Can you Game a Dog Show?

want to say. He's talking about cats were More specifically, he's talking about how cats are non dogs, as he calls them, got to make an appearance at Westminster's dog show this year. Wow, so they were actually I don't believe this. This gotta be a story. Yeah, it's true that they were. Actually Forty designer breeds like Twiggers and Bengals, all displayed at the Meet the Breeds event a few days before the dog show, which of course caused some

commotion from purism can. In fact, an a k C spokeswoman had to defend the inclusion, and she clarified it for a Washington Post reporter by saying cats or pets too, but they're not dogs. That's not that's not the point. Yeah, but the whole thing made me realize I know nothing about America's greatest dog show, and I started wondering how did dog shows get their start, and why are they so important to breeders? And most importantly, are there ways

for an outsider a game of dog show. Let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend man Gueshop Ticketer and behind that soundproof glass wearing the most stylish top hat I think I've ever seen, as our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And today we're going to be talking dog shows, not just how they got started,

but how you can try to game them. But before we dive in, I wanted to just thank our listeners again for all the fun emails and messages were getting and voice messages on our hotline. And there was one that came in that was talking about our Weird College Classes episode we did just a few weeks ago, and I thought this was pretty great. It's from Catherine and grape Vine, Texas and it says. I just finished your

podcast about college classes. You mentioned a wine appreciation class in Ohio, and I had to tell you it isn't the only one around. The decade ago, my brother took a course like that at the University of Houston, and my parents weren't happy and thought it would be a total joke. Instead, he turned out to be really good at tasting and raiding the wine, where he went on to take a course and and study to become a

Somalia I love. He went on to judge for the wine show for the Texas Rodeo, which I didn't know that existed last year alone. It included twenty eight hundred of entries from approximately twenty different countries, including Australia, Austria, France, Italy, Japan, Peru, South Africa and Spain. I guess some of those weird random classes can really pay off. Uh, this is pretty great, So thank you so much Katherine for a for sending

this in. I guess these classes can lead to big things, definitely, But you guys keep the emails coming. Part time genius at how stuff Works dot com or you can call us on our seven fact hot line one eight four four pt. Genius. It is still seven, right, seven, that's excellent, all right, all right, on to our main topic. You know, Mango, I know you and I both had dogs growing up,

and and my family just got a new pup. Yeah, Noodles, that's right, Noodles Pierson getting the shout out on today's program. But you know, before we were coming on for the show, you were telling me that you were pretty dog obsessed as a kid. Yeah. I mean, I've always loved dogs, but in second or third grade, I watched this PBS series with my mom called All Things Bright and Beautiful, which is about this country veterinarian named James Harriet, and watching it convinced me I needed to be a vet.

Like he drove around the country in this classic old car and he had this dog riding shotgun and he helped animals, so it all seemed kind of lovely and ideal to me. And this was maybe a year or two before we got a dog. In fact, I'm not sure if I ever told you this, but my my school had this encyclopedia of dog breeds that I found hidden in the back corner somewhere, and I totally monopolized, like i'd return it and then immediately signed it out again.

And I don't even know why. I mean, maybe it was because I figured, like a good vet needed to start studying dog breeds early. But you know, at a certain point, after like five or six weeks of my name being the only one on the library card, the librarian gently took me aside and let me know I should probably let someone else check it out, like she was very sweet about it. Library cards. I haven't thought so like the things in the back of the books.

Haven't thought about that a long time. All right, Well, you know, since today's episode is all about dog shows, I'm curious to hear from you, like, have you ever gone to a dog show? No? I mean that's what's funny, is that, as obsessed as I was, and as much as I love dogs, I've always thought dog shows were next level, like just a step too far. And obviously that idea has certainly been helped by things like Best in Show, which is an hysterical movie, but it's certainly

influences the way we think about dog shows too. Yeah, and I don't love the pageantry and it's so ostentatious, and so you know that writer Gia Tolentino, who I love. She wrote the story about the Westminster Dog Show for The New Yorker and in the opening scene, this is the scene she walks into. She sees uh tall fluffy dog strode genially around the room. I'm going to need you to stay away from my setup. One handler histed another as they power walk towards the staging area, wearing

sequin accented suits. Like, clearly Best and Show didn't have to try that hard to mock some of what goes on. Wow, that's crazy. And and speaking of Best and Show, I do remember reading and this is really no shock to me but that none of the dog shows would let Christopher guests film his mockumentary there, so he basically had to build and recreate a massive dog show just for

the movie. And it's such a great movie. But let's get back on track here, because you know, Noodles has a dog show to win, so we need to figure out how to game one. So before we start talking about how to run the tables, you know, why don't you walk us through a quick history of dog shows. You you you had the honor being assigned to looking up the history of dog shows. That's all yours. Yeah, no problem. So Westminster is America's oldest dog show that's still around today.

It is massive, like it's the only one that gets broadcast for two nights on TV. And it's actually the second oldest continuously held sporting competition in the US. It's been going on since eighteen seventy seven. Wow, that's remarkable. I actually didn't have any idea how old it was. I did know what the oldest continuous sporting event was. Do you hapen to know what it is? It's the Kentucky Derby. It's actually right around this time. I guess

it's only probably a year or so before Westminster. Yeah, that's right. But what's funny is that Westminster has been a hot ticket from the start, and apparently people have just always been crazy for dogs. There's this great book called Show Dog by Josh Dean, and he talks about the dogs at the first Westminster and actually, let me read this quote just to show you how excited people

were about the first show. Among the top attractions of that debut show were two stag hounds from a pack owned by the then dead General George Custer, to deer hounds bread by a queen Victoria of England, reported to be worth fifty dollars each and it's two legged dog said to be a veritable biped and possessing almost human intelligence, right, I know, And it was the place to be like.

A New York Times story reported that the gentleman who served as ticket sellers could not make change fast enough to suit the impatience of the throng that was continually clamoring for admittance. Wow, now I do feel like we should be clear. Westminster wasn't America's first dog show. I mean we we just noted that it's the oldest one

in the US that still exists today. There was one in Chicago before that, and then of course, well before that, Crufts in Birmingham, England, and that have been going on since Victorian times, you know. And in fact, that's probably why these dogs shows are so you know, pageanty. I guess it's it's it's kind of recreating that spirit maybe. But what's funny to me is that dog shows aren't officially called dog shows. They're known as conformation. That's so weird.

And apparently when a dog makes it to the finals in a dog show, it's not actually competing against the other dogs for Who's the most Beautiful? Yeah, that's right. It's actually something I didn't know before we were doing the research for this episode. So unlike a beauty pageant where people are competing against one another, here every dog is being judged against how well it conforms to their own A k C. Standards. So it isn't that this first place terrier is more beautiful than a Great Dane.

It's that the terrier is closer to being a perfect ambassador of its breed, you might say, then, than a great Dane was. And so, you know, but it accentuates what dog shows are really about, and that's breeding, you know, or more specifically, it's all about creating the most perfect pure bread possible, which you know, this is why winning is such a big deal, and the stud fees that

come with winning are just outrageous. Yeah, and of course there are health complications that come with breeding pure breads, as anyone with a cursory knowledge of the Habsburgs or any royal dynasty will tell you. Yeah, and we'll get to some of that dark breeding stuff later. But you know, what might be my favorite fact that I learned about

Westminster this week? What's that so every year, the winner and their dog they get to eat a victory meal at Sardi's, you know that the legendary restaurant in New York. And there's this cute tradition. But but if someone pointed out in two thousand and twelve, it also was this massive health code violation. You know, you'd have the Pekinese eating dice chicken at your table and lapping it off the fine china, and so this was a real problem.

And so the whole thing put Mayor Bloomberg and the city in a bind because you know, he obviously wanted sanitary restaurants, so there was all this stress over what to do, and there was pressure from diners and so finally he and the city health commissioner got together and they came up with this plan. So what they decided is that the winner of the Westminster they also get a one night exemption from the health commissioner to eat

dinner out in New York City. Is and this crazy, I mean, it's such a strange and gaping loophole, but they managed to keep this tradition alive at least for one pure bred dog a year. Well, I love that. It's so ridiculous. And speaking of food, there's this really fun article in the Washington Post by Karen Brouillard called Things I Learned covering Westminster, and there were a number of things in it that I hadn't realized or read anywhere else, like this makes sense to me now. But

there are three different bathroom designations for the dogs. There there's a I see men's room dog area, a women's room for the female dogs to relieve themselves, and then there's one specifically for female dogs and heat. And at first I was wondering, like, why have all these separate

but equal bathrooms. I know, I mean, they're just dogs, but but the reason is none of the male dogs are neutered, and so because this is all about breeding and breeding more pure breads and the stud fees like you don't want a dog mounting another dog on a bathroom break. Before you started this story, you were saying this was related to food. How's this related to food? Well, I'm getting there, but first I've had another weird fact

that I hadn't thought about. So Brullard also talks about why male dogs dominate these dog shows, and while some breeders think it's because male dogs tend to be more beautiful. Brulard points out that this isn't exactly true and and

that it actually comes back to breeding. So if your most beautiful female dogs are meant for breeding and you're making tons of money off the puppies, then they're probably going to be pregnant during the dog show season and unable to compete on the circuit that gets you there. So female dogs are out of disadvantage and can't really lean in. But that food fact, this is gonna be

another breeding fact. I'm guessing no, but it is the funniest thing for Lar talks about her piece to me and lose and that's the dry cleaners seemed to hate dog handlers because they're always stuffing meat into their pockets. That's a great sentence like this one top handler was talking about how she makes all these specialty treats for her dogs and and that they're extra garlicky and dried out and whatnot. But she'll also just use hot dogs, so at any moment, she'll have a hot dog or

two down her bra Another great sentence. But I mean this is like a known trick, and and she'll also have meat treats in her pockets and sometimes melted cheese and and all that forgotten food like gets stinky and it's a hassle to deal with. And if you have such a hassle that she and her dry cleaner eventually had to break up because of it. I mean, I'm not quite sure how you forget that there's a hot dog and your bra melted cheese either way, but that is a good fact, I'll give it to you. It

took you a while to get to that one. That that is good. You know, it's interesting to learn that handlers are basically like jockeys. I mean, these these top dog owners are they're scouting and using the best handlers to get a competitive edge, and they just want the judges to notice their dogs. Yeah, it's it's a totally fascinating job. And the handless story I liked the most was about this poodle handler CAUs Osaka, who apparently lives in Delaware, which you know, gives me extra prize. But

he's apparently the Michelangela pool grooming. I don't know anything about this person, So what's his story? Yeah, so it's crazy. As a teenager, he was showing a Doberman at a show in Japan, and this legendary judge who I've never heard about. Her name's and Rogers Clark. She and her husband were there and and they spotted him and noticed his talent, and they basically said, like, if you want to be a great handler, come with those to the US.

So at nineteen years old, cause who spoke zero English and hadn't really traveled like, he just up and moved in with the Clarks and and learned the art of the poodle. And now he's undeniably the best poodle groomer and handler in the world. But what makes him so great isn't that he's won so much, or that he's a perfectionist like and he has a perfectionist like he brushes each of his twenty poodles every night, which you can take anywhere from five minutes to half an hour

per dog. Plus he crumps their hair as he does it. But what makes him so great is that he's insanely humble, Like here's a quote from Josh Dean thirty years later, causes unequivocally the top poodle groomer and handler in America? How long did it take him to become good? Still? I am no good? He said, you're the best there is, aren't you. People think so, but I don't think. I

think learning never ends, he said, especially with poodles. Wow, well, I mean, I do know that a good handler can certainly put a bigger spotlight on your dog, just in reading up about this. And they're also good at scouting the judges and masking certain defects, and so you know, they'll use different leased tricks to compensate for dog's wonky gate or you know, they're like zhibit dogs from certain angles just to try to get that vantage. Well, what's

that mean? Like certain angles? Well, there's something out side wheeling where you bring the dog in from an oblique angle so that the judge won't see like a minor defect in the dog. And they're they're all kinds of tricks like this. But you know, with so much money and pride on the line, some dog owners will choose to go beyond just hiring a great handler, and they veered to the dark side and they'll actually play dirt,

evenive or not. But before we get into the juicy evil side of dog shows, why don't we take a quick break for a quiz. So our guest today as an award winning photographer and an animal activist who first caught our eye with this incredible series. This is the one where she took flower crowns and put them on pit bulls, you know, to help them get adopted. It was just a beautiful series. Still does these today. She's done a ton of other wonderful work, and we'll talk

to her about that. But Sophie Gammon, welcome to Part Time Genius. Hi, thank you for having me well, and today's show, we're talking about dog shows for most of the show, but you know, we're fascinated by this variation on this the doggie pageant scene, and I just it was funny. We were talking to you before you came in today, a little bit about how you got into shooting these doggie pageants and then the pit bulls, and so tell us a little bit about how you did

get into this to begin with. When I actually first moved to New York from Europe, um, I kind of left my job, my family, my friends, everything behind. I just brought a husband with me, which was helpful, I guess technically he brought me. But so I arrived here and I had nobody, nothing to do, and I it was a way for me to reinvent myself, which was fantastic. But I only had the camera and that kind of became my way in and very quickly I realized I

was more drawn to photographing dogs than people. So I was like, Oh, I'm just gonna do a project on dogs, and it really snowballed from there. That was almost like seven years ago, and now I'm a full time dog artist slash activist and all the good stuff that comes with Wow, that's great. Today's show was really about dog shows, but we're fascinated by this variation. You covered the doggie pageant and so as an outsider, it looks a little like a dog show meets toddlers and try and so

can you tell us a little about dog pageants? Yeah? So I come across that group of people in New York um that have mostly like chihuahuas or small breed dogs that they carry around in their purses and they dress them up. I was looking for people who looked like their dogs and and then I bumped into that scene and I was like, holy moly, I have to do something. So I guess my first contact with that scene was this is kind of crazy and pathetic. It's

gonna make great photos, Let's go for it. And then you know, I started meeting these people and seeing their routine and the relationship they had with their dogs. And as a photographer, you know, you're trying not to judge. You go in as a witness and you want to document. So I was trying really hard to do that. So there's this very active group. They're trying to raise money for rescues through all these events, and which is fantastic, um, but mostly it's about you know, kind of spotlight and

being on the catwalk with your dog. And so I always say, you know, it's like, really the child pageant. You think it's about the kids, but it's really about the moms, let's be honest. So a lot of it was just you know, single ladies in their forties, fifties, sixties that have this amazing intense relationship with their dog. The dog is really like a spouse at that point.

It's insane the relationship they have. And and so they go through these fashion shows and the pageants where you know, they work on their skills together and outfits matching outfits. It's just a crazy subculture that that really fascinated me. Is that hard to photograph dogs and clothing? No, I actually have a series that I call dog Vogue, and I worked with a local pet s cuterier who basically create these amazing outfits for these chihuahuas in that scene.

I mean, some of these people buy outfits that are worth like a thousand dollars covered in sources, crystals, like those outfits are sometimes works of art, like really, so it was actually really interesting for me to photograph that fashion aspect of it. Um, some dogs loved the attention, sometimes were miserable, let's be honest, but most of them

actually it's part of their routine. You know. When my work came out about the pageant, I got a little bit of hate mail sometimes or hateful comments on social media, and mostly people are like, how dare you It is so unnatural to dress up dogs and all that? And my answer is always like, oh, because you think it's natural for dogs to like sniffle bombs at the airport

or guides the blind, of course not. You know, that's just exactly you know, we created dogs a certain way, We created breeds, shape, sizes, skills, We invented all this from maybe the wolf. Maybe we you know, it's very unclear the exact origin, but throughout artificial selection, we completely manufactured engineered this animal slash companion. They love the reward, they love the attention. They want to make us happy, and that's how it's been for millionaire Why not? And

you talk about that a little bit on your website. Thought, I thought that was really interesting, basically saying, we are the reason that dogs are around, right, We've created this, and so because of that, we now have a responsibility as humans to care for these absolutely. Thinking a little bit about your work, you know with the pit bulls and the rescue animals, um talk a little bit about that and what you've seen happening in the rescue world.

I think if I try to look back at it a little bit, I would say, for years, you know, we we displayed shelter dogs as these miserable, sad, filthy, sick creatures that needed to be saved. We've all seen those commercial on TV, the sad song, and I'm crying just thinking about it. Right. I think it served a

purpose for a long time. But now there's a new generation that I've been trying to lead a little bit of photographers and artists and advocates that try to present a more positive image of shelter dogs to say, look at this amazing face, this personality, like, don't you want to live with this for the rest of their life.

What's difficult when it comes to pit bull is that although there is a breed called the American pitbull terrier, when you refer when the public refers to pitbulls, they mean a group of dogs that is a mix of breeds, different kind of breeds, mixed breeds, and also just any dog that kind of looks like that so has a blocky head or a big smile. In most shelters, even shelter staff don't know how to identify these dogs. So now we have this I called it the mythological creature really,

which is the pitball? Right? You know, hid your children, But we can't even define what a pitbull is really. And then we build laws, bands, you know, and and all sorts of laws that prevents you from having them in your apartment or in your city or whatever around this concept of this dog that is going to eat your life. So it is so layered and super complicated, Like if you have specific questions, more than happy to talk about it. But this is a there's a lot

to talk about when it comes to pitbulls. Yeah yeah, and then an important discussion, um, almost almost as important as I think this quiz that we've written for you today. So yeah, all right, well let's let's put her to the test. What's our quiz called today? So somebody's gonna play a game called dog breed or regional delicacy? All right, So it's as simple as that. We'll read you a name and you tell us whether this is a dog breed or regional delicacy. Okay, here we go, all right.

Number one or ZOI dog? Wow? It quickly? Is that right? Mango? Yeah, it's a dog freed developed in Russia as a hunting and coursing dog. Okay, you're one for one, all right. The next one runs A has to be some food or something. It's definitely a food or something at these Midwest favorites or pockets of dough filled with meat, veggies and spices. You sounded really excited about that, alright. Number three keys Oh wow, oh I food? Yeah you yeah,

you obviously haven't shot a key shon before. I don't think right, These are dogs, aren't they Mango. Yeah, they're super fluffy dogs related to the Pomeranian. Oh how do you spell that? K E E S H O N D Wow? All right, don't make me say I don't do breed? Next one you per? You per? Oh? Food well done? Nice? Yeah, it's a also sometimes called a pasty. These meaty turnovers are a favorite in the Upper Peninsula. Can we not use paste? These and meat turns? The uncomfortable? Here? Alright?

The last one? Here we go? A ham dog? Oh? Man, I mean, I imagine it's some kind of food, but I know people who called it a a dog like this than we had a friend with a dog named Hamburger, didn't we Now you're right, it is a food, right, Mango? Yeah, the hand dog is invented by Chandler. Golf is a eat fried hot dog and a hamburger behund topped with an egg and served with fries. So I tried to be vegetarians, so I wouldn't know any of these anyway,

not immediate pasty. All right. Well, how has Sophie done today? Mango? Well, soph he's gone astounding four for five, which earns her top prize. A note to her mom, singing her praises Wow, congratch. Otherwise she's gonna be like, I don't understand. We'll try. Well, we'll give it a shot. But I hope all of our listeners will check out Sophie's Instagram page and we will link to it uh in the information below this podcast. So thanks so much for joining us, Sophie. Thank you,

it was super fun. Thank you. Welcome back to Part Time Genius Now Mango. I know we were both delighted to find out that there's some dirty stuff that goes on as far as the competition, So why don't we talk about that? Yeah, you know, I always think it's fun to read about the scandalous dark side of event, and especially when they feels so wholesome. Yeah, well, why don't we go back and forth with some of our favorite underhanded things and and I'll start it off if

that works for you. So, all right, Apparently it's pretty common for a petty owner to hide a pair of scissors on them and what they'll do is they'll just snip a patch of hair off a competitor's dog, as

they all thought. Yeah, for my reading, this is actually a somewhat common tactic that's so psycho and and you know, you know what sniffing for reminds me of, Like how that classical composer friends list was such a rock star that his fans would write him asking for locks of his hair, and he got so fed up that he finally bought a dog with similar colored hair and just started mailing his fans curls from his dog's hair instead of his own. You've always got a Frond's list of

fact ready, but where we're um? Oh yeah that. The worst thing I read was that some owners slip other dogs chocolate before an event. It's just just because chocolate is bad for dogs or something. I mean, it is in the long run, but chocolate can also cause a dog's mouth to come all filmy inside, and since the judge looks at the teeth pretty closely, you can actually throw off your score. Wow. Actually, I read something that maybe even more disturbing about that is that sometimes dogs

get roofied by a competitors. Roofied like I've heard about like people slipping them laxatives, but not roofies. Yeah, and it's it's not enough to make them fall asleep, but enough that they aren't sharp in the ring. And it's totally crazy what these people are doing. That's that's honestly gross.

And of course there are other tactics that aren't as slimy as any of these, but but also don't feel exactly ethical, Like there are reports of dogs that have plastic surgery to enhance their assets, and they're funny, ridiculous things like their reports from judges who claim that some dogs use so much hairsprayed that they can't get their hand through the coat. And actually this is old article

from the New York Times Weekend Review. This is from and it's all about the dog show enhancing and and it's so great here let me read this quotium as surely as there are pictures skilled in the use of hair oil or tobacco juice to alter a baseball's flight, there are dog handlers unwilling to be slaves to the rules. As a younger judge at a smaller show, Mr Goodman recalled, he would admire the rich coppery tones and the coats of Airdales and Welsh terriers. Sometimes his hands would be

read afterwards. Can you imagine petting a dog in your hand coming out all rest like? And there's a great story in there too, about how one poodle looked like she she was like beautiful and naturally fluffy, but when an admiring judge got closer, the poodle shook and this thick cloud of powder floated off and floated towards the judges clothing. Oh gosh, yeah, but I did see. I mean, one thing that kept coming up and reading about this is that it's really hard to fool a skill judge.

I mean, some of those powder and paint tricks might get you through the lower rounds, but it's definitely not enough to win for you at you know, at Westminster. No. I definitely agree with that. But like we mentioned before, a good handler does know who the judges are going to be and and they'll try to show to their interests. Um, you know, speaking wish that there's some great nicknaming for judges with certain pref Likewise, it's it's like jargon in

the industry. But like a judge who obsesses over perfect teeth is called a tooth fairy, and one who gives preference to the dog's head over the body, they're called head hunters. All right, So so maybe you can take those things into consideration as you're showing a dog but there's one definite way to sway a judge that isn't

talked about that much. And and honestly, that's advertising. And I really didn't have any idea about this, but just like they do for movies with all those you know, for your consideration as Yeah, and which is funny because Best in Show and for your Consideration are both Christopher guests. That is true. Good point. But you know, but the dog show world has the exact same kind of thing going on. And there there are a few dog magazines that go out free to every a case judge as

they get their certification. And you know, some of these owners they'll pay thirty thousand dollars per dog to get their puppies glam shots and names highlighted in the magazines. It's it's really crazy and it's a big business. Yeah, I mean that's an insane amount of money. But but judges often claim that they don't read those magazines, right, and I mean, like I've read the titles. They're like

the Canine Chronicle. Yeah, but you know they're there are three or four of these magazines out there, and they'd be all out of business if people didn't think they worked and there was this interview with The Daily Beast. Then Bob Wheeler was interviewed and he said, I can't think of any top ten dog in the last ten years that didn't do some advertising, you know, And the whole notion is, you can't put a mediocre dog in

there and buy enough ad space to win. But if you have a real contender and you can build this campaign around them, and you know, if you're lucky enough to put a judge in your photo with your dog who also happens to be at Westminster, supposedly the flattery has worked. So let's recap a little. We know that if you want a game a dog show, you need a great handler, a lot of advertising, perhaps a little hot dog in your pants are bra of course you'll

need a pure bread, but let's talk about that. So initially, when I was thinking about this, I was wondering if there was a way to game a dog show where you could pick a super obscure breed and just like work your way in through a side door and kind of like those mediocre American athletes who will buy their

way into Olympic has been like a different country. Yeah, and you know, I didn't find a lot about this, and I'm guessing you could win some local competitions and maybe get into Westminster if the breed is really obscure and uncompetitive. But you know, the show takes into account how many dogs you're beating to get there. And one intangible that judges and dog handlers seem to keep talking about is a dog's charisma, and so judges want dogs

with great temperaments and great charisma. And you know you're not going to win with an introv that is sad. And you know, there's certainly breeds that dominate the competition. So if you're really looking to win, and you had the money for it, you'd probably want to go with a thoroughbred line of a known favorite breed, you know, rather than trying to win with an outsider dog, even if the competition will be pretty stiff to get to Westminster.

So give me an example. Well, for decades, terriers were the dog and you couldn't get around them, and and that's partially because they're bred to be fearless, so they'll strut around and bounce and take it all in stride. But they've kind of lost steam over the years, and today, you know, Yorky's are really the only terrier that have been winning. Well, there has been a move to like

toy dogs, right, Yeah, that's definitely true. I mean more tiny dogs have one recently, but there hasn't been a clear trend that Vegas or people creating the odds on Westminster have really identified at this point. Well, I don't want to dwell on this, but we should probably talk just a little bit about why dog shows and creating pure bred dogs can be problematic. You know, when I read about some of the problems that these dogs have, I was just horrified. Like English bulldogs obviously have at

the worst. Not only does their big head make it hard to breathe and and their bulging eyes are so poorly connected to their sockets, but the dogs sink and water and they can't actually breathe themselves, like, they have to be artificially inseminated, and they can't give birth, so they have to be delivered by c sections. Like we're basically keeping the species alive because they're cute, and I mean they are cute. There was a time when I

wanted to get a big, fat bulldog and name in Paddington. Well, you know it isn't just bulldogs and cavalier King Charles Spaniels have skulls that are too small for their brains, and there's a lot of us that's pretty horrifying, and there are lots of problems. And you know, even when breeders are trying to avoid cruelty and build dogs with better temperaments, like you know, tail cutting is something that

you can't do for dog shows anymore. So breeders quickly bred dogs with tiny tails, and that's something you can do when just two or three generations. But as you do that and crown a most beautiful dog that has this short, genetically engineered tail, you also don't know what

other genetic traits you're accidentally introducing. Well, the one thing that does seem positive on this front is that much like there's the human Genome Project, there's actually a dog genome project that's located and mapped out all the canine jeanes like both good and bad, and and with the simple blood test, you can actually figure out whether or not your dog is a carrier for certain traits, and hopefully that will lead to healthier dogs in the future.

But speaking of pure breads, I do want to talk a little about the dog breeds that haven't made the cut to get into Westminster. Do you want to give a few examples of those. Yeah, So they're about sixty or so breeds that are just on the waiting list. Basically, to make the cut, you have to show that your breeding club has over a hundred members and there needs to be like over three hundred of this dog in

the US. Then there has to be a breed standard that they're all measuring up to or trying to measure up to, and the dogs have to have this pedigree of three generations minimum. Also, like these dogs can't all be from one region. That they've got to be scattered. And once all that's figured out, like then you can compete in the miscellaneous category, which feels a little like dog purgatory. I mean, there's some sort of political process that gets you off the wait list, and it's kind

of murky as I understand it. Like the Tibetan Mastiff got out of the miscellaneous category in just two years, but the Cavalier King Charles, they actually spent thirty years there and uh and and some of it's from the breeders and the club themselves, like some clubs don't care who if they're recognized. Their red bone Coonhound is one of these examples. They're really more of an agility and performance dogs, so they're not interested in showing for conforming

and uh, and they've been happy with their designation. And I think part of the reason the Cavalier Club like they didn't want their pops on the list was because breeders didn't want the dog to get too popular. But the a k C recognized them anyway, and the club was supposedly furious when it happened. I mean, I have to met These politics are kind of funny when it

comes to all of this. All Right, Well, I think we've talked about dog shows and how to win a show, but I definitely want to talk about some of the non dog shows we found. So I'd love to read off a few of my favorites, and you let me know if I missed any great ones. Well, I do think before we moved to non dog shows, you've got

to talk about a few other dog shows. And so I've got the World's Ugliest Dog Show, which often features dogs only an owner could love, Like these are the sweet temperament dogs with really bad haircuts, and their tongues are sticking out and and they often look kind of like they're modeled after the drawings of preschoolers. You know, you definitely don't need to be a pure bred to be in or just just really loved I guess. But all right, well here a few others. So there's a

camel Festival. It takes place over twenty eight days, which is pretty crazy. You definitely don't want to miss that one. There's a rabbit show jumping competition that's known as the Canning Hoppen NG and Sweden. I'm sure I said that incorrectly, where the world's most adorable bunnies are trained to hop high,

far and fast. And then of course there's the cricket fighting UFC style contest and Beijing, which I wouldn't even mention, except that the crickets, which have lifespans of a hundred days or so, they go for fifteen hundred dollars and insects. That's crazy. And how do how do you know if you've got a good cricket on your hands? Well, apparently if you poke it and it chirps louder, you've got

a winner. Well, there's there's also an annual tarantula exhibition where which I want no part of, but where the animals are judged on their coats and shine and also their demeanor. I kind of like this idea of judging a tarantula's demeanor so weird. Yeah, I'm also curious, like how much a stud tarantula goes for and and you know you you did forget my favorite, which is the chicken strutting contest in Malaysia where where all these beautiful

fouls and march around with their chests out. Not to worry about this, I was saving the chicken strutting the last The photos from this are unbelievable. I mean they're like these little comical drum majors and the winners go for ten thousand dollars a bird. I think my favorite part though, is the cheering for them. So I was reading this very sweet quote from one owner who was yelling over this big crowd, Yes, my hero, puff out your chest. I mean just reading that quote made me happy.

It's pretty great. But you know, we can't spend this whole episode on dogs talking about chickens. So you know what time it is? Time for the PTG fact off And I've got just the fact to kick this off. M So, the first dog show on record goes back to June eighteen fifty nine. That's when sixty hunting dogs, only pointers and setters competed for best in Show. And it wasn't that they were trying to keep other dogs out. It's just that's the only dog they had at the time.

But the interesting part is because these were hunting dogs, instead of trophies, winners were giving guns instead. I'm surprised no one's brought that back, Like I'm sure the n r A would love to sponsor war dog show and Noodles definitely needs a gun. So here's one about Westminster that I didn't realize. Did you know that since the tournament's conception they've been giving a percent of the profits to the A s p C A And in fact, there's also a portion of the profits that goes to

scholarships for veterinary students. Wow, I I didn't realize that New York City gets so into this action all right. Well, in addition to the Sardi's meal and the show taking over Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building is lit up for the event in purple and yellow. The shows official colors and Lakers colors. That's right. Do you know that dog groom and parlors have been a thing since

eighteenth century France. Apparently it all started when the poodle was named the official dog of King Louis the fifteenth Court. That makes sense to me, though. All right, right, here's one I love. Did you know that Rentin Tin was actually supposed to win the first Oscar for Best Actor? He started a number of box office hits and was

the clear favorite. But according to author Susan Orlean, the Academy wanted to be perceived as more serious, so they took rent out of the running and did another vote, which is how a Mill Jennings ended up with the hardware. Well, it's a sad, sad day in dog history. Although I do love a good Emil Jennings blockbuster anyway, I do love that fact, and just like Rentintin, you deserve this

week's trophy. But before we go, I want to thank Nolan Brown for his excellent research this weekend, and for all you listeners out there, thank you so much for tuning in. Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Christa McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song and does the mixy

mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gay Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and Eves. Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves. If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe, And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe you could leave a good review for us. Do we do? We forget Jason Jason who