# Westminster-Ultimate Goal For Breeders?



## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

This is just one of many random questions I have from time to time.
For those of you who show your dogs,have you ever had or strive to have one of your dogs in Westminster? I don't know why I even thought of this today,but I just did. 

In watching the show,I sometimes hear a couple of handlers say 'Every breeder should strive to be here' or something similar. 

I'm not a breeder,but my opinion is that everyone has different goals for their kennel and just because you don't have a goal to get to 'the big show', it doesn't really make you less stellar.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

If there ever was a time...
opcorn:


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I'm not a breeder, but I have a couple of bitches that I show. 

I have a few friends, with a different breed, that have been to Westminster. I've never gotten the impression from any of them that it is _the_ goal to get to the Garden. It's a big show, it's prestigious, it would be great to get a win there, sure. But not the goal of their breeding programs...

Since you brought up Westminster, I looked to see who some of the invitees are.

Capi (of course - the National winner, and #1 GSD )
Margarita Rose (she is a Dallas daughter, ranked in the top 5). 
And Galaxy (who is the full brother of my champion's dam's, also ranked in the top 5). 

More useless trivia - the judge who is judging the Herding Group for this year's Westminster show, gave my girl Winners and Best of Breed a few months ago. I think I'm kind of partial to him, LOL.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

my dog went to Westminster several times.
Westminster Maryland and Westminster Pa.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

LOL doggiedad. Reminds me of the time I spent in Paris. Paris, Texas.


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## GSDElsa (Jul 22, 2009)

Considering that Westminster is an AKC conformation thing and there aren't many GSD breeders who are into and follow AKC standards you arne't going to have a lot of breeders who give a rat's behind about it.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

doggiedad said:


> my dog went to Westminster several times.
> Westminster Maryland and Westminster Pa.


:dancingtree:*Now that you mention it, when I lived in MD I often took the Hooligans to the shows and matches up at the Westminster, MD fairgrounds (obedience) ... so I can honestly answer YES, my dogs have been to Westminster and won ... HO HO HO!!!*


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

I don't show GSDs but pretty much like Dogfaeries said. It's great to be invited, it's even better to win or get an AOM (and group placements...that's a pretty big deal for sure). It is a very prestigious show and it's a big deal largely because a lot of the top show dogs from all over the country compete there. Most breeders would rather win the National though


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

AgileGSD said:


> Most breeders would rather win the National though


Absolutely.


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## Xeph (Jun 19, 2005)

As far as all breed shows go, yes, Westminster is a big goal for many in terms of shows to attend. Not so much a goal for a breeding program.

It is true most would rather win at their national.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

lol.



doggiedad said:


> my dog went to Westminster several times.
> Westminster Maryland and Westminster Pa.





dogfaeries said:


> LOL doggiedad. Reminds me of the time I spent in Paris. Paris, Texas.


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

I don't even bother to watch it.

the purebred AKC show fancy is not large in terms of percentages of litters bred in GSDs - of which I believe the largest segment is BYB - the Euro breeders don't aspire to this show as it is apples and oranges to be polite about it....

Lee


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

I have plenty of AKC focused breeders at my club. They produce very nice dogs and recently we've had more than a few dogs go select at the nationals and also a few grand victors/victrix.

A lot of them really just want to do well at nationals and if they get invited to the big show they'll go. It must take a lot of time and money though in order to do that and since most of their points are made regionally they don't get that much recognition nationally.

I'm not a conformation person, but I understand that its just a part of the dog world and sadly that's where the big bucks are made when it comes to breeding dogs. Most of our breeders do make it down to the nationals every year and do pretty well, its nice to have a club that is quite successful. But I don't believe they really focus their breeding efforts to making the big show, probably more towards winning grand victor/victrix but that's really a goal of any breeder that is looking for correct conformation.


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## Andaka (Jun 29, 2003)

I had a dog win an Award f Merit at Westminster in 2005. I planned for the campaign to get him invited and made sure we attended enough shows and defeated enough dogs. We ended up as the #2 dog in the country for GSD's defeated and #4 for all-breeds defeated. It was my one year to do this, and then I went back to my obedience training. The chase was thrilling, but I'm not sure I would ever do it again.


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

??? So going to Westminister is based on statistics??? I know a Viszla breeder here locally, who has done well at the National as a breeder, and her sometime handler (also a breeder) goes to Westminster every year and has gotten as far as a Group placing....I did not realize that getting there was more the result of how much you could travel and show (and of course place - Winners or BOW???) ... One horse show circuit I used to do pointed on numbers of horses in class and I thought that was very fair.....a 15 horse class gave 15 - 14 - 13 -12 - 11 points for first 5 horses, and a 3 horse class gave 3 - 2- 1 points.....

Congrats Andaka, quite an accomplishment!

Lee


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

You have to get out there and campaign your dog to get it ranked. You need to have a lot of Best of Breeds (BOB) and Group placements, etc. Dogs that are in the top 5 of their breed, and the winners of their national specialties are automatically invited to Westminster. 

It's incredibly expensive to show dogs, so you can only imagine how much it costs to get a dog ranked. The travel expenses, entry fees, handler fees. I know I don't have that kind of money, lol! I'm going to special (show in Best of Breed competition) Carly and try for her grand championship. But we stop there. She has a litter sister that is a grand champion, whose owner is working on getting her ranked. I talked to her owner last year and she was eligible for Westminster then, but didn't go. She said her handler fee alone would be $1500. Yikes. 




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## MichaelE (Dec 15, 2012)

Even if I had that sort of cash I wouldn't be interested in any sort of conformation competition.

I'm not sure why, but this sort of competition seems so cold and impersonal to me concerning the dog.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I don't find it to be cold and impersonal at all. I guess if you just send your dog out with a handler, and don't participate yourself, then I can see that. But we go to the shows with our dogs. My girls have a good time.


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## Andaka (Jun 29, 2003)

Westminster KC has a limited entry, so the top 5 dogs of each breed are invited, then the entry is filled with dogs that enter after that. I wanted the invite so that I didn't have to worry about getting in later.


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