Calgary show dog ready for the bright lights of New York at Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
A Calgary canine is headed to New York to partake in one of the world’s most prestigious dog shows, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
The event is in its 146th year, and six-year-old Frank, a Boston Terrier, is hoping to impress the judges.
“He likes to show off,” said his owner Dr. Tricia Knowler, a local vet at Castleridge Veterinary Clinic.
“He likes all the attention I think.”
Knowler says show dogs have always been a part of her life, but this is the first time one of hers will be at the high profile event.
“I’ve always had show dogs since I was a kid,” said Knowler.
“I got Frank about six years ago and he’s been shown off and on since he was a puppy. He’s been to California, he went to the Boston National in Denver, he’s been to Las Vegas.”
Knowler relies on handler Courtney Penner, who lives in Chilliwack B.C., but is currently at a dog show in Ohio.
Penner has attended Westminster as a professional handler before but this time will be even more special.
“This is the first time I have a dog that I actually bred going there, so it’ll be exiting to see how he does,” she said.
“One its such a high class venue, it’s sort of like the Super Bowl of dog shows. Everybody works all year, (it’s) really hard to get there and your dog has got to be conditioned properly, they have to look right and got to play the part.”
Knowler says Frank is quite the positive pup and very disciplined.
“His temperament I think, he’s a very happy, friendly dog and then his conformation, the way he looks as a Boston Terrier.”
But its not always about the show, he does have the opportunity to be just a dog.
“Mostly a spoiled house pet,” said Knowler.
“Lots of keeping up and conditioning, not much grooming with a Boston Terrier.”
The event runs June 20 to 22 at the Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York.
With nearly 3,500 entries in this year’s competition, only 58 are from Canada, with a select few from Alberta.
Judges will look for form and function and what makes the dog the ideal of what its breed should look, act and move like.
Boston Terriers have one of the top entries at the Westminster Kennel Club and 'Frank' will be showing against 29 other Boston Terriers in hopes of being 'Best of Breed'.
Penner plans on flying to New York for the completion, but Knowler and Frank will set sights on a cross-country road trip, with stops in Moose Jaw, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Toronto and Montreal before making their way south, across the border and into New York State.
The pair will leave Friday by car from Calgary, expecting to do the nearly 4,000-kilometre journey in just a couple weeks.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.