Oakland man to serve as a judge in famous Westminster dog show

OAKLAND, Calif. - The annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show is a favorite for many dog lovers and come February when the competition is held, a man from Oakland will be on hand as one of the judges.

The annual show will be held in New York and Oakland's Ryan Horvath has been selected to judge breeds in the hound group.

It will mark his first assignment at Westminster. 

Horvath told KTVU that his participation will mark a long-running dedication to the sport of competing in dog shows.

To become a judge in one of the most prestigious dog shows in the world, you have to put a lot of time in the "dog world" before being invited to the show, Horvath said. 

He called the invitation an honor.

Horvath said he started showing dogs as a teenager back in Wisconsin and that his mother showed dogs sparingly when she was young. He said his mother introduced him to the sport.

"We went to the local dog shows all while we were growing up. I started actively showing dogs almost 30 years ago. It's been quite a long time, and that's one of the qualifications to move forward as a judge is to have been in the sport and show dogs for a number of years," Horvath said.

Horvath is a member of multiple clubs throughout the Bay Area and the country. The most active club Horvath serves in is the Del Valle Dog Club in Livermore, where he works as the show chairman.

He also has memberships in dachshund clubs, his personal breed, Horvath said.

According to Horvath, this year the largest number of entries are from California, and he noted that it tends to be more difficult to breed show dogs in places like Oakland compared to places in the Midwest, where there's typically more land for proper dog breeding.