Couples at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show are approaching the 150th annual edition as both a competition and a test of shared commitment, with the show’s breed-by-breed rounds and preparations for Tuesday’s best-in-show award taking place in New York. For many of the people involved, the event spotlights a simple prerequisite: a partner who truly cares about dogs, the daily routines they require and the travel that comes with showing at the top level.
Bill McFadden, a two-time Westminster-winning handler, said Saturday that he would struggle to do the work without the kind of involvement he has from his wife, Taffe McFadden. Taffe previously handled a second-place winner in 2019, and both she and Bill were among past finalists who appeared Monday evening in a special tribute to Westminster’s 150th annual show. Bill said he and Taffe met at a dog show in the late 1970s and married in 1985, and he described their competitive relationship as one without animosity, even when they have faced each other in the ring.
Bill McFadden said he thinks some of his best memories involve watching Taffe win best in show. He said that if one of them takes the biggest ribbon home, “it’s awesome,” adding that it does not matter which partner wins. The McFaddens also said their partnership has included the kind of day-to-day cooperation that comes with sharing responsibilities for training and caring for dogs in their home, where they travel the country to 150 to 200 dog shows a year.
Beyond high-profile handler couples, Monday’s Westminster programming also put a focus on the breed competition itself as it moved through its traditional multi-round format. The show started with agility and other sports on Saturday, and on Monday it shifted to its breed-by-breed rounds that select finalists ahead of Tuesday night. Among those chosen Monday was Zaida, an Afghan hound who has twice won the World Dog Show, with handler Willy Santiago telling the crowd that he had been waiting for “this day for all my life.” Santiago said Zaida is the dog that makes him feel that “everything can happen,” describing his reaction in emotional terms.
Zaida’s rivals will include JJ, a Lhasa apso that won the AKC National Championship show in December. Susan Giles, of Manakin Sabot, Virginia, described JJ in an interview earlier Monday as a show dog and said the dog is “everything the breed is supposed to be,” while also noting one departure from a norm for the breed: “He’ll talk to everybody.” Giles’ remarks came as JJ advanced among Monday’s finalists, alongside other dogs including Graham, an old English sheepdog whose grandfather Swagger was runner-up at Westminster in 2013, and Cookie, a Maltese that pulled off an upset in the toy dog semifinals.
Handlers described the process as something they do not separate from their personal lives, including for couples who balance their showing work with full-time jobs. Randy Huelsemann and Andrea Huelsemann of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, said they juggle breeding and showing their own French bulldogs while working in their regular professions, with Randy working as a 911 dispatcher and Andrea as a dental hygienist. They said they do it “for just the love of it, for something to do together,” and Andrea added that it is “a great hobby for the two of us.”
The show’s atmosphere also included participants whose connections to entertainment extend beyond the ring. Lydia Hearst and Chris Hardwick cheered for their otterhound, Zoltar, who did not win its breed but drew attention from the crowd. Hearst said she “die[s] a lot in horror movies,” which she linked to being able to scream for a long time, and she described how dogs have been part of her and Hardwick’s lives, with pets in his case and show dogs in hers. Hearst’s mother, Patricia Hearst Shaw, also had a dog in Monday’s competition.
At the junior-handler level, the day featured Wilbur the beagle, whose owner Mary Cummings said he appears in the Netflix police drama “The Rip,” starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. On Monday, Wilbur was performing for Charlotte Jones, 13, in a competition for junior handlers. Cummings, of Binghamton, New York, said Wilbur’s preferences were simple: “Everything,” and she added that he likes anything involving food and getting attention.