The below links lead to over 2500 photos we took at Westminster Kennel Club last month. Enjoy!
Westminster Dog Show Day 1
Westminster Dog Show Day 2: Part 1 (including the Bernese Mountain Dogs)
Westminster Dog Show Day 2: Part 2
Westminster Dog Show Day 2: Part 3 (at MSG including Working Group & Best in Show)
Westminster Dog Show Day 2: Part 4 (Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs)
Oscar’s Website was mentioned and linked to in a number of media publications recently including the LA Times. We are so grateful for the support. Please keep visiting the site as we have many more surprises to come including thousands of behind the scenes Westminster Kennel Club pictures from our photographer who was on-site. Professional cameras put the images into very large files so there’s post-processing required before the pictures can be posted.
Oscar was selected yesterday to come to Central Park to film in a segment called “Best in Snow”. As you can guess, Oscar was shown enjoying the snow with some new friends including Juliette the Berner. It’s set to air on NBC during the Westminster Broadcast. Here are some behind the scene photos. The woman in the photo is Mary Carillo, who is the co-host of Westminster, a sportscaster and former French Open Doubles winner with John McEnroe. Oscar enjoyed getting to know her and gives her two paws up.
Oscar participated in a press conference yesterday with over 50 reporters to mark the beginning of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show week. The Swissy’s accomplishments over the past year were highlighted, which include being a hurricane survivor and the top show dog on Facebook with 80,000 fans. Next to the Oscar is Juliette a Bernese Mountain Dog who served as a therapy dog after the Sandy Hook shooting. We still have many pictures to post, stay tuned to CentralBark.com.
*Please come out and cheer for NYC’s Oscar the Grouch, Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (Swissy) #20 at the Westminster Kennel Club. Pier 94, Ring 10, Tuesday February 12th at 1 PM!
The NY Post with a combined circulation of a million readers, today profiled Oscar calling him “The Man About Midtown” and “A Fashion Hound”. The opening of the story reads “Attention follows this 2 ¹/₂-year-old Greater Swiss Mountain dog wherever he goes, and how could it not — he weighs 125 pounds and is prone to wearing argyle sweaters around town and dressing up for the holidays…At least when he’s not traveling the show circuit: Oscar just returned from a string of seven shows in Florida with handler Ashley Cuzzolino, and won seven Best of Breed awards.” Pick up a copy of the paper to read the rest of the story. That is if you can find one (since we already bought 12).
Oscar appeared with two other dogs on the WPIX morning show today with David Frei (host of the Westminster Kennel Club) and Richard Simmons (star of Sweatin’ to the Oldies). Living only two blocks away from the studio, it was just a normal walk for Oscar. The swissy could not fit through the revolving doorway into the studio, which was not big enough for a greater swiss mountain dog. Maybe Oscar should be sweatin’ with Richard Simmons? Luckily we found a hidden elevator (aka VIP entrance) a little further down the street that took us right upstairs to the studio. When we walked into the green room, the other two dog owners commented about how they woke up at 5 am to get there.
Click the links to watch each video: Westminster Segment and Oscar Meets Richard Simmons
Some people have asked what going to a Dog Show involves. When Oscar goes to a Dog Show, he is rated on how well he conforms to his Breed, the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. Jumping over a hurdle, doing tricks, or being in good health is not part of the conformation. However, in the UK for big shows such as Crufts (the European version of Westminster Kennel Club) they recently added a health check at the show to that list.
“The winners of the Bulldog, Pekingese, Clumber Spaniel, Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff and Basset Hound classes were not allowed to progress to the Group stages of judging, and were not given their Best of Breed awards.
Vets were asked to look for conditions related to eye disease, lameness, skin disorders and breathing difficulty. These included inflammation related to poor eyelid conformation, signs of chronic damage to the corneal surface of the eye, dermatitis associated with skin folds and long or heavily coated ears, signs of respiratory difficulty or any lameness or hind limb weakness.
Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary, said: “We want to ensure that only healthy dogs are rewarded in the show ring and also use the show ring to help move those breeds forward that are the most inclined to suffer from health conditions that affect their health and welfare.”*
Do you think it’s a good idea for Dog Shows to include health checks at dog shows? If so, should it be one vet or a team of vet that makes the decision?
Something was clogging up my e-mail box. Then I saw what it was…Oscar’s pictures from Westminster! Much thanks to Alex for taking great pictures of Oscar during the greater swiss mountain dog breed judging.
With Oscar at dog shows most weekends, a weekend off allowed him to catch up with his friends at the dog park. A dog park in New York City always has a great mix of puppies/dogs and people you get to meet, along with some characters. One woman thought it was normal for her 4 yr old dog to hump everything it saw. A second lady was telling me how her group would be having a huge protest at the Westminster show because they switched sponsors from Pedigree to Purina (for more uplifting ads). I wanted to ask her if she knew the show was last week, but figured it would be better to walk away.
Today, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a followup article commenting on Oscar The Grouch. Oscar is very grateful the WSJ, with 3.5 million daily readers, had previously named Oscar as the dog to root for at Westminster Kennel Club on their front page. Being the youngest swissy entered by 1.3 years gives Oscar time, so he hopes the WSJ will continue their support of him for Westminster 2013.
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/02/14/westminster-dog-show-an-underdogs-moment-in-the-ring
Below is the link for the original article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204795304577219643566702620.html
Below is the link to watch the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog 2012 judging at Westminster Kennel Club including Oscar The Grouch.
http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/videos/#/Breed%20Judging/2012/Working/vid:17894161
It was Oscar The Grouch’s first time at Westminster Kennel Club. He was the youngest dog entered for the Greater Swiss Mountain Do Breed and the other dogs on average were 1 and a 1/3 years older. He showed very well, but was a bit nervous looking for his owner. There’s next year and also next show.
If his owner, David could change things, he would of got Oscar to Westminster either earlier (so he could sleep in his crate to calm down) or later (walk right in the ring). We got there as his handler, Ashley was showing her Cane Corso, Ch Castleguard’s Caillou. Madison Square Garden (MSG) was a mess and there was no way to find Oscar’s crate location till she came back. With his owner nervous, and having Oscar for that time in the middle of a mess, probably cast some bad luck. Now if MSG placed dogs by breed and then by handler, things would be much easier for everyone. Lesson learned for next year.
Oscar gives a big thank you to Ben Cohen (WSJ), Vin, Bob, and David Frei.
In a half hour, Oscar will be walking to MSG for the Westminster Kennel Club. Tagging along will be the Wall Street Journal to add a second part to yesterday’s Front Page Story. Remember if you go, to cheer for Greater Swiss Mountain Dog #18, Ring 3, at about 10am!
Oscar The Grouch (Swissy #18) and his owner David, thankful of being able to show at Westminster Kennel Club, will be donating $500 later today to Angel On A Leash a charity chaired by David Frei, which has one of the best therapy dog programs out there. Oscar encourages other Westminster competitors and Greater Swiss Mountain Dog owners/breeders to donate what they can, to help this worthy charity.
Johnny Avello, the director of the Wynn Las Vegas casino’s sports book handicaps Oscar The Grouch’s chance of winning Best In Show at Westminster Kennel Club at 600 to 1. The bookies always are right, after all the NY Giants were 100 to 1 to win the Super Bowl and the St Louis Cardinals were 250 to 1.
Oscar The Grouch was just in the opening promo for the Westminster Kennel Club on USA!
A Youtube Video Cites Oscar the Grouch as being in the “Canine 1%”. Will the other 99% protest Oscar on his walk to Westminster Kennel Club tomorrow morning?
MarketWatch.com, a website of 4.5 million viewers, talks about Oscar The Grouch (Swissy #18) and how sleeping at his own home and walking to the show could give him an advantage at Westminster Kennel Club. They refer to Oscar as NY’s hometown hero.
Yesterday “Hickory”, last year’s Westminster winner wished Oscar good luck.
Over the summer Bill Cosby wished Oscar good luck and signed Oscar’s photo from the month of his win which secured his qualification into Westminster. Bill owned “Harry” who, as a 6 yr old Dandie Dinmot, won the terrier group in 2007 and was the #1 dog for a good portion of that year.
Here’s the Bill Cosby signed photo!
We have a new facebook fan page- please join us! http://www.facebook.com/OscarTheGrouchDog
Exclusive pictures of NBC shooting Oscar and David for their opening promo to the Westminster show.
