Handlers cater to dogs’ nutrition
Chuckie lay asleep in his cage, silent, with a towel draped over the metal bars to block out the light.
The nearly 2-year-old Pekingese who won the toy group Monday at the 141st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show needed his rest before the biggest performance of his life, one that would come later Tuesday: a chance at Best in Show.
One of the main factors in the way Chuckie performs is determined by what he eats.
And for the 2,798 dogs that compete in the show, a specifically tailored diet is essential. After asking around, it’s not a stretch to say some of these dogs might eat better than some people do.
Chuckie’s diet consists of a twice-daily helping of Purina Pro Plan’s small breed, grainfree formula of chicken and egg as the primary ingredients.
“And then he gets regular chicken, roasted chicken mixed in with it,” breeder, co-owner and handler David Fitzpatrick told USA TODAY Sports. “You’ve got to keep them on the same thing, pretty much, to keep them in condition. You can’t switch it up because it upsets their stomachs.”
In between, Chuckie might get a dog biscuit. When Fitzpatrick has Chuckie on a leash and is showing him in the pen, however, it’s almost always cooked chicken, boiled liver or Gerber chicken sticks for infants — essentially like Vienna sausages in size and texture — that he uses to get Chuckie to comply with his directions.
“It’s definitely not low-grade chicken,” Fitzpatrick added. “It’s chicken I would eat.”
That’s the reality of the diet of all the dogs trying to claim glory at Westminster.
These are the best of the best the USA has to offer, according to the breeding standards set by the American Kennel Club and Westminster. Like highly specialized pro athletes, they need to perform on the biggest stage. So they eat high-quality food that handlers estimate can run “upwards of tens of thousands of dollars each year.”
Some handlers opt for a higher concentration of dog food. Others avoid it altogether.
“I started them out on a highgrade kibble, but a year ago I went strictly to raw meat and beef chunks, and I mix it with internal organs from the chicken — liver, gizzards, heart — all ground,” said Marika Foreman, owner and handler of the Pumi named Bikfic. “I cook sweet potatoes and mash them and grind up green vegetables and fruit. Every meal. I add calcium probiotic and another supplement that is good for them. Occasionally I break in a raw egg.”
For Foreman, the decision to alter the dog ’s diet came because of her realization that the Pumi was bred to perform a specific task and flourished.
“A lot of vets oppose raw food,” Foreman added. “But remember, these are Hungarian dogs. And they tend to live on farms. And they go out all day and herd sheep from the first sign of spring until the first sign of snow. They eat whatever the farm has. They are not fed kibbles on the farms in Hungary.”
Rumor the German Shepherd won the herding group Monday, her second consecutive victory. And to get her to perform at her best, breeder, co-owner and handler Kent Boyles keeps chunks of New York strip steak cuts — sometimes ordered from restaurants — in his jacket pocket.
“I’ll cook her up a fresh one and throw it around when we’re in the ring,” Boyles told USA TODAY Sports last year. “She’ll respond really well to that. She knows that we’re catering to her every little whim, because we want to get all we can out of her in the ring.
“We want to make a big fuss over them to make sure they understand that when they’re out there, that’s what it’s all about — just generate the emotions from us to her so that she livens up and responds favorably to the whole scenario.”