2020 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show features Long Island dogs

Kalena Phillips of Westbury would be thrilled to see her three-year-old showdog Cash prevail over the 17 other beagles in this year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in Manhattan.

“You are always hoping your dog gets best of breed, but even if he gets an award of merit, we’re satisfied,” says Phillips, 41, a Long Island public school substitute teacher who sometimes handles Cash in the show ring.    

But Phillips will be just as pleased to welcome Cash back home to Westbury after the months he spent on the road with his Westminster handler, Paul Clas of Hanover, Pennsylvania.

“Especially when they are showing a lot, you do miss them,” Phillips says of her life as a show dog parent. Post-Westminster, she plans to resume spoiling Cash with sliced fruit treats, steak dinners and car rides.

Long Island generally sends a few dozen dogs to Westminster, and this year a select few local pooches and their owner-handlers will once again be prancing in the ring and vying, ultimately, for Best in Show. A border collie from Lindenhurst, a Great Pyrenees from Northport and an English bulldog from Smithtown are among the 2,630 entries from 49 states and 19 other countries.

Peter Festa, 53, of Smithtown, a cake decorator and baker, is entering his English bulldog in the best of breed competition.

“I do it for the love of the breed,” says Festa, who prizes English bulldogs for their “courage, tenacity and strength.”

Victor Helu, 60, of Bohemia, who has been handling toy Chinese Cresteds for nearly 40 years, says Westminster is “invigorating, but it’s also exhausting. There is a lot of stress in the air and the energy level in the Garden is tremendous.” He’ll be in the thick of competition again on Monday, showing Ellie, a five and a half year-old female Chinese Crested powder puff; Lucky, a 4-year-old long-coat male chihuahua; and Jara, a 5 ½ year-old female Lowchen.

His friend Arlene Butterklee of Ronkonkoma, 59, a radiation therapist at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, will be in the momentary limelight as well, showing the dog they co-own, Izzy, a 2-and-a-half-year-old female hairless Chinese Crested.

Butterklee, who began showing Chinese Cresteds in 1992, says it's a little known fact that preparing for Westminster keeps you fit. 

Here are five other things you might not know about the dog show world.

1. Westminster dogs are already champions.

To become eligible for Westminster breed judging, dogs first need to win 15 points at other dog shows, thereby earning the title champion, signified by a CH added to their formal name.

2. That CH title doesn’t come cheap.

Butterklee estimates that it costs a minimum of $3,000 for all the grooming, vet visits, fancy food, entrance fees and dog show-to dog show travel required to earn those 15 points.

3. There actually isn't a monetary prize.

Westminster doesn’t award monetary prizes, nor do most other dog shows — just fancy rosette ribbons. However, Festa says, "the prestige and honor of winning at Westminster is far more valuable than any cash prize." 

4. It's all about the genes.

Male or female, toy, terrier or hound, dogs entered in Westminster breed judging haven't been spayed or neutered, says Westminster spokeswoman Gail Miller Bisher. That's because Westminster has always been about breeding puppies that conform to the written standards judges use to evaluate dogs. “The judge awards the dog that … should be used to produce the next generation,” Bisher explains.

5. Gen Z is already in the ring

Honi Reisman of the Long Island Kennel Club says that nowadays most Long Island dog shows encourage sportsmanship and responsibility in youngsters by offering junior showmanship/handling programs for ages 9 to 18. There’s even a handling division for children as young as 5.