The history of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

Part 1

How the show got its start

The Westminster Kennel Club began with a group of hunters who met regularly at the Westminster Hotel at Irving Place and 16th Street in Manhattan. When it came time to name the new club, the members chose the name of the hotel where they met. If your dog could join a club named after your favorite coffee shop, you would probably understand the impulse.

The club staged its first event, called the First Annual New York Bench Show of Dogs, at Gilmore's Garden in New York City. Gilmore's Garden stood on the site that later became Madison Square Garden. Around 1,200 dogs were entered, including Pointers, Setters, Collies, Newfoundlands, dachshunds, and wolfhounds. The show was so popular that organizers extended it from three days to four. The club donated the proceeds from that extra day to the ASPCA, to help create a home for stray and disabled dogs.

Part 2

Early entries worth knowing about

Some of the dogs at that first show had unusual backgrounds. Two Staghounds were listed as coming from the pack of General George Custer, and two Deerhounds had been bred by the Queen of England. In 1889, a Siberian Wolfhound entered the show with the Czar of Russia listed as its breeder. The financier J. P. Morgan entered his Collies at Westminster in 1893.

Part 3

Westminster and the American Kennel Club

Westminster predates the American Kennel Club, which was founded in 1884, by seven years. Westminster became the first club admitted to the AKC after it was established. Breed parent clubs write the standards judges use to score each breed, and the AKC administers the rules for shows and judging. At the show, dogs first compete against others of their own breed, and the winners move on to one of seven groups: Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting, and Herding. Group winners then compete for the final award, Best in Show.

Part 4

Best in Show, and the dogs who won it

Westminster gave its first Best in Show award in 1907. The winner was a Smooth Fox Terrier named Ch. Warren Remedy, who went on to win again in 1908 and 1909. She remains the only dog to win Best in Show three times at Westminster. Six other dogs have won Best in Show twice, the most recent being the English Springer Spaniel Ch. Chinoe's Adamant James, who won in 1971 and 1972. If your own dog has ever placed anywhere at a local show, you know how much work goes into even one ribbon, let alone three national wins.

Part 5

A long run through history

Westminster has run every year despite power outages, snowstorms, a national depression, two World Wars, and even a tugboat strike. It is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, behind only the Kentucky Derby, which began two years earlier. The show was first televised in 1948. Junior Showmanship, in which young handlers show dogs, has been part of Westminster since 1934. Since 2014, mixed-breed dogs have been allowed to compete in the show's agility event.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the show's usual routine. The 2021 and 2022 events were held outdoors at the Lyndhurst mansion in Tarrytown, New York, instead of Madison Square Garden. The 2023 and 2024 shows moved to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. In 2025, the show returned to Madison Square Garden and its traditional February scheduling. So if you plan to take your dog to watch someday, it helps to check where that year's show is being held.

Part 6

The ASPCA connection

Westminster's first show is tied to the ASPCA through that donated fourth day of proceeds. The ASPCA itself had been founded in April 1866, by Henry Bergh, after New York passed a law against cruelty to animals. Bergh spent his life pursuing people who mistreated animals in New York City, including dog fighters and drivers who overworked their horses. It is a small thread connecting the earliest days of organized dog showing to the earliest days of organized animal welfare work in America.