PETA Statement re Westminster and Mixed-Breed Dogs

For Immediate Release:
January 16, 2014

Westminster has taken a small but important step toward finally acknowledging that mutts rule by including them in its agility competition for the first time in its history. However, the Westminster dog show and the American Kennel Club’s promotion of “purebreds” still contributes to the homeless-dog crisis in the United States by promoting dog breeding and thus condemning animals in shelters to death. The only answer to the homeless-dog crisis is to end breeding and to adopt dogs, rather than buying them―Westminster works directly against that goal.