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Meet the Canadian contenders at the Westminster dog show

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[Shih Tzu Panda shown winning Best In Specialty in Las Vegas in May 2015. Handler Kathy Bilicich-Garcini, owner Sharon Bilicich and breeders, Richard Paquette and Wendy Paquette/PHOTO: Richard Paquette]

Canada will be well represented next week at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City.

Breeders, handlers and immaculately groomed pooches from across the country are heading to compete in the prestigious event.

Sharon Robertson of Caledon, Ont., is the breeder and owner of Inuk, an American Eskimo who has attended the annual show seven times and won Best of Breed each time.

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[Inuk with handler Graeme Burdon]

She says the nine-year-old dog — whose registered name is GChEx Nuuktok’s Atka Inukshuk — just has an “it” factor, which not all canines have. (GChEx stands for Grand Champion Excellence.)

“When he walks into a ring, he owns it,” she tells Yahoo Canada News. “He had something special in that litter of his. He stood out. He’s always been kind of ‘look at me.’”

She explains that dogs that project a happy energy and appear excited to be at the event have an edge over those who aren’t as pert.

Robertson suggests that dog lovers should attend the event, rather than participate in it, since it leads to a tremendous amount of stress.

“As (Inuk) keeps building these records, I get more and more stressed,” she says.

For breeder Richard Paquette, of Sudbury, Ont., attending the Westminster show is a yearly pilgrimage. This year he’ll be showing three-year-old Shih Tzu Panda, who was invited to attend based on his showing record. Last year, he won runner-up in his breed at Westminster.

“The dog show is always well attended by Canada’s top dogs,” he says, adding that about 150 Canadian dogs are competing this year.

All the competitors must be Canadian Kennel Club-registered pure breds and have showing experience. To compete in Westminster, there is an application process, though sometimes dogs with impressive dog show records are invited.

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[Handler Allison Foley with Chandler, the Toronto-based all-time top winning Australian Shepherd]

Allison Foley of Halifax is a professional dog handler who’s been attending the big show since 1990. Her job is to parade the show dog in the ring for the judges. This year she’ll be showing four dogs, including a Toronto-based all-time top winning Australian Shepherd and a Peruvian Standard Poodle that’s spent the last six months in Canada preparing for Westminster. Foley says handlers are akin to racehorse jockeys, whose focus is to care and race the horse for the owners.

“I show a lot of coated breeds like poodles, where the grooming is very intricate,” she explains. “(Some owners) don’t have the time or knowledge to get them to that level.”

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[Handler Allison Foley with Ricky, the Peruvian Standard Poodle/PHOTO: Todd Foley]

She acknowledges that Canadians do well at the competition as a result of good breeders.

“Just like anything else, Canada gets forgotten until we go to sometime big, like the Grammys or the Oscars or Westminster, and do really well,” she says. “We do have a lot of local dog talent, so to speak.”

The big competition of 3,000 canine contestants takes place Feb. 15-16.