Mrs. Dodge's Dog Show

The Westminster Kennel Club show, Manhattan's 65-year-old annual, is tantamount to the national show-dog championship of the U.S. But the Westminster is not the biggest, richest or most spectacular dog show in the world. The show that is all these things--bigger than England's famed Cruft's--is the Morris & Essex.

Last week the 15th Morris & Essex was staged at Giralda Farms, the 3,000-acre estate of Mrs. M. Hartley Dodge at Madison, N.J.

Mrs. Dodge, niece of the late John D. Rockefeller, started her show in 1927 to raise money for a local charity. That year 595 dogs went to her party. Last week it took 65 judging rings to accommodate the 3,874 entries competing for the $18,000 in cash (and 409 sterling-silver trophies), biggest prize money in the history of dog shows.

Mrs. Dodge's party owes its success to four planks: 1) encouraging novice exhibitors and one-dog owners as well as seasoned campaigners; 2) plenty of prize money; 3) a judge for nearly every breed, thereby permitting all classes to be judged in one day; 4) a dreamworld outing in one of the most beautiful settings in the U.S.

Staged on a green-plush polo field, framed by giant trees, dogs are benched under gay-colored canvas tops, exhibited on little red runways bordered with bright flowers. By noon last week there were 40,000 spectators gathered around the 65 judging rings. For the curious there was a special treat: four little brow-furrowed Basenjis, English refugees, shown by Dr. A. R. B. Richmond of Toronto.

The Basenji, a breed recently recognized by the English Kennel Club, are dogs (which cannot bark nor yelp, but only softly "grooo") used in the African Congo for tracking game.

But the dog that got the loudest cheers was James Austin's five-year-old smooth-haired fox terrier, Champion Nornay Saddler, brought out of retirement to try for the Morris & Essex best-in-show. Winner of 55 best-in-shows, a world's record, Saddler had never put his best paw forward at Mrs. Dodge's party. Last week, making a champion's comeback, he outshone the five other group winners in the final judging, added the coveted Morris & Essex to his collection of best-in-shows. "I must rate him all-time tops," purred Judge Enno Meyer.

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