Largest Showcase of Purebreds at Javits Center

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NEW YORK—The world’s largest showcase of purebred cats and dogs, Meet the Breeds, was held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City over the weekend. This one-of-a-kind, hands-on event presented over 41 cat breeds and 160 dog breeds to the public.

Unlike most competitive animal shows where touching show animals isn’t allowed, Meet the Breeds was specifically designed so that people could be hands-on with dog and cat breeds they may have only ever seen in books or on television, but have never seen or touched in real life.

It was also a chance for the presenters, the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), to promote buying purebred pets from ethical breeders who follow the stringent breeding and care rules of their organizations, rather than from pet shops and online dog and cat breeders who go largely unregulated and frequently get their purebred animals from unscrupulous puppy mills.

Children and adults alike were invited to pet rarely-seen breeds like the dreadlock-coated Puli, a Polish herding dog whose coat looks like a mop, and the Sphynx, a cat who is hairless yet feels much like a suede hot water bottle.

Their expert owners and breeders freely answered all questions concerning their pets, such as, “Do you have to twist the Puli’s hair to get it into those dreadlocks?” ("No, it cords on its own"), and “Doesn’t that bald cat get cold?” ("No, Sphynx cats have a higher body temperature than other cat breeds").

At the Ocicat booth, children were allowed to cradle these spotted, wild-looking cats like babies while they learned cat care and proper handling techniques from the cats’ breeders.

Many of the breeders and owners dressed in costume to reflect their pets’ heritage, including Jane Ramey, who wore a Russian royal court dress and showed her Russian Blue cat, Sandy Adler, who dressed her Sphynx cat in a Cleopatra costume, and the Cairn Terrier booth, which was decorated like Kansas with the owners and breeders dressed as the cast of The Wizard of Oz and Toto played by a Cairn.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the show was the canine agility and flyball demonstrations. In agility, dogs ran through a series of obstacles like tunnels and ramps at their handlers’ command. At the flyball demonstration, dogs raced along a 51-foot course, over a series of hurdles, to retrieve a tennis ball from a box, then turn and run the ball back to their handlers, where they were rewarded with tugging at a hefty rope toy.

Famous pet lovers came out to enjoy the show, too. Gossip columnist Cindy Adams was there with her tiny Yorkshire Terriers; Actress Whoopi Goldberg was seen visiting the Cornish Rex cat booth and cradling a Sphynx; and actor Mario Lopez even ran through a canine agility course with a Cairn Terrier.

Local law enforcement dogs and airport security dogs displayed their prowess at explosives and drug detection in airports and transit systems. Dogs and cats from the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals, a collection of NYC animal shelters, were available for immediate adoption just downstairs from the main show.

Meet the Breeds was held this year as a substitute for the annual CFA Cat Championship, which is normally held at Madison Square Garden. Renovation this year at the Garden forced the show to move to the Javits Center, and the CFA and AKC decided to join forces for one combined, massive event focusing on both purebred dogs and cats.

Cynthia Leathers writes about special events for The Epoch Times. She is a senior feline behavior volunteer with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in New York City.