For many dog owners, just making it to Westminster is a thrill — even for baseball’s all-time home run leader, Barry Bonds, who was cheering on a miniature schnauzer he owns with sister Cheryl Dugan.
The dog, Rocky, didn’t win his breed, but the slugger said he was proud of Rocky simply for qualifying for the champions-only show.
“We won because we got here. That’s all that matters,” Bonds told Fox Sports. “I’ve been to a lot of playoffs, and I’ve been to the World Series, and I’ve never won. But for 22 years, I kept trying.”
https://apnews.com/article/dogs-sports-c14bc59b70a0b9b5c4a1fa0aab2e77c6
Prime Peke! Wasabi the Pekingese wins Westminster dog show
My ex was a huge cocker spaniel fan and eventually I became one as well. After some serious over-breeding due to Disney's Lady and the Tramp, a snappy variant took hold for awhile, but eventually the trait was breeded out. We had 4 cockers, 3 from rescue and one from a breeder and all 4 were wonderful house pets and good with a young child. Bailey the last one we had was sweet but dumb as a stump, (for comparison I once had a Maltese that was really smart, "Auggie" who often helped me with discounted cash flow projections). In any case, Bailey, a really beautiful dog, was from a line that had won "Best in Breed" at Westminster. The dog was gorgeous, but there was some minor imperfection that the breeder told us would preclude Bailey from ever being a show dog. And we got him cheap, but had to have him neutered first as a condition of the sale. End of the line for Bailey.
as an side the movie Best in Show, a satire documentary, on the business of Dog Show competition is hilarious.