The Amazing Miss Andie has won a big prize at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York.
The Newfoundland dog from Ladysmith won Best in Breed and was a crowd favourite when she hit the carpet in the show ring Tuesday.
“Best of Breed is huge,” Joan Casler, Miss Andie’s excited breeder, said Wednesday.
“She is an amazing girl and for a female Newf to do as well as she has, it’s extraordinary. It’s truly unbelievable.”
What’s amazing about Miss Andie is her structure, her personality and her presentation, Casler said. Her bloodline is impeccable. Her father won Canadian and U.S. specialty dog shows in 2014, and received an award of merit at Westminster a few years ago.
“His movement is pure poetry in motion,” Casler said. “He’s very vibrant in the ring. When people clap, and he’s in the ring, it makes his head come up and he just flies. He’s an Arabian stallion in the body of a Clydesdale.”
Miss Andie’s mother is solid and willing to please. The result: Miss Andie, a 62-kilogram champion who turns four in August. Sure, Newfoundland dogs are big, hairy and slobbery, but Miss Andie is incredibly smart and beautiful, said Casler, who co-owns the dog with Doug and Cindy Savory.
“She moves like a dream. You couldn’t breed a more perfect dog.”
Miss Andie won her first title — No. 1 all-breed puppy — when she was six months old. Last year, she was the No. 1 female Newfoundland in both Canada and the U.S.
“What’s even better, she finished No. 3 of all breeds in Canada last year,” Cindy Savory said Wednesday, as she, Miss Andie and dog handler Guillermo Fano headed back to Ladysmith, driving from the Seattle airport.
Miss Andie is a true working dog, but at the same time, she loves to show, Savory said. She does draft work and water work. She’s won obedience titles and dances with the Island Canine Entertainers, putting on shows at care homes.
“She’s very smart and she knows what her job is out there. Fano handles her so well. He knows how to make her stand out.”
At the Westminster show, “she went in there. She said: ‘I’ve got this. Any of you guys want this, you have to beat me.’ She can turn it on. She knows when it’s a big show. If the crowds are cheering, it puts her up a notch or two.”
Loud noises don’t bother her. As long as she’s with Fano, she’s comfortable, Savory said.
“She loves people and she’ll think nothing of saying ‘hi,’ giving them a poke in the butt with her nose.”
After winning Best in Breed, Miss Andie went to Madison Square Garden to compete in the working dog competition and made the first cut.
“The crowd was really cheering for her.”
Newfoundland dogs are good travellers, Casler said. At the moment, she and her husband, Sam, are travelling through the southern U.S. in a motorhome with five Newfies.
Miss Andie usually flies to her shows in cargo. Then it’s a taxi ride to the hotel and walks in the Big Apple.
“Being in New York is amazing. The people kept stopping us and saying, ‘Wow. That’s a big-ass dog,’ ” Casler said.
What’s in store for Miss Andie now? A dog show in Michigan where she’ll be honoured as the top Newfoundland in the U.S. and who knows, perhaps a litter of future champions.
