By Lisa Peterson

Joy S. Brewster will watch her favorite breeds from the ‘other side’ of the purple velvet ropes that define the rings at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show this year. Now retired after more than four decades as a professional handler, she said she looks forward to just being a spectator.

“It is so intense as a handler, you are usually exhausted and sick afterwards,” Brewster said recently from her home at Cassio Kennels on Mount Pleasant Road. “It’s really just another dog show from the handler’s point of view.

“There’s a mystique about Westminster and a lot of hype but only because of the press coverage,” Brewster added. “Many dogs are retired here. It’s their swan song. It’s emotionally draining after you have been showing a dog for two or three years. You become emotionally involved with them and react accordingly when they go home, you shouldn’t because it’s a business, but it’s hard.”

However, getting into New York City as an exhibitor is an “expensive nightmare,” she stresses. The logistics of getting a string of dogs into the city and then “benched” for two days requires hiring extra folks to watch the dogs on the bench from morning until night. Westminster is one of the few remaining benched dog shows in the country. Benching is where dogs are placed on a “bench” or cubicle for the public to view during the day. This opportunity allows people to talk with the owners and breeders.

‘The Garden’, as those in the sport of purebred dogs call it, kicks off the start of the “dog show” year. This year more than 2,500 dogs will compete for the coveted ‘Best in Show’ prize during two days of competition on February 9 and 10at Madison Square Garden.

 

Westminster History

As a child, Brewster first walked into a ring at the fabled dog show at the “old” Garden. She remembers getting out of school to travel from upstate New York with her mother Mary Brewster to Westminster “to learn about adults and dogs.”

“I don’t remember the year, but I do remember winning a Best of Breed with one of my mother’s Pomeranians, CH Artitic’s Dear Adorable in the 1950’s,” she said. By the time Brewster was seven-years-old, she had already bred, owned and handled her first champion show dog.

By 1954, Brewster was an apprentice handler with legendary handler and AKC judge Anne Rogers Clark. It was in that year that Clark not only became the first woman handler, but also won the first of three Westminster Bests in Show.

“I was her good luck piece,” Brewster said. Brewster stayed with Clark for 11 years and the day after she left in 1965 she opened Cassio Kennels and began her own career as a professional handler.

During her career Brewster handled top dogs in six of the seven groups including numerous Group Firsts and Bests in Show with multiple breeds. In 1979, she earned the prestigious FIDO award for Handler of the Year. In 1974 and 1977 she was voted Best Female Handler. As a breeder she is known for producing top winning champion German Wirehaired Pointers and Pomeranians under the Cassio preface.

 

Top Dogs

With today’s champion-only entry at Westminster there is only one class, the Best of Breed and sometimes a handler runs into conflicts and has to pass dogs off to assistants to show.

“Most of your clients (the dog’s owners) are there to watch and they all want your attention. They all want you on the leash,” she said. “Although, sometimes you can’t turn a dog over to anybody else because it will destroy his or her career. Dogs sense the excitement and if you have a young dog that might get flipped out from the experience or doesn’t have the experience to cope with the stress you must stay with that dog to give him a chance in the ring.”

Because of the access to press and television coverage, Brewster said, owners might be tempted to bring a dog to the show if it even had an “outside chance you could really win” and be put up over the number one dog in your breed. There is a lot of pressure and scrutiny for both the handlers and the judges, she explained. Judges may go in with the attitude that they are not going to automatically put up the number one dog.

“When you are hyped and the adrenaline is rushing it can transmit down the leash to the dog. As a professional you have to be calm on the outside even though the inside is completely different,” she said. “I’ve come into the garden with a number one dog and got beaten. It’s not always good to come in with a top dog. You win some you should and lose some you shouldn’t.”

Over the years at Westminster, Brewster has won a Group II with a Samoyed and a Pomeranian and Group IV with her German Wirehaired Pointer and multiple Best of Breeds with Bassets, Whippets, Schipperkes and Corgis.

 

First Time Dogs and Handlers

“Take lots of money … no, make that credit cards and comfortable shoes,” Brewster advised first time spectators and handlers alike.

Taking your dogs into Manhattan is very different from your ordinary weekend dog show at the local high school, said Brewster, who has taken more than a dozen dogs at once into the Garden. If at all possible, bring your dog into the garden in his crate. This is the best way to stay healthy and clean, especially for a white dog.

If you have to walk your dog in from the car in this weather put little booties on his paws to keep him from licking the salt off his feet or giving him sore feet. Brewster noted the environment for the dogs in the benching area is unhealthy due to the lack of air circulation. She recommends you bring as large a crate that the benching area will accommodate. Use a wire crate, if possible, and keep the top open, free from obstructions, like blankets, to keep the air circulating.

Keep an eye on the public as they are always trying to “feed them goodies and stick their fingers in their mouths,” Brewster recalled. Bring a doggie first aid kit and some medicines to treat diarrhea. Always bring the same water from home that your dog normally drinks so hopefully you won’t have to use the diarrhea medicine. For the show ring, bring spray to put on the bottom on your show shoes as the carpets in the garden are slippery. Don’t forget to bring spray for your dog’s pads too.

“If you are lucky enough to win the breed and be on TV, bring presentable shoes to wear in the group,” she recommended. “For years I always brought two sets of clothes each day for breed and then group showing. But some people are superstitious about planning ahead to win the group. They don’t bring clothes, that way if they do win and need an evening outfit they go to Macy’s to buy their clothes.”

 

Judging

Brewster retired as a professional handler in 2002 and only occasionally shows her own dogs.

She last graced the rings in Westminster in 2000 when her German Wirehaired Pointer won the Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed award under fellow Newtown resident Patricia Laurans. Laurans returns to judge the Australian Shepherds, Canaan Dogs and Border collies at Westminster this year.

Brewster continues her involvement in the dog fancy as an AKC licensed judge of all the hound breeds, Corgis, Australian Shepherds and Junior Showmanship. She also stays very active as President and Show Chairman for the Greenwich Kennel Club in addition to Cassio Kennels. In 1990, she built a new grooming and boarding facility for dogs and cats. She recently added “K-9 Kabanas”, a private, insulated, draft-proof paneled doghouse which allows dogs of certain breeds to remain outside for anywhere from four to 24 hours, if their owners so desire. Classes in Obedience, Agility, Conformation and Rally with Margaret Reed of Canine Training and Behavior Services are also offered.

But it’s not all business for Brewster, as president of the Candlewood Valley Ladies Golf League and a member of the Newtown Country Club; she finds time for her other passion, golf.

Brewster thought she would miss all the excitement of showing in the rings but admits she doesn’t.

“I was at the pinnacle of my profession and now it’s just relaxing to watch.”