100 Years of Best in Show

The first dog to win Best in Show in the U.S. was reportedly a White Bull Terrier named Count, who won that title at the Western Connecticut Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association Show in Winsted, Connecticut in 1885. (The show was held at The Rink, then a popular roller-skate park but now of course long gone. It apparently took the two judges four days to sort out the 106 dogs entered. For “the best dog in the show of any breed,” local politician Henry G. Colt had donated a cash prize of $10, which according to Wikipedia is worth more than $300 in today's money.)

It was not the first dog show in America — it is almost universally agreed that this took place in 1874, when three dog shows were held in Mineola, New York; Hempstead, Long Island, and Chicago. Anyway, a Best in Show then didn’t necessarily mean what it does today. The strict rules governing the judging these days did not exist during the first few decades of American dog shows; the American Kennel Club was not born yet (it was founded in 1884), and there was no division of breeds into different groups. Often the judging concluded with Best of Breed at the early AKC shows; sometimes there was not even a Best of Breed award, and the number of classes varied from show to show — there might be just one class for all dogs and bitches of a specific breed at a show, or none at all, or a large variety of classes to choose from. The special trophy for “best dog in the show” that was sometimes — but not always — offered was more or less an afterthought, a special award among many and sometimes even went to a dog that had been defeated in its breed class earlier in the day.

That's why we have to take the first Best in Show wins with a large grain of salt. I have it on good authority that even the Smooth Fox Terrier bitch Ch. Warren Remedy, the only dog ever to be credited with three Best in Show wins at Westminster (1907, 1908 and 1909) was at least on one occasion at those shows defeated in a “variety” class and therefore would not have been allowed to compete for BIS at a “modern” AKC dog show.

The Smooth Fox Terrier Ch. Warren Remedy is credited with winning BIS at Westminster three times — 1907, 1908 and 1909 — but was she really undefeated at those shows?

In 1923 — a hundred years ago — the American Kennel Club decided to sort out the confusing and often contradictory judging by implementing new rules for all-breed shows, starting with Westminster Kennel Club in 1924, held on February 11, 12 and 13. These rules are remarkably similar to those we have today. There had to be group judging before Best in Show; only those dogs that had won the group were allowed to compete for BIS, and the only dogs allowed in group competition were those that had won Best of Breed. In other words, the BIS winner had not been defeated by any other dog at that show; this sounds self-evident to us today, but that was certainly not the case a century ago.

There were far fewer breeds then (a total of 63 in 1924, as compared to the 200 regularly approved breeds that AKC registers today), but all breeds were divided into groups. There were only five of these “variety groups” for the first few years: Hounds competed in the Sporting Group until the late 1920s, when the present Hound Group was created, and the Herding breeds were part of the Working Group until they got their own group much later (in 1984).

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A look back at the first few years’ official Best in Show competition makes it clear that there have been surprisingly few changes in exhibitors' priorities. The current obsession with show campaigns and big records is obviously nothing new, and a surprising number of dogs — even at a time when there were fewer cars, no motels, no interstate freeways and almost no planes — were quite heavily campaigned. A few built up Best in Show records that are impressive even by today's standard.

It is particularly noteworthy that this was done, as there weren't nearly as many shows then as there are now: 157 AKC all-breed shows in 1924. (Still, twice as many as just three years earlier: There had been only 73 shows in 1921.) Last year a total of approximately 1,649 AKC shows were held, all listed in the annual AKC Event Statistics as “All-Breed,” although judging by some of their names also incorporating group shows. (How else to understand show listings that are abbreviated as “Alaska Hnd Group,” “Beehive Toy Group of UT” or “Central FL Working Grp”?)

With fewer shows it was of course more difficult to create big records. The shows weren’t necessarily much smaller than they are today either; some had only a couple of hundred entries, but many of the top shows attracted more than 1,000 dogs. Westminster was approximately the same size then as it is now, thanks to limiting its entry, and the Morris & Essex Kennel Club at its height — which didn't happen until the late 1930s and early 1940s — could get entries of 4,000-plus dogs — more than almost any modern AKC show. The AKC National Championship Presented by Royal Canin, in Orlando, Florida, had a record 4,204 dogs in competition in December almost exactly a year ago. (The Central Florida Kennel Club in the same place the day before had 4,114 dogs in competition, and the other two all-breed shows held in the same location that week — Brevard Kennel Club and Space Coast Kennel Club of Palm Bay — also benefited hugely from their proximity to the AKC National Championship: All told, there were more than 15,700 dogs shown at these four end-of-year shows. I believe this year they could be even bigger!)

The Pointer Ch. Herewithem J.P., a top BIS winner of the late 1920s.

The quality of the dogs that won Best in Show then and that do so now is, of course, a different matter. Beauty is, however much as we like to deny it, in the eye of the beholder, and that goes for show dogs as much as for anything else. Fashions change, and although some of the old winners still look wonderful, others probably could not get past first base today. In some cases, it’s probably a case of breeders really having improved the quality throughout a breed; in others perhaps more a case of what’s fashionable. Before we dismiss a famous old dog as a non-starter that couldn’t win a ribbon today, we might remember that many of the top dogs today probably wouldn’t have won in the past. And who knows what people will think a hundred years in the future of our wonderful dogs of 2023?

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It has always surprised me that so little is known about the first few decades of AKC Best in Show competition. The AKC Gazette did not consistently record the winners for the first year that the new group and BIS rules were in place, but from 1925 it’s all there, if you have enough time and patience to go through the records. There were of course no ratings systems in those days, no Top Dog awards, and the AKC Gazette monthly issues were more than 200 pages thick even in the mid-1920s.

To the best of my knowledge, it was virgin territory when I started going through the AKC Gazette volumes from 1924 onward at the American Kennel Club’s library in New York. I’m not sure what I expected to find: I had heard vague stories about some of the dogs and the shows, but I was not prepared to discover big winners that I didn’t previously know existed, or to find evidence of full-out show campaigns that obviously occurred much earlier, and much more intensely, than I think anyone today would have expected from the early days, when dog people supposedly were not interested in such things. Just how people then managed to show as extensively as they obviously did, I do not know. A few of the big kennels had full-time handlers who were on the road with a string of dogs for much of the year, but it seems that “average” exhibitors also somehow succeeded in attending quite a few shows, even though just a single trip in those days must have been much more of an adventure than it would be today. Much of the activity was then centered along the East Coast, but the number of shows — and the top winners — in other parts of the country grew year to year.

Above and below: Great Dane Ch. Etfa von der Saalburg, a multiple BIS winner in the early 1930s.

Something else I discovered was that there were in fact show “circuits” much earlier than commonly believed. They weren’t necessarily as carefully planned or as well established as they are today, and almost always involved moving from one show ground to another, but it’s obvious both from the advertisements for upcoming shows and from the awards won that dog-show organizers even then put some thought into picking a date and a location that would be convenient for exhibitors attending other shows nearby.

The AKC library, as far as I am concerned, is one of New York’s major attractions; I could happily settle in for a few months’ reading … I certainly had help with my research and would never have had the energy or time needed unless I had the incentive to print it all as a book, “Best in Show — The World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows,” published by Kennel Club Books.

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As mentioned, there were no “real” Best in Show awards in the sense that we would consider valid until 1924. AKC didn’t consistently publish the results until 1925. The first dog to win an officially recorded AKC all-breed Best in Show was an English Setter named Dan Valiant in January of that year. Although he was never heard of again, at least as far as I know, Dan's was only the first of what would be well over 100 English Setter BIS over just the first decade.

Some breeds took a disproportionately large chunk of the wins. English Setters were one; Boston Terriers, Pointers, Dobermans and most especially Wire Fox Terriers were others. Some breeds won much more in those days than they do now. Boston Terriers were one of the leaders in all-breed competition in those years and commonly had huge entries, which is seldom the case now, and Sealyham Terriers won BIS at Westminster with three different dogs in the 1930s!

Some dogs' total Best in Show records are lower than what I’ve seen in some breed books. This doesn’t mean that either source is wrong. These days, pretty much everyone agrees that when you say a top U.S. dog has so-and-so many Bests in Show, it means that the dog has that many AKC all-breed wins. That wasn’t necessarily the case then, and in much public-relations material about the old dogs we find that the Bests in Show claimed were won in England before coming to the U.S., in Canada, or at specialty shows. All information below refers only to AKC all-breed shows and is, as far as can be ascertained, complete.

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1924: According to AKC, there were 154 shows that year; we know the names of the BIS winners of only 55, but probably more than half of all AKC shows that year still chose to have no group and Best in Show competition. Two Wire Fox Terriers won the most: Ch. Chappaqua Wrangler's Peggy won six BIS, and Ch. Halleston Wyche Wondrous won four. They were both imported from England and closely related: Peggy's sire was half-brother to Wondrous.

German Shepherd Dog Ch. Dolf von Dusternbrook, Reserve BIS at Westminster 1924.

The other top winner of 1924 was an English-imported Greyhound, Ch. Rosemont Liskeard Fortunatus, who won three BIS. He is listed in the Internet Greyhound Breed Archive as having been born in the U.K. on May 15, 1922, and was owned by one Harry Peake. No other dog is known to have won more than two BIS during 1924.

1925: Of the 20-something breeds that won BIS, Wire Fox Terriers dominated — unsurprisingly, to anyone who is the least familiar with dog-show history: The Wire was simply the show breed for several decades.

Other breeds with multiple BIS winners that year were Airedales, Boston Terriers, Bulldogs, Chow Chows, Cocker Spaniels, Dobermans, German Shepherds, Greyhounds, Irish Setters, Pointers, Pomeranians, Schnauzers (presumably of the Standard size, although this is not specified), and both Scottish and Sealyham terriers. There was also a single first recorded BIS winner for some breeds: a Bull Terrier (not including old Count of 40 years ago, of course; the “new” winner was named Cloudland White Mist), an English Springer Spaniel (Punch of Ruan), a Smooth Fox Terrier (Ch. Self Renown, winner of four BIS that year), and an Old English Sheepdog (Russber Klimate Nicholas Nickleby). None of the “new” breeds that won BIS are listed with the champion title.

Individually, top dog was a German Shepherd Dog, Ch. Teuthilde vom Hagenschiess. She and her litter brother, Ch. Theodolf, had been imported from Germany by Mrs. Dodge of Giralda fame, and Teuthilde won eight all-breed BIS in 1925. For such a successful dog, Teuthilde remains somewhat elusive; I had never heard of her until her name kept popping up in the results, and there is no photo of her even in Mrs. Dodge’s own book. One reason could be that she was female: Mrs. Dodge preferred to focus attention on her stud dogs, and although he won far less, brother Theodolf’s photo frequently graced the Giralda ads in those years.

It would be safe to say that no individual before or since has been as influential on as many different levels in dogs as Mrs. Dodge was. Not only did she own more top dogs of more breeds than anyone else for several decades; she was also a leading judge, and the annual dog show that she created and hosted on her magnificent estate in Madison, N.J. — the Morris & Essex Kennel Club — became the biggest and best in the U.S., sometimes the world.

The Greyhound from 1924, Fortunatus, won six BIS in 1925. Three dogs won four BIS each: the Doberman Ch. Freya vom Siegelberg; the aforementioned Smooth Fox, Self Renown; and yet another German Shepherd, Ch. Hamilton Aribert vom Saarland. The English-imported Chow Chow Ch. Choonam Brilliantine of Manchoover, and the Pointer Ch. King’s Rapid Fire, won three BIS each.

Greyhound Ch. Rosemont Liskeard Fortunatus, one of the leading BIS winners in the 1920s.

1926: The most important event of the year was easily AKC’s sesquicentennial show — in celebration of the nation’s 150th birthday, of course, not the kennel club’s. (AKC was only 32 years old at the time and would later celebrate its 100th anniversary with a big show, but that had to wait until 1984.) It was the first time that AKC ever hosted its own show. Held in Philadelphia as part of the national celebrations, the dog show was a huge success, attracted 2,899 entries from 1,767 dogs, and was won by the Sealyham Terrier Ch. Pinegrade Perfection, handled by Percy Roberts. Perfection went on to win BIS at Westminster the following February as well. She won “only” six all-breed Bests, but seemed to specialize in winning the big events: She also won Westminster in 1927 and ended her career by going BIS at the three-day Eastern Dog Club show in 1928 with more than 1,000 dogs entered.

Sealyham Terrier Ch. Pinegrade Perfection, BIS at the AKC sesquicentennial show in Philadelphia in 1926.

Top breed in 1926 was (again) Wire Fox Terriers, followed by German Shepherds and Pointers, with at least 10 BIS winners each. The first all-breed wins for Beagles (Sankanac Tiny), Collies (Laund Lero of Bellhaven), Great Danes (Zampa von Wilhelmstrand), Irish Terriers (Pep), Pekingese (Sundah of Chinatown) and Welsh Terriers (Llewellyn Limelight) were recorded.

Ad for the AKC's sesquicentennial show in 1926.

The German Shepherd Teuthilde was again top dog with six BIS this year, followed by five dogs with four wins each: the Airedale Terrier kennel mates Ch. Daystar Man-O-War of Davishill and Ch. War Bride of Davishill, the Pointer Ch. Dapple Joe, and two Sealyhams, the previously mentioned Perfection and her kennel mate Ch. Pinegrade Scotia Swell. Fortunatus the Greyhound won another three BIS, as did the Pekingese Ch. Sundah of Chinatown (mentioned above), and the Schnauzer Ch. Clause von Fürstenwald.

1927: Wire Fox Terriers and Pointers produced more top winners than any other breed. The first BIS wins for Bedlington Terriers (Deckham Oled of Firenze), Cairn Terriers (Jinx Ballantrae), Schipperkes (Yperland Jet Black Skipper) and St. Bernards (Hercubeen Incomparable) were recorded.

Giralda kennels had the top dog for the third consecutive year, now with a German Shepherd Dog that had been imported from the breed's native country: Ch. Cito von der Marktfeste, who won Best in Show seven times. One admirer wrote, simply: “With a dog like Cito, judging is made a good deal easier. … All a judge needs to do is single him out, place him in front and match the balance of the class up to him.”

German Shepherd Dog Ch. Cito von der Marktfeste, the leading BIS winner of 1927 and 1928.

Competition in the breed at that time was intense: There were 205 German Shepherds at Westminster in 1926. Cito’s vital statistics, by the way, might be of interest to modern breed fanciers. He weighed 85 pounds, was 65 centimeters (approximately 25½ inches) at the withers and is described as 71.5 centimeters (28 inches) “long” (presumably from breastbone to buttock).

Cito also travelled back to his native Germany at least once to compete at the great Sieger show. He placed third in the Adult Male class of some 80 competitors, which was pretty good, but not good enough for the ringside commentator (perhaps slightly biased) who wrote that the winner had “absolutely no business” getting ahead of Cito.

The two closest competitors were another German import, the Doberman Ch. Claus von Signalsburg, and the English-imported Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Talavera Margaret, who would remain a top winner for several years. They won six BIS each, while another English-born Wire Fox Terrier, Ch. Gains Great Surprise of Wildoaks, won five; the Irish Setter Ch. Higgins’ Red Pat won four times — with BIS at the first-ever Morris & Essex show for the last mentioned; and a whole slew of others won three BIS times each.

Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Gains Great Surprise of Wildoaks, multiple BIS winner in 1927.

1928: Twenty Wire Fox Terriers won BIS this year, 11 English Setters and nine Boston Terriers. There were first BIS wins for Dalmatians and French Bulldogs, which I unfortunately do not have the names of. Mrs. Dodge and her German Shepherd were still on top, but had to share that position with the first of many top-winning Sealyham Terriers: Cito and Ch. Delf Discriminate of Pinegrade won six BIS each — the latter also at Morris & Essex that year.

There were show circuits even in 1928!

The Cocker Spaniel Ch. Lucknow Creme de la Creme; the Wire Fox Margaret (who also won BIS at Westminster that year), and the Irish Setter Red Pat won five times each. The Bulldog Ch. Sessue, the Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Rekcod Remarkable and the Pointer Ch. Herewithem J.P. won four BIS each; the German Shepherds Ch. Arko v. Sadowaberg of Jessford and Ch. Pia v. Haus Schütting (owned by Giralda) and the Scottish Terrier Ch. Ornsay Rab took three wins each.

Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Talavera Margaret, BIS at Westminster in 1928.

1929: As if they weren’t dominant enough already, Wire Fox Terriers swept the board both as a group and individually. They had at least twice as many BIS winners as any other breed, and four Wires were among the top dogs. One of them was Ch. Newmarket Brandy Snap of Welwire, the first dog to win a recorded 10 BIS in a year. He was owned by Dr. and Mrs. Homer Gage, whose Welwire kennels in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, was one of the most successful in the U.S. at this time. (The kennel had been started by the Gages’ son, Homer Jr., in the early 1920s, but after his premature death his parents continued the kennel with great success.)

Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Newmarket Brandy Snap of Welwire, winner of 10 BIS in 1929.

The other top Fox Terriers were a dog from the same kennel as the famous Margaret, Ch. Talavera Gamester Lewspen, who won six; Margaret herself won BIS five times that year, as did a fourth, Ch. Eden Aristocrat of Wildoaks. That these dogs were all imported English champions should come as no surprise.

Sporting dogs took most of the remaining top spots: An English Setter, Ch. Fred of Crombie, won seven BIS, and an Irish Setter, Ch. Delaware Kate, took six, as did the previous year’s Pointer winner, J.P. The famous Pomeranian exhibitor Mrs. Irene Matta made a strong showing with Ch. Little Emir, who won five BIS that year, including Morris & Essex.

The Foxhound Giralda’s Laura Crawford (presumably the English variety, although it’s not specified) and the Kerry Blue Terrier Leinster Leader took their breed's first BIS wins in 1929.

1930: Wire Fox Terriers were closely followed by English Setters as top breed this year, but the former again produced all the top winners. Ch. Weltona Frizette of Wildoaks, yet another English-born daughter of the great Ch. Talavera Simon, won an unprecedented 13 BIS, including Morris & Essex, way ahead of Ch. Westbourne Teetotaler (seven wins, mostly in Texas) and Ch. Pendley Calling of Blarney (four wins) — but no dog of any other breed won more than three times.

Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Weltona Frizzette of Wildoaks, one of the top BIS winners of the early 1930s. She won 13 BIS in 1930.

The last-mentioned dog, Calling, deserves a special mention: His five all-breed BIS included back-to-back BIS at Westminster in 1930 and 1931, handled by his owner, John G. Bates. (That amazing record would be hard to beat by any other dog, except perhaps by the imported Collie Laund Loyalty of Bellhaven, who won BIS at Westminster from the puppy class at his first U.S. show in 1929, and then was never shown again. It is incorrectly listed as a champion in the Westminster catalog records.)

The first BIS wins for an Irish Water Spaniel (Chief Comanche), Irish Wolfhound (Felixstowe Kilmorac Halcyon) and a Newfoundland (Seafarer) were recorded.

1931: Although Wire Fox Terriers had the most BIS winners, the new decade saw a strong focus on Setters: The Irish, Ch. Higgins’ Red Pat, made a spectacular comeback after a few years away from the top spots and won 12 BIS that year. Also, the English Setter Ch. Blue Dan of Happy Valley took home 10 wins, and Mrs. Dodge’s focus on her imported Pointers resulted in six wins for Ch. Benson of Crombie and four for Ch. Nancolleth Beryl of Giralda.

A German-bred Great Dane, Ch. Fionne v. Loheland of Walnut Hall, won six BIS (one of them at Morris & Essex), while the previous year’s top-winning Wire Fox, Frizette, took another four wins. The Borzoi Ch. Vigow O’Valley Farm (whose even more famous son and namesake Ch. Vigow of Romanoff would set new records a few years later) also won four BIS.

Breeds taking their first AKC-recorded Best in Show included the Dachshund Ch. Kensal Call Boy (no coat variety is listed), a “Toy Black and Tan Terrier” (Toy Manchester Terrier) named Florida Dolly, and a Yorkshire Terrier — although the BIS winner of the last-mentioned breed, named simply Misty, has the ominous abbreviation “dq” listed after her win. Could it mean “disqualified”?

1932: For the first time, the Wire Fox Terrier was not the most winning breed of the year; in fact, two others won more: Nine English Setters and seven Pointers won BIS, against only four Wires — an unprecedented low.

Cocker Spaniel Ch. Sinaloa Moonshine, BIS winner in 1932.

The top individual spot also went to a Sporting dog, with the Pointer bitch Beryl winning a record 19 BIS during the year. (Her total record of 28 BIS stood unchallenged by any other bitch in the breed until well into the 1980s). Other top winners were the English Setter from the previous year, Blue Dan, with six wins, and another of Mrs. Dodge’s Pointers, Ch. Nancolleth Markable, with five, one of them at Westminster. The first Boxer BIS winner, Ch. Check v. Hunnenstein, the Irish Setter Ch. Patricia of Boyne and the Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Lone Eagle of Earlsmoor took four wins each, with BIS at Morris & Essex as a bonus for the Wire.

No breed other than the Boxer, mentioned above, won its first AKC all-breed Best that year.

Pointer Ch. Nancolleth Markable, Reserve BIS at Crufts and BIS at Westminster 1932.

1933: Wire Fox Terriers were back on top with twice as many winners as any other breed. Individually, Sporting dogs dominated: The Happy Valley English Setter kennel took a few more wins with Blue Dan and did even better with their new star, Ch. The Country Gentleman, who with nine BIS was one step ahead of Mrs. Dodge’s top Pointer du jour, Ch. Benson of Crombie. The other Giralda star, Beryl, added three Bests to her list for the year.

Airedale Terrier Ch. Warland Protector of Shelterock, BIS at Westminster in 1933.

Two Scottish Terriers, Ch. Heather Reveler of Sporran (owned by the still well-known detective novel writer, S.S. Van Dine) and Ch. Walnut Aristocrat O’Briarcroft, won seven and five BIS each. No one else won more than three BIS.

The first Golden Retriever to win BIS, Ch. Speedwell Pluto, appeared this year.

This article is based on previously published records in the 650-page book by the author, ”Best in Show — the World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows.”