2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show postponed due to COVID

The 2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has been postponed due to the rising COVID-19 cases of the Omicron strain throughout New York.

This news was announced on the WKC website with a short statement on Wednesday evening, December 29. The show was originally supposed to take place in late January.

“Due to the surge of the Omicron variant in New York City, the Board of Governors of the Westminster Kennel Club have made the difficult decision to postpone the 146th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show presented by Purina Pro Plan to a later date in 2022,” the announcement read in part.

“The health and safety of all participating in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show are paramount. We appreciate the community’s continued interest and support as we delay the show to a later date.”

The 2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show postponed due to COVID.

Because of the pandemic, the 2021 edition was moved from the traditional location of Madison Square Garden in in its traditional February slot to the outdoor Lyndonhurst estate in June,  The title of Best in Show went to Wasabi the Pekingese, who is officially known as GCHG CH Pequest Wasabi.

It is likely that the event will still be televised on Fox Sports 1 and the main Fox channel, wherever and wherever in the year it moves to, though this will likely require some shuffling of the NASCAR calendar.

Westminster is often thought of as the grandest (as well as oldest) of the major dog shows (which also include the Beverly Hills Dog Show, the National Dog Show, and the AKC National Championship), and for much of the 20th century was considered the equivalent of the World Series or the Indianapolis 500.

So, while the 2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show postponed due to rising COVID cases is very disappointing, keeping everyone as healthy as possible is far more important that making sure a schedule is strictly adhered to.