A Golden Retriever just became the first Golden in history to win the sporting group at the Westminster Dog Show. cc: @ewarren pic.twitter.com/gOUmw10auk
— laura olin (@lauraolin) February 12, 2020
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Nature & Respite, Open Threads
A Golden Retriever just became the first Golden in history to win the sporting group at the Westminster Dog Show. cc: @ewarren pic.twitter.com/gOUmw10auk
— laura olin (@lauraolin) February 12, 2020
Comments are closed.
Ohio Mom
You do yeoman’s work on this blog, Anne Laurie. Just wanted you to know how much I appreciate your posts.
Jerzy Russian
Woof.
Sab
Best of Agility showed a border collie, but the film was a papillon. That papillon was truly amazing.
trollhattan
Whoops, the Larson I linked to in thread below belongs here.
Major Major Major Major
ahh, respite.
I just got back from a birthday dinner that went far too long and will be watching Jack Ryan. Everybody looked at me weird when I talked about the election anyway.
Sab
The golden is a really pretty boy, not one of those dome-headed ones that usually do well at Westminster. He looks like a real retriever.
ETA Why are so many golden’s named Bailey? My ex’s favorite was also a Bailey.
ETA I know the winner is Daniel. Thinking of Warren’s dog.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: oh, did I miss fun?
zhena gogolia
@Ohio Mom:
Seconded.
catclub
@Sab: You did not watch the full 12-13 minutes. There was an Australian Shepherd, a border collie and a golden.
I think that means an 8 inch, 12 inch, 16, 20 and 24 inch class.
Martin
@Sab: Ours was also a Bailey.
Bunch of alcoholics, we are.
LAO
I love a golden retriever, my bullshitzbeagle*, not so much. I never noticed how many goldens lived in my neighborhood until Maggie developed an extreme fear/aggression reaction to them.
*American staffy, beagle, shitzu
TomatoQueen
Fucking poodle.
Miss Bianca
OK, I feel cleansed.
MomSense
@Martin:
In our neck of the woods there are lots of Goldens named for Bailey’s Island. I know a pair of labs named Orr’s and Bailey for two neighboring islands.
The alcoholics would pick Allen or Coffee or Brandy. Allen’s Coffee Brandy is a whole thing in Maine.
Martin
@MomSense: Bailey’s Irish Creme is a thing pretty much everywhere else.
MomSense
@Martin:
It’s such an obsession here. https://www.thedailybeast.com/maines-obsession-with-allens-coffee-flavored-brandy?ref=scroll
Zelma
Standard poodle won again. I was rooting for the Havanese.
NotMax
@MomSense
Not Crème de Homard?
;)
Mandarama
I still feel low, but I do have two real-life Goldens here who are trying to reassure me. Thank dog!
tam1MI
Poodles are great dogs, it’s just those cuts that are ridiculous.
Kent
Has a yellow lab ever won? We are lab people.
Our current lab Tucker is too much of a doofus to do this sort of thing. He would probably find some dog poop somewhere in the arena to roll in right before the show.
tomtofa
Memories of my Appenzeller/Entlebucher mixed with ? rescue dog Monet. Tried out agility courses at dog parks when he was young; he enjoyed them but could never have been a serious competitor. Come to think of it, I couldn’t have been as agile a companion as the folks in the video.
He’s 12+ now; since I’ve put him on Carprofen, omega oils, and glucosamine his hip arthritis bothers him less and he runs in the fields almost like he used to. Not as agile: his specialty when young at dog parks was to get a dog, or dogs, to chase him. Monet wasn’t the fastest dog, but he could turn on a dime, over and over, leaving the chasing dogs rolling around in his wake.
Then he’d choose a favorite dog and wrestle for an hour or so.
Choose a rescue mix – they’ll be with you longer and be less prone to the inbred afflictions of purebreds.
Martin
I have a corgi and I love him, but goldens are absolutely peak dog.
Sab
@Zelma: I’m big dog person, so yay standard. Also my sister lost one of her two standards this year. Go standards. Really cool dogs inder that poodle exterior.
I am a large mutt person myself, although I do love my inherited cocker (smelly ears though since always in his food and everything is his food.)
Sab
@Martin: My new across the street neighbors have corgis. Cute!!
Barkish though.
Sab
@Martin: They do need grooming ( professional haircuts.)
ETA they being golden retrievers. Corgis only need brushed?
Mike J
Fat ass in a glass.
HumboldtBlue
Here comes the United States as it prepares for another presidential election.
White-knuckle-gripping-squeaky bum time at about 2:40
Martin
@Sab: Yeah, only brushing. That’s a plus. Having your dog get high-centered on the curb is a minus, though.
Can be barky. MIne is good – just a nice heavy woof when he wants to go out. One suffices – you can hear it everywhere.
burnspbesq
The short hair makes that look more like a yellow Lab than a Golden.
My soon-to-be bride has been agitating for a “purse dog” for months, but I may be off the hook. Last Saturday when we came out of the local sporting goods emporium, the truck parked next to us had a purebred Pyr and a Pyr/Anatolian mix in the back. Much oohing and ahhing ensued.
Sab
@catclub: Thank you. I had not watched it all. Aussie and border collie were equally amazing.
Damn. I always wanted to do agility. Never did. Too busy. Retired now, but any dog I get small enough to handle now would outlive me. That’s not fair to them.
Sab
@Martin: The neighbor corgis are barky not yappy. They bark when we pee on their lawn, but they don’t yap continuously when they are bored, like some other neighbor dogs.
Martin
@HumboldtBlue: The first time I flew on a little turboprop regional plane we were landing in a thunderstorm and maybe 50-100 feet above the runway there was a big gust and I found myself looking out my window straight down the runway. When we came to a stop, nobody stood up. We all needed a few more minutes. The pilot sounded a little rattled when he got on the PA.
Sab
@Martin: What/which state? Just curious, since could happen anywhere.
TomatoQueen
I want the golden to win Westminster just one time. Also a Dal. Poodles and wirehairs win too often.
dww44
@TomatoQueen: I would have been happy with one of the 3 breeds that had never won, but, alas, the standard poodle wins again. Apparently the Best In Show judge believes in the breeders and obviously poodles must have the best. I’d have to say that I would have been happy with any of the other 6 over the poodle.
John Revolta
Go Go Golden! “Punk” stole my heart, flyin’ through that course just as fast as those little guys- and nine years old! Dayum.
Patricia Kayden
Dogs are the best. (Sorry cats)
Jean
@LAO: One of my little dogs, Milo, who has a canine good citizen certificate and well trained NOT to react, does not like Goldens at all! And the ones in our neighborhood, like most, I believe, are gentle and non-threatening. Milo, however, does not like the look of them, and it takes everything he’s got NOT to go nuts.
Martin
@Sab: Flying into HIA in PA. I think I originated at BWI. This must have been 35 years ago.
The nice thing about HIA is that it has a massive runway, so there’s no hurry to wheels down.
The Dangerman
I’m just glad I got a chance to land at the old Hong Kong Airport. Definitely E ticket ride.
I wonder why the dogs all bark at the poles? Is that dog for “in your face, assholes”?
Amir Khalid
@The Dangerman:
I’ve done that too. It’s amazing how the plane gets so close to those apartment buildings as it comes in to land that you can look at the clotheslines and see what everyone was wearing yesterday.
Anne Laurie
You can get, or make, a snood to keep his ears out of his food. Basically, a tube or ‘sock’ pulled over his head, loose enough not to be constricting but fitted enough not to fall off. The most common google images are designed for outdoor cold-weather gear, but lots of showdog people use lighter-weight versions 24/7 to keep those luxurious ‘feathers’ long & lovely.
Anne Laurie
There’s a bias; judges have to ‘qualify’ for various levels, first on their own chosen breed, then on the group for that breed, and only then (assuming they care to put in the time & energy, all uncompensated) can they qualify for all-breed competition. And, of course, only the “top” judges get to work the big national shows, like Westminster.
It’s easier to find people with that kind of dedication if you start with a really popular show breed — like standard poodles. And because SP breeders tend to be conformation fanatics, even by conformation-show standards, the SP breeders are more likely to progress up the ranks than someone who’s only really interested in, say, Sussex spaniels or border collies. So, inevitably, the judges with the most experience, who get invited to judge the top shows… are gonna be biased, unconsciously or not, towards certain ‘always best in show’ breeds. Like, say, Standard poodles!
Not gonna go into further detail, but Westminster is an anomaly in about sixteen different ways, even apart from judicial bias. It’s fun eye candy, and it means a lot to the people involved, but it’s like the Oscars. A lot of expense just to try for a nomination, and even if you win, it gets the owner (producer) bragging rights, the breeder / handler (writer / director) an income bump, and the dog (actor) more sexual access. But professionals don’t count on an Oscar win for validation, because their peers know just how random & political it is when you win one.
SectionH
@TomatoQueen: Say what?
@tam1MI: Thank you!
The problems with poodles:
the name
the stupid show clip
the owners in the past for the rep, esp. the toy version. Show clip is only a problem with um when dogs that perform Really Well win, I’m talking standard poodles.
The cool stuff about poodles
they’re totally non-shedding, basically hypo-allergenic
they’re actually extremely intelligent, no, not just for dogs, I mean srsly bright, I mean cat-level bright. [ducking] People who treat their poodles like the wonderful intelligent dogs they are have great dogs.
Mumbles something about how many labradoodles etc are out there…
— I have no idea how the formatting will work out here, except it will be fucked up. Sorry about that.
Anne Laurie
@SectionH: Not only are poodles great dogs, they usually have a sense of humor — which is rarer than one might think, in dogs. (German shepherds, for instance, are very bright, but they tend to sulk if they think you’re not taking things as seriously as they do. Goldens would love to have a sense of humor, but they lack that acidic edge, so they mostly aspire to whimsy. Frankly, if dogs could talk, most of them would be endlessly amused by knock-knock jokes and fart noises.)
It makes them not only better companions (for people who want a companion, not just a pillow that requires feeding), it makes it easier for them to get along with humans. One reason they are so popular for ‘designer’ crosses is that the sense of humor, as well as the smarts, tends to show up in the puppies.
Sab
@Anne Laurie: My german shepherd had a great sense of humor.
Neldob
I will never forget the border collie, name was Run maybe, doing agility. Made my prudish heart sing.
dww44
@Anne Laurie: Thanks, Anne, I learned lots from your post. I have a bias because even when SP’s don’t win the Best In Show, they more often than not win Best in the Non-Sporting Group, where my personal favorite resides,,, the Bulldog, or as I prefer to call him/her, the English Bulldog. I hate that catch all category where all the leftover breeds are placed when they don’t fit in the other 6, so in a sense whatever dog wins there wins largely because it can only fairly be judged against itself.