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"