San Antonio Dog Wins Best of Breed at Westminster Dog Show

A San Antonio dog nicknamed Gale (also known as “Caliente Dangerous Gale Force Winds”) proudly walked away with the Best of Breed award at the recent Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York. According to the Westminster Kennel Club, Gale’s ownership group includes “Rosette Davila, Linda Clark, Cindy Zelbst, Pamela Rosman and Philip Vulliet.” Davila told MySA.com that she’s “ecstatic…Gale was in the first litter I’ve bred, so this is so exciting.”

Gale is a Canaan dog, a breed known for its inquisitive nature. Gale is an unexpected winner for the Best of Breed award due to her brown/beige and white coloring (as opposed to black and white), and because she’s a female. Often a female dog’s hormone fluctuations change their coats, a major part of the judging process.

The Westminster Dog Show is like the Super Bowl of dog shows. The Westminster Kennel Club website states that their beginnings date back to 1876 when the Westminster Club was dedicated to shooting. They decided to bring in an official pooch to breed a perfect hunting dog. From there, Don the English Pointer was renamed “Sensation” and “registered in the name of the Westminster Kennel Club in Volume I of the stud book,” though his show career was cut short for breeding purposes.