By Killian Maree—For the North Star Reporter
Attleboro resident Dr. Tracie Laliberte, will judge at next year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be live on Netflix, Feb. 1-2, 2027. The show is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, right behind the Kentucky Derby. This is the 151st dog show that this club has held.
Laliberte started showing dogs when she was just 9 years old. Her fifth grade math teacher, Sandra McDowell Dunn, was the one who introduced her to the sport. Laliberte said she became interested when she was at a dog show and noticed the love and passion of the handlers.
“I was a junior handler. My mother, father, and I raised Lhasa Apsos from the time I was a child… I was best junior handler at Westminster in 1983,” said Laliberte.
Following Laliberte’s win at Westminster in 1983, Pedigree Dog Food sponsored her to go to England to compete at the Crufts Dog Show at the global level. There, in 1984, Laliberte won the world championship.
“I started judging in 2008. For me, having won this dog show back in the ‘80s, and now being invited to judge the preliminaries, is a full circle moment,” said Laliberte.
To become an American Kennel Club judge, one has to fulfill a number of requirements. There is an educational component, a practical component, as well as an interview process.
When approved by the American Kennel Club, the candidates are put into a database that can be accessed when choosing judges for the event. If they deem the candidate qualified, they are sent an invitation to judge.
Once someone becomes a judge, however, the testing continues. Laliberte said that there are tests judges need to take every couple of years, as well as someone on-site while the judging is occurring to evaluate the judge’s process.
“It’s constant practice and constant reevaluation,” said Laliberte.
Even though Laliberte has been judging since 2008, this year she had to take a test to prove she was still capable.
Some of the other shows that Laliberte has judged include the Ladies Dog Club, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel National Show, the Hockomock Kennel Club, as well as many other local and national shows.
The competition Laliberte will be judging at Westminster is the Junior Handling Competition, which is for kids between the ages of 9 and 18. The competitors have to qualify for the show.
“Think of it like the Olympics of dog showing for young people,” said Laliberte.
Each class is divided by age and skill. Throughout all the shows that happen around the country, these competitors have to win enough to be qualified for Westminster.
“What I look for is the handlers demonstrating their ability to handle their dogs in a specific way, making the most of the dog’s virtues… The idea is for the handler to disappear behind the dog… That’s a special skill set that involves a relationship with the dog, knowing the dog’s structure, there’s many fine points,” said Laliberte.
The judging is not so much about the dog, but more about the handler’s ability in many different areas.
“Social media has a way of vilifying dog sports and talking about how terrible people are for doing them,” she said. “I would say that anyone who would actually go to a dog show to see how they’re kept and treated would learn that dog showing is a very admirable endeavor… The show experience is one in which the dog really enjoys the sport.”
There are many shows locally that Massachusetts residents can attend, including one in Wrentham in June and July, and one in Cape Cod in September.
“If you have the chance to go to a show and really see and walk around, it’s a fun, family experience,” said Laliberte.