowl.
Sporting dogs, which were bred to help hunters in the field, have taken best in show at Westminster 20 times. The last to win best in show was C.J., a German shorthaired pointer, in 2016. In a few hours, or whenever the terriers are done, Freddie will get his chance.
Freddie, whose full name is GCHP CH Telltale Bohemian Rhapsody, is named for Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen. He entered the competition as No. 4 in all-breed rankings for 2024.
Freddie got stiff competition on Tuesday from Raisin, a curly-coated retriever, and Goober, a Sussex spaniel. The sporting group also contains two of the country's most popular dog breeds — Labrador and golden retrievers — that have never once managed to claim the show's top prize.
What gives? 'It's one of those questions that can't be answered,' Barbara Pepper, chairwoman of the judges' education committee at the Golden Retriever Club of America, told Sarah Lyall in a recent article about the breed's drought at Westminster.
A golden named Truffy represented his kind admirably on Tuesday night, and was rewarded with cheers from the crowd. But the judge was unmoved, and Truffy looked on as victory eluded his breed yet again. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:22 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
The English springer spaniel takes the sporting group! Feb. 11, 2025, 8:33 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
So that's 115 years of golden retriever heartbreak. And counting. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:20 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Huge cheers again for the golden, who has been pulled out of the pack — along with some spaniels and the German short-haired pointer — by the judge. These dogs will now run around some more while she considers them, one by one. Feb. 11, 2025, 8:21 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
The sporting group judge, Virginia Murray, is going to disappoint a lot of people if she doesn't go golden.
Feb. 11, 2025, 8:19 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
The suspense is building! The sporting group dogs are positioned in front of their boxes; the handlers are adjusting their (the dogs') tails and the judge is pacing up and down the aisles. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times Feb. 11, 2025, 8:17 p.m. ET
Sarah Lyall Reporting from Madison Square Garden
The judges are evaluating not just how the dogs look, but how they move and how they're built. That last part is a hands-on job, from nose to tail. The larger dogs stand on the ground, the medium-sized dogs walk up a ramp, and the smaller dogs are picked up like royalty and placed on a large box for the judge's convenience. Credit... Graham Dickie/The New York Times Feb. 11, 2025, 8:14 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
The Spinone Italiano needs better public relations: It's probably hard to find takers when you're described as 'only for owners with a sense of humor — and a tolerance for wet beards.' Credit... Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times Feb. 11, 2025, 8:03 p.m. ET
Andrew Das Reporting from Madison Square Garden
Dog show slo-mo might be the absolute best use of that technology in television and arena-video-screen history. Credit... Eduardo Munoz/Reuters


Ryan Tepera works with Boujee, a top-ranked golden retriever, at his home in Conroe, Texas. 'Today just wasn't her day,' he said of her being eliminated during breed judging. Credit... Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times
Boujee, a golden retriever, entered Westminster with huge expectations as the highest-ranked golden in the competition and the winner of the national breed title in 2024. But alas, it was not to be.
Competing against several dozen dazzling and enthusiastic goldens at the Javits Center on Tuesday morning, Boujee (full name: GCHG CH Skyline's Bad & Boujee) lost out in the final moments to a handsome dog named Truffy. Boujee, 2, was named Select Bitch, an honor for a female dog in the competition, but did not win the coveted best in breed award.
'Boujee showed her heart out, and we had the support of the crowd,' said Ryan Tepera, her handler and co-owner. 'Today just wasn't her day. It's one judge's opinion. But she still goes home as our favorite.'
Truffy will now go on compete against the winners of the other breeds in the sporting group later tonight. But judging from historical experience, he has little (or no) chance of taking the best in show prize.
In the 117 years that the award has been given, golden retrievers have won exactly zero times. (No Labrador retrievers or French bulldogs have ever won, either, though along with goldens they are the most popular breeds in the United States.)
In 2020, a golden named Daniel made the rare leap to the finals after unexpectedly winning the sporting group. By far the crowd favorite, he was nonetheless defeated by a haughty standard poodle named Siba. His fans were not pleased.
'A poodle winning over a golden retriever like Daniel is everything that's wrong with our country,' one Twitter user said.
Graham Dickie/The New York Times
Dogs who won best of breed at the Javits Center on Tuesday afternoon had to travel three city blocks to Madison Square Garden for the next round of competition. The last thing they needed was to get their paws dirty on Midtown's icky sidewalks. So they boarded a champions-only shuttle bus provided by the Westminster Kennel Club that transported them to the arena in style.
It looked like a regular city bus, albeit one from a world in which dogs had the same rights as humans. Draco, a Neapolitan mastiff the size of a middle schooler, lounged on a seat next to one of his handlers, Maria Chiselko. At one point he turned around to gaze romantically out the window at the buildings passing by.
The bus's exterior was unmarked, perhaps to minimize the attention drawn to the celebrities of the dog world who were inside. Some dogs appeared to be natural commuters. Ranger, a Komondor, was squeezed between a seat and two bags being carried by his owner, Joan Liebes. Nearby was Asti, a Siberian husky, nuzzling against the knees of her owner, Megan Terella.
A flat-coated retriever perching on a seat stuck out its tongue in apparent enjoyment of the ride. But a Great Dane was stuck standing in the aisle, apparently too large for any of the prime seating. See more on: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
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