Top dogs took one last lap at Portland show before Westminster

On Jan. 31, some of the world’s “top dogs” will head to New York City to compete in the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. But before they do, many took one last spin in the ring at the Rose City Classic Dog Show, one of the largest dog shows on the West Coast.

Now in its 77th year, the event welcomed around 2,500 dogs with the majority competing in an event called Conformation, which evaluates how closely a dog fits the “written description of the ideal specimen of that breed”.

“It’s what most people think of when they think of a dog show because they’ve seen Westminster or the National Dog Show,” said Patti Strand, Chairman of the Rose City Classic.

But dogs of all kinds, purebred and otherwise, were free to compete in everything else from agility and obedience to ‘Scent Work’ and even a competition for ‘Trick Dogs’.

OPB’s “All Things Considered” host Crystal Ligori checked out the competition and spoke with some pooches and their people.

Patti Strand

Chairman, Rose City Classic Dog Show

What’s really cool about this show is that in addition to having breed judging, we have agility, scent work, obedience… We also have a “Meet the Breeds” event — there are 60 breeds participating in that — and we have this special booklet which is “Dogs Around the World” that kids can go by and ask questions of each breed and then after they’ve learned about the breed, they get to put their stamp in it, like a little passport.

We have about 2,500 dogs here and you have to figure that for every dog here you probably have a couple people … People in Oregon love dogs. There’s 103 kennel clubs in Oregon and I’ve actually been a member of the Dog Fanciers Association of Oregon since 1982.

Christy Marley

Handler, Trainer

We are showing English Setters and trying to win Best of Breed and go on to the sporting group. Each individual breed has their own standard, and so we are trying to match the standard as closely as we can. And the same thing with the competition, everybody’s trying to match their version of the standard and see what the judge thinks.

[My dog] Rip is four. I showed him young and then he took a big break, and then we only showed him a few months last year, and so now he’s really ready to go. He likes being a star. He likes to go out and fly around the ring and just have a good time.

Hanna Pearce

Spectator

We’re here with a group of friends for my sister’s birthday, and she made these bingo cards and if you get a bingo, you get the prize. [Reading the bingo spaces] There’s “dog poops.” There’s “five pencil skirts in one ring,” “breed specific shirt,” “matching outfit with their dog,” “someone audibly wonders why we’re here for a birthday,” “dog in a stroller”...

We’re really excited. In the group we have a lot of people who are neurodivergent and just love the dogs and all the things about them, so it’s really fun.

Raina Moss

Preservation Breeder, AKC Breeder of Merit

Today at the dog show we actually won Best of Breed in Clumbers with my champion dog Pancake. He’s headed to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in two weeks, which is televised in New York City, [and] he was invited as one of the top five Clumber Spaniels in the U.S.

There has to be a certain owner to love a Clumber Spaniel because they are comedians. Sometimes they look at you and they’re like, “What’s in it for me?” They’re also born senior citizens, they just kind of have this old man face.

As a preservation breeder, I’m breeding to preserve my breed, not to fulfill the demand. Without breeders like me, my breed would be extinct, which is very sad because we can trace our pedigrees back to the late 1700s, early 1800s. We’re a part of history.

Doug Johnson

AKC Breeder, Judge

Two-time Best in Show winner at Westminster

I actually judge all but 12 American Kennel Club recognized breeds.

I’m from Bloomington, Indiana, but I’ve done this dog show before. It’s a very good dog show because you get great entries. It’s the first show back for a lot of exhibitors in this area, so there’s a lot of people that are here to bring their dogs back.

They’ve been resting, so they’re fresh and ready to roll. There’s big entries too, which is wonderful, so lots of different dogs, and large entries in each individual breed [category].

Colton Johnson

AKC Breeder, Handler

Graham is a 4-year-old Old English Sheepdog. He was the number one herding dog in the country last year and the number one Old English Sheepdog.

We just won Best of Breed for Old English Sheepdogs, and it’s a specialty weekend, so that’s a big deal. Specialty means like a lot more sheepdogs than entries, so that was cool, and now we’re off to the herding group.