The six new breeds at this year's Westminster Kennel Club dog show are ready to parade around the ring.
The newcomers were officially introduced Thursday at a hotel penthouse in New York, right across the street from where they'll compete at Madison Square Garden. The two-day show begins Monday morning.
There are 179 breeds and varieties entered in America's most prestigious dog show, including the six new kinds — the Icelandic sheepdog, the Leonberger, the Boykin spaniel, the cane corso, the bluetick coonhound and the redbone coonhound.
Spend just a little time with Rufus the redbone coonhound and you'd swear he never makes a peep. The pooch was totally silent this week, even while strangers petted his dark reddish coat, touched his cold nose and looked into his pleading, hazel eyes.
Owner Christine Smith promises he'll be the same way at the show.
That is, unless a raccoon happens to wander into the ring.
Because that's when a redbone coonhound can go wild — up to 125 piercing barks per minute. In Westminster parlance, that would make him a "vocal" dog.
"No, he's very well behaved," said Smith, in town from Shepherdsville, Ky. "You won't hear him bark at all."
A pair of prize smooth fox terriers, a proud boxer and a monkey-faced affenpinscher named Banana Joe will join the mix Monday morning. Sadie the Scottie won last time, and this year's best in show will be chosen Tuesday night.
One of the new breeds, the bluetick coonhound, is familiar to college football and basketball fans as the longtime mascot for the University of Tennessee.
"People have seen them," said Susan Lloyd of Beaufort, N.C., holding the leash of her bluetick called Mike.
By dog show standards, it's a pretty open competition. In past years, there's been a certain beagle or bichon frise or Kerry blue terrier that seemed to be the favorite, but not so this time.
A champion Australian shepherd called Reckon that won the recent AKC/Eukanuba show is not entered. So that leaves top contenders from several breeds, among them a bearded collie, bulldog, Irish setter and toy poodle.
Then again, the several million viewers who will watch on the USA Network and CNBC often tune in just to get a glimpse of one dog — the kind that's sitting on their lap.
"It's the alma mater factor," popular Westminster TV host David Frei likes to say.
Versatile broadcaster Mary Carillo will join Frei on the telecasts. Betty White is set to make an appearance, too, on the Pedigree commercials that air during the show.
Rhodesian ridgebacks lead this year's Garden party with 56 entries, followed by 46 golden retrievers. There's just one Neapolitan mastiff, a breed that traces its roots to Italy.
Also coming from Italy: Best in show judge Paolo Dondina, marking the first time since 1930 that the person who picks America's top dog is from outside North America. Dondina, in fact, will soon choose best in show at Crufts, an event in England that draws well over 25,000 dogs.
The hound, toy, nonsporting and herding champs will be picked Monday night and the top sporting, working and terriers will tabbed Tuesday evening. Those winners advance to the best-of-seven final ring, and the silver bowl is presented shortly before 11 p.m.
Peggy Beisel-McIlwaine will be among those helping as a ring steward. She's judged five times at Westminster, including the terrier group in 2006.
Be it on the green carpet of the Garden or the green turf of a football field, she knows champions. Her grandfather, Andrew Blair Turnbull, was the first president of the Green Bay Packers and is in the team's Hall of Fame.
Beisel-McIlwaine has been in the news lately. She was one of the 400 ticketholders who were forced out of their seats at the Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium because the stands weren't safe. She watched from a stadium bar as the Packers beat Pittsburgh 31-25.
She's come to Westminster at least 20 times and is looking forward to a fun time. Other visits, more pressure.
"When you get in that ring, you feel it," she said. "When I walked out onto the floor for the terriers and looked at that first Airedale, I was a little nervous."
"This is the Super Bowl of dog shows, it really is," she said.
