Rowan was a beast. He raised his head, stuck out his tail and showed why he is the best of the best.
The 6-year-old Bracco Italiano took a road trip with his human mother Jenni Nieft from their home in Douglas, Wyoming, to the Big Apple. There, he teamed up with handler Natasha Wilson and won Best of Breed at the Super Bowl of dog competitions, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
“It’s very important to go to Westminster and get race,” Nieft said. “The exhibition site was huge, it was active. “I don’t think you saw anyone unhappy the whole time they were there because it was a great experience to be there.”
Rowan qualified for Westminster by bringing home the best of competition in Colorado and beating the No. 1 dog in his breed three days out of four at the America Kennel Club National Championships in Florida last year.
At Westminster on May 14, he and Wilson took to the ring on the second day of competition to strut their stuff for the judges.
“I didn’t even show it myself, but I was very nervous and shaky all day because it didn’t show up until 1:30 in the afternoon,” Nieft said. “I was ridiculous, you’d think I was doing it myself.”
Go against the best
When the time came, Rowan showed why he came into the competition third in his breed. He became the center of attention and in front of the cameras against five other important Bracco Italianos.
The Bracco Italiano breed dates back to the time of Christ and has only been in the United States since 2007. They were the first breed of hunting dog in Europe, typically used for hunting pheasants.
A judge watched the dogs while they were in a pointing position and then had them run around the ring. He then examined the dogs, running his hands over their backs and legs while they were in a pointing position. Some of the dog trainers helped their animals keep their tails straight, but Rowan needed little prompting to adopt the correct posture.
More strutting and posing, another run, and after the nearly 20-minute session, the judge pointed to Rowan and Wilson as first. Wilson kissed his partner.
“I kind of leave the call time up to her and let her show her the way she wants to show her. He stays with her,” Nieft said. “I’m not around him so he can just focus on her because he’s a bit of a momma’s boy and he needs to listen to her, focus on her and be with her.”
During the competition, Nieft tried to stay high up in the stands and out of the sight and smell of his four-legged friend. She said at one point he turned his nose up and looked in her direction. She panicked and thought he could smell her.
“Then I started climbing into the seats,” he said. “If he can see me or smell me, he has no game face and is acting silly, barking and whining; yeah, it’s funny.”
Because he was named Best of Breed, Rowan went on to compete against dogs in the sporting class, which includes retrievers, spaniels and other pointing dogs. Nieft said he didn’t get a place in that competition, but “he looked really good.” A black cocker spaniel won that competition.
For being the first of his breed, Rowan took home a giant rosette and medallion.
And, of course, brag that the best Bracco Italiano dog on the planet is in Douglas, Wyoming.
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road warrior
The long trip to and from New York also proved to be no problem for the pup, who likes to crawl to Nieft’s bed at night. Nieft, who operates a dog grooming business and also breeds and shows beagles, described the entire experience of being at the Westminster Fair as “phenomenal.”
“I would come back again in a heartbeat,” he said. “I don’t know if she would drive again, it was brutal.”
As for Rowan’s future, Nieft said she will compete in a dog show at the end of July in Casper and after that she is unsure.
“I wish he was just a dog now,” he said. “He has always been my pet, he sleeps in my bed, he is my child. He will be 6 years old at the end of this month and I think it’s time for him to just be a dog, without having to put on a show. He has given us a lot.”
And what did it give you to take home the prize?
“He got chicken,” he said. “He loves cooked chicken.”
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
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