Dog Show 101: What's what at the Westminster Kennel Club

NEW YORK (AP) — The Westminster Kennel Club dog show is back for a 149th year — and back at New York's Madison Square Garden for the first time since early 2020.

It's a happy homecoming for the United States' most prestigious canine event, which moved to venues outside Manhattan in recent years because of the coronavirus pandemic and then other considerations. But organizers longed to return to the self-described World’s Most Famous Arena.

“If you love dogs and you want to see the very best dogs from all around the world competing for the top prize of best in show at Westminster, just be there,” club President Donald Sturz said. For fans who can't be there in person, Fox Sports is showing the event's various components on FS1 and FS2 and streaming some on the network's website and app; Westminster is streaming some others. The competition spans Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, with best in show awarded around 11 p.m. Tuesday on the East Coast.

Might Mercedes, the German shepherd who was Westminster’s runner-up last year, become top dog this time? Or could this be the year for Monty the giant schnauzer, who was a Westminster finalist the last two years, won the American Kennel Club’s big show in December and is currently the sport's top-ranked dog? Will the prize go to another high-ranking dog — or a dark horse?

Here are the basics on Westminster and the dog show world it epitomizes.

It begins Saturday morning at the Javits Center convention hall with agility and obedience championships and some demonstration events, including Westminster's first experiment with flyball. That's essentially a canine relay race that involves running a course of jumps and retrieving a ball.

The traditional, breed-by-breed judging — what show folk call “conformation” — unfolds Monday and Tuesday. First-round competition, where dogs are judged against others of their breed, happens during the daytime at the Javits Center. Then, in what are essentially semifinals, each breed winner is judged against others within its “group” of dozens of breeds at Madison Square Garden in the evenings. In the final round, the seven group winners compete for best in show Tuesday night.

At each level, judges decide which dog in the ring best matches the ideal, or “standard,” for its own breed.

About 2,500 dogs from 201 breeds and varieties (subsets of breeds) are signed up to compete.

Hailing from every U.S. state and 12 other countries, contestants include such familiar breeds as golden retrievers and such rarities as sloughis. No doodles, though. At least for now, those poodle mixes aren't recognized as purebreds by the American Kennel Club, the governing body for Westminster and many other U.S. dog shows.

Dachshunds are the best-represented breed, with 52 entered.

The agility and obedience contests involve a few hundred more dogs, including mixed-breed ones. Last year a border collie-papillion combination named Nimble became the first mixed-breed winner in the agility trial’s decade-long history.

First, breeders determine which puppies are physically and temperamentally suited for showing. Those pups are raised, trained and groomed to put their best paw forward in the show ring. “Beginner puppies” can start competing in AKC shows at 4 months.

Some owners exhibit their own dogs where and when they can. Others have professional handlers who crisscross the country to compete most weekends, sometimes with multiple pooches.

Trying for a national ranking is known as “campaigning” a dog, and no wonder. As in politics, hopefuls — or, here, their owners and handlers — may gather intel about rivals’ plans and either seek or avoid a face-off. They may weigh a particular judge's record. Some even run full-page ads in dog magazines to congratulate, salute and promote their animals.

All Westminster dogs are champions, as measured by their sport's complicated point system. But yes, there are stats, kept by the Canine Chronicle magazine.

Besides Monty and Mercedes, entrants include Vito, a pug who won the National Dog Show televised Thanksgiving Day, along with 2024 Westminster semifinalists Comet the shih tzu and Louis the Afghan hound. There's a high-ranking otterhound, representing one of the country's rarer breeds, and a big-winning wire fox terrier, whose breed won more than any other at Westminster.

Still, show cognoscenti often say victory goes to “the dog on the day,” meaning the one that has the performance of a lifetime.

And regardless which dog the judge chooses, others sometimes win the audience's heart. Among the crowd faves over the years: a Sussex spaniel who sat up straight on his hind legs before the judge; a treat-seeking Leonberger who gnawed at his handler’s pocket while going around the ring; and a shiba inu shown by a 10-year-old girl.

Wire fox terriers have taken the top prize 15 times, most recently in 2019. Poodles of various sizes have 11 wins. A miniature poodle named Sage won last year.

Many breeds haven't won yet, including such favorites as the French bulldog and Labrador retriever. But never say never: Two of the last three winners have been firsts for their breeds: the petit basset griffon Vendéen and the bloodhound.

Bragging rights, ribbons and trophies. There are no cash prizes, though the agility and obedience winners each get to direct a $5,000 Westminster donation to a training club or the American Kennel Club Humane Fund.

Animal rights activists routinely protest outside, and sometimes inside, the show. During last year's final round, someone carrying a sign reading “boycott breeders” tried to climb into the ring. The demonstrator was quickly intercepted and arrested.

The Westminster club says it promotes responsible dog ownership and celebrates all canines while highlighting the “preservation” of breeds with particular traits.

FILE — King, a wire fox terrier, poses for photographs after winning Best in Show at the 143rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Feb. 12, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

FILE — Dario, a Leonberger, tries to get at the treats in handler Sam Mammano's pocket during the working group competition, at the 140th Westminster Kennel Club dog show, at Madison Square Garden in New York, Feb. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE — A Sussex spaniel competes with the sporting group at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, Feb. 17, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

FILE — Louis, an Afghan hound, takes part in the best in show competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club dog show, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

FILE — Comet, a Shih Tzu, competes in breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, May 13, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Cynthia Hornor poses with Nimble, the first mixed-breed dog ever to win the Westminster Kennel Club dog show's agility competition, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz, File)

FILE — Toby, 5, left, and Izzy, 4, both sloughi breed from Illinois owners, are shown at a press conference, Jan. 30, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE — Monty, a giant schnauzer, takes part in the best in show competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club dog show, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

FILE — Mercedes, a German shepherd, takes part in the best in show competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club dog show, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

FILE— Sage, a miniature poodle, wins the best in show competition during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

FILE — Handler Janice Hays poses for photos with Buddy Holly, a petit basset griffon Vendéen, after he won best in show during the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, May 9, 2023, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

FILE — Heather Helmer poses for photographs with Trumpet, a bloodhound, after Trumpet won best in show at the 146th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, June 22, 2022, in Tarrytown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

FILE — Wasabi, a Pekingese, rests on the winner's podium with its trophy and ribbons after winning Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, June 13, 2021, in Tarrytown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

FILE — Siba, the standard poodle, poses for photographs after winning Best in Show in the 144th Westminster Kennel Club dog show, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

FILE — Judging commences in the Best in Show competition in the 144th Westminster Kennel Club dog show, in New York's Madison Square Garden, Feb. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran this year betrayed his refrain of “No new wars” that he made repeatedly as he campaigned again for the White House.

Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said he “didn't guarantee” there would be no wars if he were back in office.

"First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?" Trump said.

Trump also defended plans for a now-scrapped $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president and he repeated his baseless claims of mass fraud in California’s drawn-out vote count from Tuesday’s primary. He ended the interview abruptly when he became frustrated with pushback from NBC's Kristen Welker.

In his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly cast his Democratic opponents as warmongers and said he was a president who started “no new wars" and would bring an era of peace.

But Trump said in the NBC interview, taped Friday in Wisconsin, that as a candidate, “I didn’t promise anything.”

“I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We’ve been doing this for three months,” he said of the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28.

Trump said he was “doing the world a service” and “doing our country a service” because he had to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon. But elsewhere in the interview, Trump repeated a contradictory message where he said U.S. strikes last year “obliterated” Iranian nuclear sites.

He also defended his decision in his first term to withdraw from Democratic President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, an agreement he has heavily criticized, without negotiating the “better deal” he has promised to reach.

“It takes years to do these things,” Trump said.

California's notoriously prolonged vote count has been a magnet for election conspiracy theories, and Trump since Tuesday's election has claimed without evidence that Democrats are rigging the election. The Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles said Friday that his office had opened “multiple election fraud investigations.”

Late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots have eaten into the vote totals for Trump's preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor. While Trump has often said that changes to vote totals as late ballots are counted are a sign of fraud, they are merely a reflection of a slow vote-counting process.

Trump in the interview kept claiming that it was a sign of “cheating” and “a rigged election," and grew increasingly frustrated as Welker pressed him for evidence to support that.

“All I have to do is look. All I have to do is look,” Trump said.

“But that’s not evidence,” Welker responded.

“And I listen. And I listen to people. And let’s see what happens,” Trump replied.

Trump defended plans that his Department of Justice said it has now abandoned to create a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of a settlement to resolve Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday that the department was scrapping the plan. That announcement came after the plan was paused by a judge and after both Democrats and some Republicans said they were concerned about the fund's lack of oversight and the possibility of payouts being made to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

Trump told NBC he thought the fund was “a great idea” and that he would be “disappointed” if it were not approved.

When asked if he thought people who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 should get a payout, Trump said, “I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it." He then began making unfounded and false claims about riot and those who stormed the Capitol. Trump granted a sweeping pardon on his first day back in office in January 2025 to the more than 1,500 people prosecuted over Jan. 6.

The NBC interview was conducted in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, before Trump was set to speak at a roundtable event with farmers. The interview was repeatedly interrupted as waves of heavy rain fell on the metal roof of the barn where the taping took place, making it difficult at times to hear.

At the end, Welker pressed Trump on the settlement fund and his claims about the California election. Trump raised his voice and began calling Welker and the media “crooked," attacking her credibility and complaining about what he called “the fake, dirty press.”

As Welker tried to switch subjects, Trump continued on and there was cross talk between the two. Trump ended the interview, saying said, “Let's call it quits." He took off his microphone, telling Welker, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time." He said he had given the interview enough time, stood up and walked away.

Welker said during the broadcast that she spoke to Trump on Saturday and he agreed the rain had caused complications and said he would do another interview in the future.

President Donald Trump arrives to speak to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Joint Base Andrews, Md., to Eau Claire, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)