77 Years Ago In Time

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The Westminster Kennel Club's DOG SHOW always provides a spectacle, both human and canine, as TIME noted in a 1928 cover.

The noise made by the dogs was loud and horrible. A small, stupid child, like many who attended the dog show, reached out a paw toward a vast belligerent St. Bernard who was lounging in his sawdust covered stall, swathed in a towel lest the slobber from his mouth should stain his sleek and tonsured fur. The St. Bernard lurched bellowing at the child; a collie barked at the St. Bernard; an Airedale yelped at the collie; soon, all the dogs were in a noisy fury. The people whose business it was to care for the dogs were never disconcerted; they chatted to each other with feigned indifference to the continued chaos all around them. Many women sat in the bench-berths which had been intended for canine occupancy. Upstairs, in the arena of Madison Square Garden, the scene was less hectic. A scattering of smart people sat in boxes or strolled about; other people, haggard, dirty, inarticulate, led their dogs about on leashes. --TIME, Feb. 27, 1928

TIME's full archives can be found at timearchive.com