Breeding matters.
In 1967, a dog named “Risto” did something pretty special. He established an all-time record for the most Best in Show wins in a year by a dog of any breed by having won forty-five of them in twelve months. Also known as Ch. Salilyn’s Aristocrat, the English Springer Spaniel’s son, Ch. Chinoe’s Adamant James went on to surpass his sire’s accomplishment with forty-eight Bests in Show wins in 1971, and was the last dog to win successive Westminster Bests in Show in 1971 and 1972.
James in the ring at the 2007 Westminster Kennel
Club Dog Show where he was awarded Best In Show.
Photo: WKC.
Risto’s great grandson, “Robert,” aka Ch. Salilyn Condor won Best in Show at Westminster in 1993, and he would become the first Westminster winner to sire another one when his daughter Ch. Salilyn ‘N Erin’s Shameless won Best in Show there in 2000. They remain the only sire and offspring to have both won BIS at Westminster. Another Aristocrat descendant, Ch. Felicity’s Diamond Jim, was BIS at Westminster in 2007. In fact, Westminster wins by Risto’s descendants happen year after year at both the breed and group level, and as far as we know, Risto remains the top-producing sire of all time among all breeds, with 188 champion offspring. Furthermore, Risto’s grandsons Ch. Salilyn’s Private Stock and Ch. Telltale Royal Stuart and his great-grandson Ch. Salilyn’s Classic have each sired more than a hundred champions.
This astonishing success story isn’t all that astonishing to people who know that breeding matters. Old timers would say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
• In 2005, Ch. Kan-Point’s VJK Autumn Roses, a German Shorthaired Pointer more familiarly known as “Carly” won Best in Show at Westminster. In 2016, her grandson, GCH Vjk-Myst Garbonita’s California Journey – or “CJ” also did it.
• Half siblings out of CH Millette’s Hang Loose, GCH Triumphant’s Absolute’ JH and GCHB Willowick Talltean (also the Sporting group winner at WKC one year) were Best in Show Brittanys.
• And then there was Coco, the all-time winningest Norfolk terrier in history. Listed in catalogs as Eng/USA Champion Cracknor Cause Celebre, Coco won the Terrier Group at Westminster in 2004 and 2005, the Montgomery Kennel Club dog show, the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship, and Best in Show at Crufts in 2005. She had two litters (five puppies in total), and her granddaughter Plum, and great-grandson Winston, followed in her steps. At Westminster when it came time to award the coveted Best of Breed and Best of Group ribbons, Plum brought the honors home in 2010, and then “Rider” followed suit in 2012 and 2013. Coco’s pedigree harkens back to the legendary Nanfan Kennel which is also behind the top winning male Norfolk Terrier in history, Ch. The Duke of Copperplate. “Duke” was the only other Norfolk Terrier to win the Montgomery Kennel Club dog show and until “Coco,” he carried the record as the top winner in the breed.
• The Doberman Pinscher, Ch Protocol’s I Came I saw I Sparkled, is the multiple Best in Show winning daughter of 2012 Westminster Working Group winner, GCH Protocol’s Veni Vidi Vici, better known as “Fifi.” FiFi also has a multiple Best in Show winning son, MBIS Am/Brz/Car/Int’l/PanAm Ch Protocol’s To The Victor Go The Spoils CAA;
• Two time Westminster group winning Sussex Spaniel, “Bean,” (aka Multi-BIS GCH Kamand Full Of Beans @ Erinhill) is a third generation BIS winner. Bean’s famous maternal grandsire, “Stump,” is the winningest Sussex of all time, with 51 Bests in Show, setting a record as the oldest dog to win Westminster when he took Best in Show in 2009 at age 10, and his paternal grandsire, “Stoney,” is the second top-winning Sussex, with 17 Bests in Show. His sire, Erinhill Companionway Mr Fuzzywrinkles, and Fuzzy’s sire, Remedi’s Medicine Man were also BIS winners. He also has two BIS winning littermates, Kamand’s Tangled Up In Blue and Clussexx Howdy Doody Time.
• Not to be forgotten are Best in Show Akita littermates, MBIS, MBISS Ch. Mt. Joy’s Fear This (“Bully”), and MBIS, BISS Ch. Mt. Joy’s Shades of Wynter Komaru (“Wynter”) who have MBIS, MBISS grandfathers on both sides of their pedigrees: MBIS, BISS Ch. T’Stone Raja Regalia on Buckridge and BIS BISS Regalia’s Darq Wolf
• Add Curly Coated Retriever, BIS BISS GCH Down DaTrail Hunting Thrills, CD whose son, “Stewart,” is also BIS Am GCH/AUS CH Sun Devil I’ve Got A Feeling For Cudyncae
• Platinum CCH Pinnacle Tennessee Whiskey, or “Whiskey,” was the first Whippet to win Best in Show at the flagship AKC National Championship by beating contenders from 49 states and 21 countries in the biggest show ever won by a Whippet in AKC history. Whiskey had also won Best in Show at the 2018 National Dog Show. His sister, GCh. Pinnacle’s Kentucky Bourbon, won the American Whippet Club show in 2018 (Whiskey won it the year before) and these wins made them the only Whippet littermates in AKC history to both win a national specialty.
• Enter CH Tashtins Lookin for Trouble, better known as Miss P. The winsome Beagle from Canada was named the 2015 Best In Show winner at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. With twenty 20 Bests in Show in the United States, Miss P (for Peyton) was the second Beagle to win at Westminster, the first being her great-uncle, Ch. K-Run’s Park Me In First, best known as Uno.
• Also from Canada, German Shepherd Dog, BIS CH Camdn’s Grandslam V Regatta TT HIC CGN was the granddaughter of a Best in Show and Best in Specialty show dog, BIS, BISS 2x Select CH Santiago’s Satin Sin V A-Lyn TT HIC ROMC.
That apple that falls from the tree? It doesn’t fall very far as the aforementioned dogs prove. Responsible, well researched breeding doesn’t just count, it shows.
We invite readers to share further examples, and apologize now if we’ve gotten any of our facts wrong. Do let us know privately and we’ll make corrections.
Our image is of three generations of English bulldogs. Father is two years old, the son is 10 weeks old, and Granddad is four years old. From Deposit.