7 dogs competing for Westminster’s show big prize Tuesday night

NEW YORK (AP) — After two days, 2,500 dogs and more than 200 breeds, the Westminster Kennel Club is coming down to just seven canines vying for U.S. show dogs’ most coveted prize.

Four finalists already have been chosen: an Afghan hound named Zaida, a Lhasa apso called JJ, a Maltese named Cookie, and an old English sheepdog dubbed Graham.

Three more rivals will be selected Tuesday night before they all face off at Madison Square Garden for the best in show award. The winner gets a trophy, ribbons, bragging rights and, this year, the distinction of winning the milestone 150th annual Westminster show.

Whichever dog ends up with the prize, lots of others score meme-able moments or light up the crowd, even if they don’t make the finals.

Spectators Monday cheered extra-loud for a Xoloitzcuintli named Calaco, a hairless dog who went around the ring like he had nothing to prove. Chants of “Lumpy! Lumpy!” resounded through the arena as Lumpy the Pekingese strolled before a judge.

One dog poised to make history in the semifinals is Millie, a Danish-Swedish farmdog. The small, spry breed just became eligible for the Westminster show this year, and Millie bested about 10 other farmdogs Tuesday afternoon to get to the evening round.

“It’s been a very exciting journey” to establish the breed in the U.S., said Brita Lemmon, who competed with her farmdog, named Coyote. A plant nursery owner from Seal Beach, California, she got her first farmdog from a Danish breeder in 2000, after looking through an encyclopedia of breeds.

Westminster wins tend to go to pooches with professional handlers or owners with decades or even generations of experience. But just reaching the elite, champions-only show is a major accomplishment in dogdom, especially for first-timers such as Joseph Carrero and his Neapolitan mastiff, Dezi.

After yearning for a Neo since his teenage years, Carrero finally got one when he was 35. A heavy equipment operator from Indian Springs, Nevada, he started showing the dog only because the breeder wanted him to. Now Carrero himself breeds and handles his Neos in the ring, while also working full-time and then some.

“It’s really hard for us to do this, but we enjoy it, and he enjoys it,” Carrero said as a visitors gathered around to greet the jowly, 190-pound dog.

Boerboels, which are formidable guard dogs originally from South Africa, played a major role in how Natalee Ridenhour met her late husband and why she eventually left metropolitan life for a farm in Royse City, Texas.

On Tuesday, Ridenhour and a Boerboel named Invictus did something else she once would never have pictured: compete at the Westminster show.

The dog didn’t advance past the first round. But as a visitor delightedly petted the 170-pound animal, Ridenhour said, “Honestly, the big win is: You’re about the 50th person who’s gotten down in his face and loved on him.”