Canine Companionship

Canine Companionship is at the heart of the special bond between dogs and people. This bond can be felt in the many ways dogs and people interact with each other, as pets and K-9 Officers, or working to help and heal humans.

• Therapy Dogs organizations supported by Westminster include Angel on a Leash, Project HEAL for wounded military members, and NY-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.
• Service Dogs organizations receiving past donations include the Seeing Eye, Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities, and the Warrior Canine Connection.
• Working Dogs have benefitted through donations to organizations such as the National Association of Search and Rescue. Tributes to Heroic Dogs during Westminster’s televised finals competition at Madison Square Garden have included war dogs, fire department dogs, search and rescue dogs and handlers deployed during 9/11 and hurricanes.
• Military Dogs have played an important role during wartime. During World War I Westminster donated to the American Red Cross—considered at the time to be America’s greatest war and peace time charity—because the organization used German Sheepdogs extensively in its work on the battlefield. Additional donations were made from the proceeds of the Westminster Victory Show in 1919. During peacetime and war time (1941 and 1942), Westminster continued to support this organization. In 1943 and 1944, the proceeds were donated to Dogs for Defense and the final wartime donation went to the National War Fund to help support the military’s K-9 Corps, which included the use of Doberman Pinschers in the South Pacific.