How Sage, a Miniature Poodle, Pulled Off an Upset at Westminster (2024)

Pinned

A small dog that wasn’t afraid of the competition.

Sage, a 3-year-old bitch whose full name is GCHG Ch Surrey Sage, was a surprise win. Before the show, which was held for a second consecutive year at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens, she was ranked just 39th of all show dogs on the country — based on points amassed in previous shows — and only fourth in her group, non-sporting dogs. But she had something about her.

Like all show poodles, Sage appears to be about 75 percent hair, with a sumptuous coiffure that rises to a huge pouf above and around her head, surrounds her body in a kind of puffball, and reappears again as topiary-ed pompoms on the end of her tail and at the bottom of her skinny legs, as if she is wearing après-ski boots. She trots daintily, as if running was slightly beneath her.

It was the 11th time a poodle of one size or another has won the competition. In 2020, the title was won by Siba, a standard poodle; in 2002, it was won by Spice, another miniature poodle who happens to be Sage’s great-grandmother. Sage (and Spice’s) handler, Kaz Hosaka, said that this was his 45th Westminster and that it was time for him to retire.

Mr. Hosaka, who is known for his poodle hairdressing expertise, — a Times profile in 2009 called him “an artist who tends his poodles’ poufs as if they were bonsai trees from his native Japan” — carried Sage into the ring for the best in show competition, and again into the post-show news conference, positioning her in front of a yellow-and-purple ribbon twice the length of her body. “She’s heavy,” he said.

“I was not expecting anything,” Mr. Hosaka, 65, said. “She did it for me today.”

He said that Sage, too, would retire now that the show is over. He plans to go to happy hour more often, he said, and Sage will finally be allowed to venture outside in the rain without anyone worrying about what it will do to her hairstyle. “She’ll be like a normal dog.”

Mr. Hosaka has a towering reputation in the dog world for his way with poodles. A recent article in Edge, a lifestyle magazine, said that Mr. Hosaka “is to the poodle world what Michael Jordan is to basketball. Smooth, clever, elegant and nearly unbeatable.”

Reserve best in show — Westminster’s title for second place — went to Mercedes, a German shepherd, who won the herding group and was a crowd favorite because of her flashy good looks and the graceful and ebullient way she loped around the ring. Monty, a dark and dignified giant schnauzer who won the working group, came into the show the No. 1 ranked dog in the country and had been considered a favorite to win before Sage’s surprise victory.

Other finalists were the winner of the hound group, Louis, a 6-year-old Afghan hound with such silky hair he looked like an animate shampoo commercial; Comet, a 3-year-old Shih Tzu who won the toy group and who sported a fetching blue bow in his hair; Micah, a spry black co*cker spaniel, who defeated a formidable field of pointers, setters and retrievers to take the sporting group; and Frankie, the colored bull terrier who won the popular, if crowded, terrier group.

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Sage is more than 75 percent hair.

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Dogs can’t talk but they have mirrors.

Monty has the measured gait and conspicuous confidence of a clear favorite. No frills, no stray looks at his competition, as if he thinks he has any.

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Don’t let the Irish Setter hear you say that!

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There’s been too much hype with Monty the giant schnauzer.

In a live interview with FS1, Rosalind Kramer, the best in show judge, emphasized exactly what Sarah just noted — that she’s judging based on each breed’s standard. But she said she would also consider “showmanship and personality, becuase that’s what it’s all about.”

There’s something either genuinely lovely about this idea — be the ideal version of yourself, don’t sweat the competition — or tragically Sisyphean. Who can hope to compete against an ideal? (Okay, it’s getting late.)

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Frankie, a colored bull terrier, wins the terrier group.

The terrier judge, Patricia Anne Keenan, sorted through a squat assembly of terriers of the Australian, Norfolk, Skye, smooth fox and wire fox varieties. (She appeared to be able to tell them all apart.) The crowd went still when a Welsh terrier’s handler tripped and fell, but he was soon back on his feet, tucking a purple handkerchief back into his pocket.

Terriers were originally bred to hunt vermin, but now make good pets, according to the American Kennel Club. Buyer beware: “They can be stubborn; have high energy levels, and require special grooming (known as ‘stripping’) to maintain a characteristic appearance.”

During the competition, the gray Glen of Imaal terrier balanced nimbly on his hind legs while his handler held up a treat. The stunt did not earn him a shot at best in show.

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The crowd applauded extra loudly when the handler and his dog survived the judge’s first round of cuts.

Callie, are you okay?

Of course, Sarah! I’ve been here for 10 hours and I’ve eaten three potato chips.

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Emily, some of them are changing outfits and sneaking back in, like Zendaya at the Met Gala.

Mayor Adams replacing his “rat czar” with a Manchester Terrier would certainly shake things up.

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Those of us who don’t exactly love the terriers may want to take note of the fact that tonight’s best in show judge, Rosalind Kramer, has a background in terriers and also married a “terrier enthusiast” per her bio in the media guide.

Five hours down, seven to go.

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Myers just expressed concern for the dogs being “prodded and poked.” His co-host corrected him: “we say caressed.”

Gentle family pet = lies around the house all day.

Monty, a giant schnauzer, wins the working group.

Monty advanced to best in show last year, but lost the top prize to Buddy Holly, a petit basset griffon Vendéen. When it was announced that he would be getting another chance, Monty did not leap onto his handler or gloat in front of the runner-up, a Siberian husky.

“We’re all together, we love our dogs, we’re just trying our best,” Monty’s handler, Katie Bernardin, told the crowd.

Members of the working group were bred to drag sleds and guard property, but at Arthur Ashe Stadium they lined up for assessment by the judge Rick Gschwender in front of a lively crowd. Spectators whooped for the stately St. Bernard and the agile Great Pyrenees.

Despite Monty’s success, it has been two decades since a working group champion has won best in show: A 155-pound Newfoundland named Josh took the prize in 2004.

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Micah, a black co*cker spaniel, wins the sporting group.

In a post-victory interview on Fox Sports, Micah let his handler, Per Ingar Rismyhr, do most of the talking. (Micah did contribute by nuzzling a reporter’s microphone.)

Westminster’s top prize last went to a member of the sporting group in 2016, when C.J. the German shorthaired pointer took things into his very capable paws. The group’s champions have won best in show in show 20 times — a total second only to that of the terriers.

Sporting dogs are an energetic bunch bred to assist hunters. The group includes Labradors and golden retrievers, breeds that have both never won best in show despite making some of the country’s most popular pets.

Bowie the golden retriever received cheers from the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium, though not nearly as many as a Clumber spaniel whose considerable jowls bounced with each step.

As Micah celebrated, Cutter the Labrador retriever looked on, stoic in defeat. His breed would have to wait another Westminster.

Meet your bloggers (and their pets).

Leading our coverage is Sarah Lyall, a writer at large whose dog expertise comes from sharing her house (and her husband) with a two-year-old Border terrier, Charlie. Callie Holtermann is a reporter from Styles who has a chocolate lab named Luca. Matt Flegenheimer is a correspondent with a focus on profiles of powerful figures and his family dog is a golden retriever named Murphy. Michael Grynbaum is a media reporter and the parent of Pajama, a Persian cat who has a very high opinion of herself.

Emily Anthes is a reporter on the Science desk who covers animals and has both a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Watson and a cat of unknown origin named Juniper. Christine Chung is a travel reporter and lover of all dogs (especially the mutts) who has a jindo mix rescue named Juni who has never done a day of agility in his five years of life.

Scott Cacciola is a Styles reporter who has never owned a dog (he’d like to someday) but gets his puppy fix from Buddy, a 15-year-old Yorkie who lives with his soon-to-be-inlaws. And I’m a senior editor in Styles who will spend the evening with my 15-year-old cat, Lucy, who is nearly always annoyed.

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With extensive planning, and treats, 2,500 show dogs descended on New York.

Some 2,500 top-ranked dogs are in New York City to compete in this year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Breed judging, the marquee event, will begin on Monday, while several hundred other dogs have already battled it out in events testing agility, obedience and the ability to dive the farthest off a dock.

Getting into the show takes years of training and effort. Getting to the show requires extensive organizing by owners and handlers, who plan hours- or days-long road or plane trips, pack thousands of dollars worth of gear — grooming tables, industrial-strength hair dryers, leashes, collars, toys, kibble and more — and pray that neither delays nor cancellations disrupt their itineraries.

Treats are nonnegotiable.

“I try to stock up on healthy, single-ingredient treats such as freeze-dried duck or freeze-dried liver,” said Shell Lewis, 71, who came to New York with a Russell terrier and a Cairn terrier. On show days, however, her dogs receive “something special and high value.”

“It involves a drive-through McDonald’s to pick up two sausage biscuits — I eat the biscuits, they get the sausage,” she said.

In the United States, accumulating titles at local, regional and national dog competitions require constant driving, with long journeys the norm. Most dogs, their trainers say, are used to the road.

Ms. Lewis drove 14 hours from Geneva, Ill., for Spangle, her 2-year-old Russell terrier, to compete in the agility event (Alas, Spangle was knocked out in the preliminaries.) Ms. Lewis also brought along Nora, her 7-year-old Cairn terrier.

“They haven’t learned to drive yet,” said Ms. Lewis, “but they are excellent travelers.”

The dog show has a scrappier, sloppier cousin.

The event has evolved into a counterprogramming juggernaut that draws millions of viewers and functions as a sneakily effective call to adoption. According to Animal Planet, all of the 1,298 dogs that have played in past Puppy Bowls have been adopted.

The game itself is played by three-to-six-month old, untrained puppies recruited from shelters across the United States. (Some even throw preseason training camps.) It is filmed over the course of a week in October, at a hockey arena in Glens Falls, N.Y.

Victoria Schade, the on-set trainer, is responsible for getting the dogs to gaze upward patriotically during the national anthem — a request that they do not understand, because they are dogs.

Her strategy? Dangling treats above their heads. “Freeze-dried chicken, freeze-dried liver, freeze-dried cheese: That’s going to get your Puppy Bowl-worthy performance,” Ms. Schade said.

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Striker’s journey from fan favorite to ‘dog influencer.’

Marc Ralsky, Striker’s co-owner along with Coreen Pacht, said that Striker has emerged as a kind of dog influencer, so well known that some of his admirers arrived at the show with little gifts for him. Among the items in his haul were a plush toy in the shape of a can of Coca-Cola, a Samoyed-themed key chain and a roll of toilet paper printed with small blue dogs, because Striker is well known (at least to his followers on Facebook) for his affinity for toilet paper.

On Sunday, Striker, who has been staying in a hotel near La Guardia Airport, made a special arrangement to visit Cartier — he would have looked particularly striking against a backdrop of diamonds — but his owners nixed the trip on account of the rain. “We wouldn’t have had time to dry his hair,” Mr. Ralsky said.

Striker has mostly been working hard at what he does best. “He’s a star,” Mr. Ralsky said. “His job is to make people happy.”

In 1877, The Times detailed ‘a fine collection of canines.’

The venue was rented for three days for $1,500, but the event drew such dense crowds that it was extended for a fourth day. “The gentlemen who served as ticket-sellers could not make change fast enough to suit the impatience of the throng that was continually clamoring for admittance,” one report read.

Reporters encountered five “superb” mastiffs, a St. Bernard “as large as a Shetland pony,” and a selection of “dainty” pugs and poodles. Prizes including guns and gold coins were awarded to standouts in some breeds, however, the best in show competition did not yet exist.

“The bull dog that took the prize is about as ugly an animal as one would wish to see,” read an article published on May 11. “His nose is bent and wrinkled so as to be almost on a level with the top of his head, and he is so fat he can hardly waddle.”

The Times was kinder to a Skye terrier named Jet that became a crowd favorite: “The ladies will go into ecstasies over Jet,” a reporter predicted.

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Need to catch up? We’ve got you covered.

There is more to Westminster than the beauty contest.

Nimble was the first All-American dog — the dog show word for mutt — to take the top spot in the 11 years that agility has been part of Westminster, and he was also the first dog from the 12-inch division to win the competition. (The dogs are divided into five groups according to size, from 8 inches to 24 inches; the smaller dogs jump shorter fences.)

Winners from the different size groups included a Papillon named Lark, two Border collies named Vanish and Typo, and a Weimaraner named Hogan.

Agility is a crowd favorite, because the dogs look like they’re having so much fun. Audiences are generous to all the dogs, even when the dogs decide to go rogue. Perhaps the best example is Kratu, a rescue dog who has appeared several times at the Crufts dog show in England. In the 2020 show, he ignored most of the obstacles, hung out in the tunnel for a while before emerging from the wrong end and then grabbed a pole from a fence, parading around as if it were a stick.

Miles, an All-American rescue dog from Erie, Pa., who defeated the odds to become an agility champion and whose unlikely road to Westminster was described in The Times, competed on Saturday in the 20-inch division. His first run, of two, was clean and fast. Alas, he failed to touch several markers in his second run, and did not make the finals.

But he had a great time anyway, said his owner, Christine Longnecker, who returned to Erie with Miles and his four-person cheering entourage on Sunday. “He’s pretty sure he won the whole thing,” she said.

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Four dogs have already advanced to best in show judging.

Here’s the latest on the competition.

Then Frankie, a colored bull terrier, won among the terriers, the historically dominant group that has claimed 47 of 103 best in show awards.

Now comes the main highlight of the dog calendar: the best in show competition, the pinnacle of canine achievement, the treat of all treats. It will come down to the seven group champions: Micha, Monty and Frankie will join four group champions named on Monday night — Mercedes the German shepherd, Sage the miniature poodle, Comet the Shih Tzu, and Louis the Afghan hound.

Follow along with us as we chronicle the final moments of the competition with a decorated group of journalists, each of whom has shown a passion for dogs, providing commentary and analysis. You can watch the ending on FS1, or stream it on the Fox Sports app.

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Meet Westminster’s newest dog, the Lancashire heeler.

“Small yet powerful and built sturdily, the Lancashire heeler is alert and energetic, excelling at herding cattle while also exhibiting terrier instincts for hunting rabbits and rats,” the Westminster Kennel Club said in an introduction of the breed.

A single Lancashire heeler, named Mando, competed in the group stage show this year. During the breed judging stage on Monday, he trotted into the ring with the confidence of a veteran in front of stands that were packed with press and onlookers.

“History!” one spectator shouted from the crowd.

Unfortunately for Mando, he did not make it out of the group stage, with Mercedes, a German shepherd, advancing to Tuesday’s best in show competition.

The United States Lancashire Heeler Club has been pushing for greater recognition of the breed since its founding in 2007. “This breed is a power chewer,” the club’s website cautions, and can be energetic to a point that overwhelms some owners. Shedding can be an issue, too.

“Brushing a couple of time a week, routine bathing when they get grimy or roll in something really stinky is needed,” the club said.

At Westminster, the breed was trying to fend off collies and corgis and all the other stars of the herding group. Judges were looking for erect ears, a fine undercoat and “small, firm and well padded feet.”

Closely overlapping lower teeth were a boon, as were “amply boned” forequarters.