Boring Dog Wins Westminster Dog Show

“Rangel called Sky ‘the little perfect dog’ who always seems to know what to do in a show ring. ‘You put the lead on her, she puts the tail up.’ With a laugh, he added, ‘You put food in your pocket, and she’s like, “What do you want me to do?”’ He was as effusive in praising Sky as he was four years ago for Sadie. ‘We love her,’ he said. ‘She knows she did something good. She’s a princess dog.’”
 — Westminster is, generally speaking, bad for dogs, as it encourages inbreeding, the dominance of “purebred” dogs, and impractical or downright dangerous physical traits, like brachycephalism (a flat face, seen in pugs and bulldogs, which can cause severe respiratory problems). This year’s winner is a wire fox terrier, a dog bred to hunt foxes. Terriers have won Westminster 46 times, more than twice as much as the next-most popular group. If it was up to me, which despite my repeated requests it is not, border collies would win every time, because they are the best dogs in the world, scientifically.

Photo by Vitaly Titov & Maria Sidelnikova. NB: This is not the winning canine in question but merely one of the many examples you find when you search for “princess dog” on Shutterstock. I am not even sure if this is a terrier. (It’s Balk here on the photo selection, I am not really a dog person? I mean, I could tell you the difference between a doberman and a chihuahua, but once you get into your smaller, less discrete breeds, they all go to the place in my head that registers “dog” and that’s about it. Anyway, I just thought it would be nice to have an image here, don’t give me such a hard time. I’m sorry if I messed things up for Dan in some way, and I guess this apology is only making it worse. I’ll just shut up now. Anyway, dogs!)