Meet the New Breeds

Having just been recognized by the
American Kennel Club, two new breeds will be competing for the first time in
this year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the largest, oldest, and most
prestigious in North America. Westminster has been delighting dog fanciers
since its inception in 1877, and the 2013 show, televised February 11 + 12,
will doubtless prove no different, especially with these two charmers taking
their place in the ring.

Meet
the newbies on their way to become household names.

RUSSELL TERRIER
This athletic, intelligent, and fiercely loyal breed is considered the ultimate
working earth terrier due to their small size (10" to 12" tall) and
unique chest. The hallmark of the Russell Terrier is its small, oval-shaped
chest, which allows the breed to hunt efficiently below ground, pulling,
pushing and bending through tight turns and narrow tunnels. Their origin dates
back to the 1800s in England where they were utilized for fox hunting and
carried horseback in terrier bags. Pack hunters, they are non-confrontational-this
is definitely not a sparring breed. They are predominantly white with spots and
come in three coat types: smooth, broken, and rough.

TREEING WALKER COONHOUND
This intelligent, confident, sociable, and
energetic breed was bred to track and tree wild raccoons. Developed from the
Walker Foxhound, the Virginia Hounds, and the earliest English Foxhounds
brought to America, the Treeing Walker is a fast, alert, hot-nosed hunter with
superb endurance, treeing ability, and a desire to perform. It has a clear,
ringing bugle voice or a steady clear "chop"-get ready to be alerted to any
masked, marauding backyard bandits-of the four-legged variety. 

Want more? See
all our breed profiles to date

Want more on
Westminster? Check out "Backstage Pass: The weird and wonderful world of the
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show"