Inside the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show with Lydia Hearst
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“Otterhounds are more of a way of life for us than just having a dog,” Lydia Hearst says. This much was apparent recently at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, where the philanthropist and actress was on hand to cheer her own Otterhound, Zoltar, who was in competition.
Hearst and her husband, Chris Hardwick, didn’t set out to raise a show dog, but Zoltar’s charisma made a life in the spotlight inevitable. “It's sort of the same thing with people: either you’ve got it or you don't,” she says. “And he really does have it. When he’s at home with us, he's on rolling, in the dirt, playing with our daughter, and having the best time ever. But then the second he gets a bath and a blow dry, he just looks like a pop star with his blowout—it's ridiculous!”
Perhaps, but it’s also serious business. Zoltar won the Best of Opposite Sex prize among the Otterhounds at this year’s show, and he’s got a busy year ahead of him in the ring. “He's going to come home for a few months after this and then he's going to go back out on the road,” Hearst says. “He'll be traveling for about a year, so we'll be popping by as many of his stops that we can to attend the shows. He’ll be competing pretty much every weekend on tour, hoping to become not just the number one Otterhound, but hopefully even more. We’re really going to try to bring it for next year's Westminster, that's for sure.”
Below, Hearst and Zoltar share a photo diary of this year’s Dog Show.
"The Frenchie Poodle Party is held two nights before the dog show, it's like the opening night of Westminster, so to speak, before anything in the venue begins. Everybody has just gotten into town, and there's so much excitement. We all want to catch up and celebrate before they have to kick it into high gear and enter the ring. This is actually my mom's dog, Ruby, and she is a former grand champion—actually, she still is technically a grand champion., she's just retired now."
"The night before Westminster is the Dog News and Purina Pro Plan Awards, which is sort of the acknowledgement of the past year leading up to Westminster. It was exciting and amazing to be there, because the whole room was cheering one another on and celebrating each other. But at the same time, everybody knew that the next day all bets were off. We're all still friends, but everybody's in it to win it."
"Watching the show was so exciting, but also tricky! I wasn’t able to sit in the stands and watch. I actually had to move around and hide so that Zoltar wouldn’t see—or, more importantly, smell—me. So, I was actually standing behind the bleachers and watching the show to mask my presence and not to cause a distraction."
"There was Zoltar merch at Westminster! He had been the star for Showsight magazine's Westminster cover, and so he was able to have a tote and a banner made for him that was displayed at Westminster. I don't know what happens to the banner after the show, but I might have to ask them if I can keep it."
"I am over-the-moon and beyond thrilled and proud of my good boy for taking home the prize of Best of Opposite. Best of Opposite Sex (BOS) means the best of the dogs that are the opposite sex to the Best of Breed winner. Although he didn’t continue on in the competition, we couldn’t be more proud of him and we can’t wait to get him home for a while before continuing his tour."
"Right after he and his handler, Heather Buehner, enter the ring, their sort of pre-game tradition—sort of their 'go team'—is to shake. He learned to do it when he was very young, and now it's ceremonial, like, 'We're going to do this, let's shake on it!'"
"It was a beautiful day in Queens at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. Westminster is a conformation competition for purebred dogs and is a place where rare breeds, like the Otterhound, can truly shine. Everybody in the dog world wants to be there, and it’s a chance to be amongst your peers and go head-to-head with your greatest competition."
"Leading up to the shows, he gets brushed out every single day; he eats his big meals multiple times a day; he gets a lot of playtime. I'm a fan of a grooming brand called Les Poochs, and that's what I use for him for bathing, deep conditioning, and doggy cologne. We might go a little over the top with fancy prep for him, but I have to admit, he looks spectacular."
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