Fri, 03/11/2022 - 6:26pm

Editorial: February 11, 2022

Show Dogs of the Year Awards Dinner moves to Lyndhurst

Since March of 2020, the world has been thrown into chaos as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. All of us in one way or another has been affected by this catastrophic event, which caused the deaths of loved ones, friends and acquaintances.

Our world of purebred dogs saw massive cancellations and postponements of dog shows during most of 2020 and 2021, which brings us to the real topic at hand.

What has been become a tradition is the Purina® Pro Plan® Show Dogs Of The Year Awards Dinner partnered with Dog News, at the start of the Westminster Kennel Club week. New York City health restrictions and limited capacity for indoor events caused postponement of the Westminster dog show and the cancellation of the awards dinner for the last two years. The Westminster Kennel Club is the second oldest continuous sporting event in the United States after the Kentucky Derby. The club very successfully postponed their show, moved it to the Lyndhurst Estate, and kept their historic standing. We were not so fortunate, and while we honored the 2020 Top Winning Dogs in all seven groups, there were no achievement awards due to the large number of cancelled dog shows. In 2021, more dog shows were being held and we once again instituted online voting for the nominees in four categories – Breeder of the Year, Owner Handler of the Year, Professional Handler of the Year and Judge of the Year – joined by Top Obedience Dog of the Year, Junior Handler of the Year and, of course, the newest inductee into the Anne Rodgers Clark Hall of Fame. It was decided that with so many show cancellations, there would be no online voting for Dog Show of the Year. Then the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus struck, and New York City’s restrictive health laws and indoor event limitations made it impossible to hold any events, which caused the second year of postponements and cancellations.

Our desire to publicly honor all these winners from the last two years was paramount on our minds, and thanks to the generosity of the members of the Westminster Kennel Club and their recognition that the awards dinner is a benchmark of the Westminster week, they graciously have allowed us the use of the fabulous Lyndhurst Estate grounds for us to celebrate the accomplishments of these deserving dogs and individuals. In this issue of Dog News we announce the 2021 winners and honor those top dogs and individuals voted online by you. We will host a two-hour cocktail party following the breed judging on Monday, June 27, between 5 and 7 p.m. to present the awards to the winners announced in this issue. Only the inductee to the Hall of Fame will be announced to the guests that will be invited from the cancelled January event. While we celebrate these achievements in a beautiful setting, we too look forward to returning to Manhattan next year.                     

 

 

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