Hm. Being Miss America, no. Training Miss America? Yes. Same as, say, equestrian events.
Wait - so who is the athlete in the dog show?
The dog?
The handler?
The groomer?
The owner?
The breeder?
All of them?
And are you saying “Training Miss America” - whatever exactly that might be - is a sport?
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that riding a horse during equestrian events involves a tad more athletic ability than trotting around a ring holding a leash . . .
You know how they had the double-amputee out as part of the recognition of Uno and Angels on a Leash? And then a dog named Stump won Best in Show? Coincidence???
I missed the whole thing! Arrrrrgh! It’s February – how could I forget? ARRRRGH!
:mad: 
As a working dog (sheepdogs/border collies) handler and trainer, I take great exception to this farce being called a sport and the dogs involved called “champions”. Pretty is as pretty does, in my book. When the AKC recognized the border collie in 1995, it was over the strenous objections of most border collie breeders. Our working registry, which still has the majority of border collies, will de-register any conformation champion if it is dual registered. I find it insulting any of the working breeds to be shown and bred towards the goal of pretty leash ornaments and not bred for their original function. Very few of the herding breeds could get three sheep from one end of the Westminister arena to the other, yet those are “champions”? Give me a break! Sorry, I know it’s a deep entrenched feeling that form follows function, but when you stop breeding useful dogs, you will lose that function, no matter if they “look like” they can do the job.
OMG I absolutely know what you are talking about. You turned out to be right but then it’s such an easy bet. Every year one of those sillying looking dogs gets into the Best In Show and it drives me crazy.
What about the Bedlington, with the puffball ears and football-shaped face hair?
I love them!
Its was fun to watch this year because I finally have a dong smart enough to realize what in on TV. For several of the breed that look like his friends my dog would get up and press his nose against the screen and the go lay back down. Strangely, he completely ignored the other Anatolian, I guess I don’t have enough mirrors in the house.
The girlfriend and I watch every year. We love watching the dogs. As pitbull owners we are always excited for the Terrier group and most especially the amstaff’s. And the so ugly they are cute bull terriers. I definitly notice a bias though. With all the beautiful terriers on display it is always a small one like the westies, or the scottish terriers that win. When you have something so subjective as this momentum and bias even unintentional can make a huge differance.
I watched it with my dogs. Lucy was not too interested. Once Linus grasped that there were dogs on the TV, he started loudly threatening and taunting them: I’LL KICK YOUR ASS, YOU WORTHLESS, FREAKISHLY MINIATURE ANIMAL! HOW’D YOU GET IN MY HOUSE??? COME DOWN OUT OF THAT TV! OH, CHICKEN, EH?? HEY! I’M TALKING TO YOU! I WILL NOT BE IGNORED! HEY!
I finally had to lock him in the bedroom.
Wow, that’s the first I’ve heard of one that smart!
Seriously? All my dogs love watching TV. I have a story about Kaylon, about ten years ago.
So, Westminster’s on, and we’re watching, and the poodles come on, and he’s watching, and all of a sudden, he charges the TV, both paws up against it, presses his nose to it and starts barking madly.
Turns out it was his father’s brother. Alexander, I think, but I could be wrong.
Kaylon was big on nature shows involving bears and soccer. Kensington’s big on football.
As for the sport, yes. Like billiards is a sport. Or poker. It’s a competition against others, and the skill is involved in the preparation stage as much as anything. Everyone’s involved, though who was ‘more’ involved depends on the individual case as much as anything.
It’s also a lot like NASCAR. Maybe that’s a more familiar way to put it? Certainly the driver matters, but the team behind it matters as much if not more. In this case, the dog is more than just the car, but the handler is much more like the driver, and the owner is like the racing team.
Funny, how I failed to watch Westminster when it wasn’t pre-empting my usual Monday night ritual.
Even funnier is, after a few years of “I watch USA at 9:00PM every Monday night, even if they’re showing DOGS goshdarnit” that I now enjoy the dog show well enough and wish I’d caught it.