Call it a comeback! A 10-year-old Sussex spaniel named Stump emerged from a four-year retirement last week to compete and win the coveted title of Best In Show at the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday in New York City.
What makes this victory so special is that Stump is the oldest dog in the history of Westminster to take the top prize. If his age were calculated in human years, Stump would be 70 years old!
A sentimental favorite with the cheering crowd at Madison Square Garden, Stump was definitely the underdog in this year’s Best In Show competition, where he faced six other group winners including Spirit, the Giant Schnauzer who was the top dog in the country in 2008, a Scottish Deerhound named Tiger Woods, a Standard Poodle named Yes who had 94 best in show career wins, and a Scottish Terrier named Sadie who became so excited during the Best In Show competition that she did a “no-no” on the green carpet at the Garden.
Judge Sari Tietjen said although the other six competitors were outstanding, she awarded Stump as Best in Show because “he showed his heart out. He was everything you want.”
Scott Sommer, Stump’s expert handler, says he decided only last week that Stump was ready to compete again. Sommer won Best In Show at Westminster in 2001 with BJ, a Bichon Frise, who lives with Sommer and Stump in Houston. At Westminster in 2004, Stump won the Sporting Group Championship. But later that year, Sommer says Stump nearly died from a mystery ailment—“his body just collapsed”—and was treated at Texas A&M for what was ultimately discovered to be a “bacterial infection that took them 19 days to figure out. And now he’s good,” Sommer says.
Good is an understatement. In addition to being the only Sussex to ever win the Sporting Group (twice) and the oldest dog to ever win Best In Show at Westminster, he’s also the first Sussex spaniel to win since the competition started in 1875. Only 18 Sporting Group dogs have ever won Westminster’s top honor.
Sussex spaniels are a relatively rare breed in the United States. The Sussex Spaniel Club of America, the breed’s official AKC parent club, reports that there are only 75 or so Sussex spaniel puppies born in the U.S. each year. Sussex spaniels have unique breeding challenges involving C-section births, breeding difficulties and a higher puppy mortality rate because Sussex puppies develop much slower than dogs of other breeds.
Sussex spaniels originated in the U.K. in the 1800s as a hunting dog used to push through underbrush to flush game birds. They are a medium-sized dog weighing between 35-45 pounds, described in the breed standard as “massive and powerful,” and have a rectangular, low-to-the-ground shape, with a rich, soft golden liver-colored coat.
David Frei, the co-host of the show’s live broadcast and director of communications for Westminster, describes the Sussex as “a friendly, happy dog” but notes that they do require owners who understand their need for a very active lifestyle, and although this breed tends to be talkative and moderately difficult to train, they are great companions that enjoy the company of humans and other dogs.
Last year’s popular Best In Show winner, a Beagle named Uno, has retired from competition to become a full-time therapy dog, visiting hospitals and working with sick and injured children and soldiers. Uno was the first Westminster Best In Show winner to visit the White House, has rung the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, rode a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Snoopy, and in his spare time, works at his owner’s 200-acre ranch in Texas with cattle, horses, and rescued beagles.
For more information on this year’s winning breed, go to www.sussexspaniels.org, and www.westminsterkennelclub.org to learn more about Westminster.
Cynthia Leathers was managing editor of oobr.com (“the Off-Off-Broadway review”). She has written articles on dog and cat competitions for The Epoch Times, and is a senior feline volunteer with the ASPCA.
