Breeders go barking mad for world dog show

ANXIOUS dog lovers used beauty tricks worthy of a top salon, with some owners bending a few rules in the process, as they primped their pets at the world’s biggest dog show.

From monstrous mastiffs to tiny terriers, thousands of dogs competed before a crowded audience at the opening of the two-day Westminster Kennel Club show at Madison Square Garden.

Behind the scenes, scissors snipped and blow dryers whirred as breeders groomed the dogs to look their best.

Backstage, a pink-and-brown Chinese crested stood on a grooming table as handler Kirsten McGregor shaved his knees with an electric razor.

“I’m not supposed to be doing it,” she said, looking stricken that someone noticed. “They’re supposed to be a naturally hairless breed.”

Nearby, a sturdy miniature bull terrier wriggled as breeder Brenda Smith applied white chalk to a pink bruise on his face, the result of his eager efforts to break into the cage of female dogs at the California kennel where he lives.

“Don’t kiss me,” Smith scolded. “You’ll rub it off.”

The make-up is frowned upon, she admitted.

“There are judges out there who will oust us for it,” she said.

“They’ll kick us out.” Plenty of the grooming was legitimate, said a handler snipping the whiskers off a Doberman pinscher.

Nearby a woman rubbed petroleum jelly on her mastiff’s toenails to make them shine, and another sheared the fuzz off the ears of her lamb-like Bedlington terrier.

Breeder Ken Wall sounded impatient as he tried to stop onlookers from petting his long-haired Japanese Chin, who stood soaking wet as he awaited the day’s blow-drying session.

“The show is horrible,” Wall grumbled. “People are so rude. This morning someone ran over a dog with a baby stroller.”

Dogs from 165 breeds and varieties compete in the show.

Three new breeds join the show this year - the large Black Russian terrier, the lumbering Neapolitan mastiff and the lively Glen of Imaal terrier.