If you’re a dog per­son, you are prob­a­bly look­ing for­ward to THE show next week: West­min­ster! It’s that time of year again, and if you are lucky enough to be in New York, you can expe­ri­ence twice the Frenchie fun with a warm up at the FBDCA Inde­pen­dent French Bull­dog spe­cialty the Sat­ur­day before West­min­ster.

Last year was the first time a French Bull­dog won the Non-Sporting Group at West­min­ster. Will that hap­pen again? It cer­tainly won’t be for lack of entries. Entry num­bers for both shows are impres­sive this year. Forty-four French Bull­dogs are entered in the West­min­ster show, giv­ing Frenchies third place for most breed entries. (Rhode­sian Ridge­backs and Golden Retriev­ers take first and sec­ond place.) Saturday’s spe­cialty has a whop­ping 101 Frenchies entered! Now for the weather to play nice so all those dogs can make their ring time.

For those stay­ing home to watch the excite­ment on TV, here’s the net­works and times to watch or record:

Mon­day, Feb 14
French Bull­dogs enter Ring 1 at 8 AM
Judge: Mr. Den­nis McCoy
Breed judg­ing video will be avail­able on the West­min­ster site later in the day.

USA Net­work 8–9 PM East­ern Time, then the live broad­cast switches net­works to:
CNBC 9–11 PM East­ern Time
Non-Sporting Group com­petes Mon­day evening, along with Hound, Toy, and Herd­ing groups
Non-Sporting judge: Mr. W. Everett Dean, Jr.

Tues­day, Feb 15
USA Net­work 8–11 PM East­ern Time
Sport­ing, Work­ing, Ter­rier Groups and Best in Show com­pete
Best in Show judge: Mr. Paolo Dondina

Every year, five top-ranked dogs from each breed are issued a spe­cial invi­ta­tion to attend West­min­ster. Who were those lucky French Bull­dogs this year? In alpha­bet­i­cal order:

  • GCH CH Ban­dog Bayou’s The Warrior
  • GCH CH Bay­hill Celebrate!
  • GCH CH Devine’s LA Confidential
  • GCH CH Highwood’s Big Shot
  • GCH CH Robob­ull Fabel­haft Im On Fire

You may rec­og­nize the last name on the list. That’s “Bru,” Best of Breed and Non-Sporting Group win­ner of 2010. Click on the fol­low­ing linked words to see footage of his wins from the 2010 Best in Show, Non-Sporting Group, and Breed competitions.

If you want to see the full win record for French Bull­dogs at the West­min­ster Ken­nel Show, click here to get win num­bers and wins since 1897.

While the Sat­ur­day spe­cialty won’t be tele­vised, there will be report­ing of news and results from var­i­ous fans and exhibitors via the FBDCA Face­book page, Twit­ter feed, and var­i­ous other chat sites.

If you are attend­ing either show in New York, there are a cou­ple more Frenchie attrac­tions to consider.

Yappy Hour – A free read­ing of the “Ankle Soup” book series about Car­los, a French Bull­dog in New York City, by the author and illus­tra­tor at Hotel Penn­syl­va­nia, Sun­day, Feb 13 from 3 to 4 PM.

IPad Raf­fle — ring­side at the FBDCA Spe­cialty. Do not need to be present to win! Buy your tick­ets on line or in person.

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